What's going on with Epik and Rob Monster?

[MapleDots]

I'm catching the tail end of this, seems to be some kind of controversy...

https://domaingang.com/domain-news/rob-monster-off-twitter-after-christchurch-massacre-controversy/

Must be something odd to evoke this type of a response from one of our members.

 

[dirk]

OVH owns their DC's. Thy own just about anything they do. There are others. Guess that would make them just a tiny bit more resilient. Not trying to piss on Epik. I use your services. I like your features but don't give us this when it's obviously false.

 

[dirk]

We run our own registry software in addition to registrar software. For the time being it is focused on powering ALT TLDs. No decision made on whether to acquire a gTLD or ccTLD, but if someone has a registry, we can power it today. You can see it in action on Epik if you go buy a Us.Tv

Show attachment 183763

This is done with a second level TLD but it could just as soon power a gTLD and ccTLD as a fully operational registry. The technology is fully mature and commercially operating for registries.

Cool. Thanks for the clarification. So you're not a registry but are just running the software?

 

[Future Sensors]

OVH owns their DC's. Thy own just about anything they do. There are others. Guess that would make them just a tiny bit more resilient. Not trying to piss on Epik. I use your services. I like your features but don't give us this when it's obviously false.

In recent years I have been considering Epik, but in my autonomous world I don't like these kinds of idle statements and boldness. It was an important reason for me not to switch, although I certainly think Epik is innovative on many fronts. It seems that Rob is also too easily impressed by things. Wish the guy all success.

 

[dirk]

In recent years I have been considering Epik, but in my autonomous world I don't like these kinds of idle statements and boldness. It was an important reason for me not to switch, although I certainly think Epik is innovative on many fronts. It seems that Rob is also too easily impressed by things. Wish the guy all success.

They're not bad as long as you don't get caught up into the drama. There are people who despise them, it'll cost you sales. On the other hand there is opportunity. Do your own calculations and see in what direction your scale tips.

And yes, despite the fact I disagree on things with Rob I do think he's a nice and good guy.

 

[dirk]

It was an important reason for me not to switch, although I certainly think Epik is innovative on many fronts.

You'll probably love DYNADOT then. Not gonna plaster this thread with advertising for the competition, yet... Look up the ask me anything thread here on NP, look into the CEO. It seems to me it's the kind of company and guys you would love and feel confident about.

 

[Future Sensors]

They're not bad as long as you don't get caught up into the drama. There are people who despise them, it'll cost you sales. On the other hand there is opportunity. Do your own calculations and see in what direction your scale tips.

And yes, despite the fact I disagree on things with Rob I do think he's a nice and good guy.

The tipping point will be decided by lots of things. As a fellow Dutch pirate, you know the story of Hack-Tic. We were rebellious, but we knew when outright nonsense was being sold.

 

[lambo.com]

@Rob Monster Don't inject God into the discussion. I find it hard to square that God is in agreement with the actions you have taken as a company to allow extremist sites a platform to spew hateful speech.

Extremist sites that are anti-genocide and anti-ethnic cleansing should be upheld.

#blackolivesmatter

 

[Rob Monster]

Cool. Thanks for the clarification. So you're not a registry but are running the software?

We run registries:

- Pseudo registries like US.TV
- Alt registries like .TRUTH that us the Anonymize VPN or Secure DNS resolver

The tech is there.

Moreover, the Epik ecosystem is powered by a robust Single Sign On framework (FederatedIdentity.com).

The scope of the Epik platform is vast. The fact that such an ambitious and resilient footprint with worldwide reach has been assembled with almost no outside capital should be at least somewhat noteworthy to even the most hardened skeptic.

I am not sure what triggered the brigade of rhetorical Q&A today, but I have engaged thoughtfully and factually. I have pretty much ignored this thread otherwise as most of us moved on from it.

If one looks at the recent pattern of online censorship for lawfully engaged participants of content, community and commerce in 2021, you might even agree that this work was all rather prescient.

I had one reasonably authoritative source tell me that on the day that Godaddy dropped AR15.com, that many more sites were taken offline. I would love to see an objective statement from GD on that topic.

Those who value the freedom to ask questions and seek answers, and who appreciate the value of empowering small enterprise, probably appreciate that Epik has held the line on civil liberty.

For those looking for more context on how we approach the topic of hate speech, here is a good place to start:

https://www.epik.com/blog/fightinghate

And for those looking for some objective truth about how few of these hate sites are actually on Epik compared to Godaddy, Tucows, NameCheap and others, here is some objective truth:

https://splclist2020.com/

People should probably ask themselves why Epik, among the most vigilant of registrars, would get such special treatment by the media to portray Epik as safe harbor for hate. It is quite ironic!

 

[DN Playbook]

We run our own registry software in addition to registrar software. For the time being it is focused on powering ALT TLDs. No decision made on whether to acquire a gTLD or ccTLD, but if someone has a registry, we can power it today. You can see it in action on Epik if you go buy a Us.Tv

Show attachment 183763

This is done with a second level TLD but it could just as soon power a gTLD and ccTLD as a fully operational registry. The technology is fully mature and commercially operating for registries.

Stop playing domainers for fools. Selling sub-domains does not make you a registry. There is a lot of nonsense going on here and it has to stop now. Sell your registrar and hosting services. But don't pretend to be something you are not.

 

[dirk]

The tech is there.

Yeah well... Regarding that. Just having the tech to run a registry doesn't mean much.

Anybody can run an alt registry these days. What does an alt TLD even mean? Could be big, for the moment, it doesn't mean much from a domainers point of view. The tech is cool though.

That being said. yes... I applaud you guys for being defenders of free speech. It's rare to see a company willing to take so much s**t trying to do so. Pardon my french. I really appreciate that. It's important to maintain a healthy balance and to have companies like Epik around. I just wish you guys would be more in touch with reality.

Anyway, I get you were triggered by Tom, probably because of previous heated discussion you have had with him in the past. Just ignore it, it's for the better.

Most domainers don't care about any of this stuff. They just want their domains to be registered somewhere, hassle free, as cheap as possible .

Imagine a world without all these public outings trying to bash or to defend Epik? Just taking care of business. Wouldn't that be amazing?

If you want to win over domainers, there are plenty of unsolved issues you could focus on. I think Epik has the potential but refuses to take it home.

You guys should ask yourself, are domainers really the niche you want to cater to?

 

[lambo.com]

People should probably ask themselves why Epik, among the most vigilant of registrars, would get such special treatment by the media to portray Epik as safe harbor for hate. It is quite ironic!

Because anti-gentilism and anti-White rhetoric est glace au chocolat du jour.

Persecution is unacceptable and the meta war of the 2020's is here. Some have the freedom and faculties to participate and talk back to the psychowarfare and ops to cuck those vulnerable with subconscious/ conscious original sin and guilt and fueled by maladaptive and incomplete historical narratives.

 

[sonatime]

Food for thought

 

[Rob Monster]

If you want to win over domainers, there are plenty of unsolved issues you could focus on. I think Epik has the potential but refuses to take it home.

You guys should ask yourself, are domainers really the niche you want to cater to?

In case you doubt it, we are minding the store and working hard.

Domainers remains a core market segment for Epik Our software tools, pricing and support organization is still among the best in the industry.

In actual fact, the act of holding the line of lawful free speech did not really slow us down at all. It ended up attracting some notable things:

- BitMitigate and Sibyl systems as acquisitions
- Innovative new investments into tech resiliency and proprietary infrastructure.
- International brand awareness
- Some exceptionally talented executive leadership and strategic advisors

From a domainer's perspective, I think all of these developments are really quite interesting:

- NameLiquidate.com
- DNProtect.com
- Escrow.Epik.com
- DomainGraduate.com
- New private auction features - see the how-to here.
- Masterbucks for payment clearing
- DomainEquity.com for domain lending
- WHOQ.com for registrar-agnostic GDPR-compliant WHOIS as a service

From an innovation perspective, that is just a partial list that is related to domainers, and mostly done in the last 18 months! The full list is here:

https://www.epik.com/about/labs/

The real power of single sign on with a unified cloud wallet is probably still lost on most people, but stay tuned and I believe you will see something pretty useful.

In terms of market visibility, it is worth noting that our Twitter posts give some hint of what is happening behind the scenes in terms of premium domain listings.

For example, the domain Hearts.com went on the market on Valentines Day. It is now in escrow with a very nice 6 figure outcome from a sale generated through effective use of ad networks.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1361003374271946758

So, all bluster and rhetoric aside, can you honestly name another registrar bringing more innovation in more areas to the domain economy than Epik?

To be clear, this is not an ego statement. I am delighted when I see others adding value to the domain economy in innovative ways that make the pie bigger for everyone.

 

[DN Playbook]

The assumption is that if you are for free speech you are for freedom of expression. However, if you only support one wing of expression, what does that say? Why does only one wing of speech flock to your platform? If you are truly on the side of free speech, why aren't all wings represented? Think about that.

I challenge @Rob Monster to provide a counter argument to Parler, 8chan, Gab, Daily Stormer, BitChute, Patriots.win, Proud Boys, etc. Go ahead @Rob Monster

 

[lambo.com]

In case you doubt it, we are minding the store and working hard.

Domainers remains a core market segment for Epik Our software tools, pricing and support organization is still among the best in the industry.

In actual fact, the act of holding the line of lawful free speech did not really slow us down at all. It ended up attracting some notable things:

- BitMitigate and Sibyl systems as acquisitions
- Innovative new investments into tech resiliency and proprietary infrastructure.
- International brand awareness
- Some exceptionally talented executive leadership and strategic advisors

From a domainer's perspective, I think all of these developments are really quite interesting:

- NameLiquidate.com
- DNProtect.com
- Escrow.Epik.com
- DomainGraduate.com
- New private auction features - see the how-to here.
- Masterbucks for payment clearing
- DomainEquity.com for domain lending
- WHOQ.com for registrar-agnostic GDPR-compliant WHOIS as a service

From an innovation perspective, that is just a partial list that is related to domainers, and mostly done in the last 18 months! The full list is here:

https://www.epik.com/about/labs/

The real power of single sign on with a unified cloud wallet is probably still lost on most people, but stay tuned and I believe you will see something pretty useful.

In terms of market visibility, it is worth noting that our Twitter posts give some hint of what is happening behind the scenes in terms of premium domain listings.

For example, the domain Hearts.com went on the market on Valentines Day. It is now in escrow with a very nice 6 figure outcome from a sale generated through effective use of ad networks.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1361003374271946758

So, all bluster and rhetoric aside, can you honestly name another registrar bringing more innovation in more areas to the domain economy than Epik?

To be clear, this is not an ego statement. I am delighted when I see others adding value to the domain economy in innovative ways that make the pie bigger for everyone.

Imagine if we can get a .com tokenized.

 

[DN Playbook]

The assumption is that if you for free speech you are for freedom of expression. However, if you only support one wing of expression, what does that say? Why does only one wing of speech flock to your platform? If you are truly on the side of free speech, why aren't all wings represented? Think about that.

I challenge @Rob Monster to provide a counter argument to Parler, 8chan, Gab, Daily Stormer, BitChute, Patriots.win, Proud Boys, etc. Go ahead @Rob Monster

Don't run away from this @Rob Monster

 

[Rob Monster]

Food for thought
Show attachment 183766

Amen there.

You might appreciate this thread from one of the sites for which Epik happens to be a registrar:

https://godlike.com/forum1/message4726568/pg1

Some sites are what I call "messy swamps".

For those who have discernment and patience, these types of sites can be used as sources of fresh perspective regardless of any party bias or religious affiliation.

At the end of the day, curious, healthy and intelligent people communicating with each other in real-time maintains conditions where it becomes harder to propagandize everyone else.

Speaking of book burning, check out this http error code 451:

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/error-451-internet-censorship-alert

It was literally established for use with future censorship operations. 451 was a hat tip to Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 novel about bookburning!

 

[DN Playbook]

You are a very sheepish person @Rob Monster

 

[lambo.com]

The assumption is that if you for free speech you are for freedom of expression. However, if you only support one wing of expression, what does that say? Why does only one wing of speech flock to your platform? If you are truly on the side of free speech, why aren't all wings represented? Think about that.

I challenge @Rob Monster to provide a counter argument to Parler, 8chan, Gab, Daily Stormer, BitChute, Patriots.win, Proud Boys, etc. Go ahead @Rob Monster

lmao. You have legacy media and epik doesn't have enough revenue to buy CNN.

 

[bmugford]

I invite you to name another company. Let the people know a specific presently existing organization besides Epik that checks all of these boxes today:

- Registry

We run our own registry software in addition to registrar software. For the time being it is focused on powering ALT TLDs. No decision made on whether to acquire a gTLD or ccTLD, but if someone has a registry, we can power it today. You can see it in action on Epik if you go buy a Us.Tv

Show attachment 183763

This is done with a second level TLD but it could just as soon power a gTLD and ccTLD as a fully operational registry. The technology is fully mature and commercially operating for registries.

You said that Epik is a registry. That is simply not true.
What you said after just further clarifies that Epik is not a registry.

Did you want a chance to correct your statement?

Brad