Will .Com ever die?

[D. Wells]

I am a strong believer that ".Com" will always be King, but when I talk to a lot of other domainers, they suggest that ".Com" will die within the next few years.

Just wanted to here some opinions on this.

 

[B&J]

With so many top .com brands and assets, if .com dies, than it will be after WWIIII.

 

[Archangel]

I don't get why ppl believe the .com will be a relic of the past & be sloughed off by the newer generations. Seriously: .com has been around before many domainers were even born. I've never heard someone say ".com is passe. It's my granddad's extension!" If it's never happened in the well over 20+ years of its existence, why do you think it will in a decade or 2?

 

[JB Lions]

"I don't get why ppl believe the .com will be a relic of the past & be sloughed off by the newer generations"

Either dumb or new and hoping for a second gold rush, when there was only one in the early/mid 90's. That's how these new gtlds are being sold, people still fall for the most basic of marketing.

 

[Archangel]

I think it's a safe bet ppl in 2030 won't be saying, "cars.com is a piece of shit. Why have the antiquated cars.com when you can have the better cars.cars??" lol

"I don't get why ppl believe the .com will be a relic of the past & be sloughed off by the newer generations"

Either dumb or new and hoping for a second gold rush, when there was only one in the early/mid 90's. That's how these new gtlds are being sold, people still fall for the most basic of marketing.

 

[dna]

And your insightful reasoning behind this is...?

I would have answered sooner but I never saw your post.

My insightful reasoning quite simple. Com is just a fad.
It has no other advantage over many other tlds and in fact has
several disadvantages. One major disadvantage for coms
is the incompetence of VeriSign, its cost, the fact that
all the available good names are being hoarded by squatters,
and com registrars who are nothing but virus spreaders and crooks
are let free to run amuck by VeriSign. Registrars that are a lot worse then
Registerfly ever was.

 

[JB Lions]

Com is just a fad..

Yes, 82 out of the top 100 reported sales last year were .com. One of the components of fad is "short lived". So tell me how many short lived years has .com been kicking butt?

It's cost? Is $8 breaking the bank, $1 with a coupon? Hard times paying $1 for something.

Registrar virus spreader? What?

Let's be honest for a second. Isn't the real reason most people hate .com, is because they don't have any good .com?

 

[Archangel]

If you think .com is a "fad" and that there are no real advantages of .com vs .anything, I kindly suggest you leave this industry now before you get burned beyond recognition.

Perchance envy is the culprit.

I would have answered sooner but I never saw your post.

My insightful reasoning quite simple. Com is just a fad.
It has no other advantage over many other tlds and in fact has
several disadvantages. One major disadvantage for coms
is the incompetence of VeriSign, its cost, the fact that
all the available good names are being hoarded by squatters,
and com registrars who are nothing but virus spreaders and crooks
are let free to run amuck by VeriSign. Registrars that are a lot worse then
Registerfly ever was.

Envy, like JB's mentioned:

Let's be honest for a second. Isn't the real reason most people hate .com, is because they don't have any good .com?

 

[dna]

If you believe that .COM is overvalued, why would you own one?
Especially when you can get great .US domains so cheap.
Can you give me a single reason to own .COM over .US other
then the fact that its fashionable? And it would have to be a really
awful .COM domain that you can get for the $8 registration fee.

I thought about exposing this registrar on Namepros some time ago but its
a registrar with about 1000 lawyers, and I am not kidding.
There are 3 major companies in the United States that provide a legal
presence in all 50 states for companies that otherwise that could not otherwise
afford legal representation in all 50 states. One of these companies is
a registrar. I have traced several virus right to their this companies website.
They provide cover for virus spreaders and any other internet crook
that needs it and they hide their identities.

 

[Ms Domainer]

com's are already dieing.
But most domainers will be the last to recognize this.
They are too emotionally tied to their awkward dot com names.
They are like the Amish with their horse and buggies.
Jazz is dead...get over it.
Some people just cant adapt to change.

*

Uh, Jazz is alive and well.

%%-

*

 

[bonavee]

...because they don't have any good .com

Yes, 82 out of the top 100 reported sales last year were .com... Let's be honest for a second. Isn't the real reason most people hate .com, is because they don't have any good .com?

:hehe: Pure & simple. Thank you buddy!

 

[alien51]

The reason why Domainers exist, is because of End-Users.

So when you say .COM is dead in the point of view of a Domainer, you are saying your customers (the End-users) are now looking for these newly launched exotic gTLDs and End-user buying is now heavy in these areas.

As far as i'm concerned since i'm an End-user myself, most of the buyers of these new exotic gTLDs are also Domainers.

The goal of every Domainer, is to grab a beautiful domain name AS QUICK AS POSSIBLE. Compare that to an End-user who spends most of his time running his business trying to contribute something to society. By the time some End-user decides to buy a domain in any of these new gTLDs, behold it's already taken by a Domainer.

So in my view as an End-User, these new gTLDs are practically USELESS to me, when Domainers have hogged them all just the same.

So i am now left to make a choice: Will i buy COOKING.TIPS from a Domainer? Or COOKINGTIPS.COM also from a Domainer?

Personally, i am open to running a business on extensions like .STORE or .SHOP or to some extent, even .CLOTHING. So if i have to pick domains in the aftermarket, my first consideration would be pricing.

So i think aftermarket pricing will be a factor. And if these new gTLDs are being priced competitively low compared to their COM versions, we may see an uptick of End-users picking up domains in these new gTLDs. And this uptick could be interpreted to appear like the coms are dead.

But if both COMs and these new gTLDs are priced the same. I will buy the COM anytime.

 

[ImageAuthors]

Everybody knows .COM will be over and done with as of April 1 at 3:14 p.m GMT.

At that precise moment in time, all the sites that had been following that outmoded fad of .COMmunism will suddenly metamorphose into .NINJAs, .CEOs, .COMPANYs, .GURUs, .ENTERPRISEs, and .VENTURESs .. or else turn into pumpkins.

 

[forge]

ICANN's days are numbered. Mark my word. Most of these new gTLDs' days are numbered as well. I'm saying it today and I believe we will all see it happen in the not-too-distant future. The internet is too important for these silly games to continue unchecked.

 

[Kate]

My insightful reasoning quite simple. Com is just a fad.

A 25-year old fad. I'm sure there is a better word for it.

The real fads are facebook, twitter etc and those silly icons you see at the bottom of web pages. Likewise myspace was a fad. Fads come and go. Domain names are not new and they are here to stay.

One major disadvantage for coms
is the incompetence of VeriSign, its cost, the fact that
all the available good names are being hoarded by squatters

Neustar is much worse than VeriSign. As for the good names they are gone in .us too. .us is also subject to censorship issues.

If you believe that .COM is overvalued, why would you own one?
Especially when you can get great .US domains so cheap.
Can you give me a single reason to own .COM over .US other
then the fact that its fashionable?

The US is the only large country that shuns its own extension, and .us is a poorly run extension.
.us is not a good option for a serious, large-scale web project targeting American consumers. In the US it seems you must be on .com to exist. In other countries the ccTLDs are often favored over the .com for local use. But in the US the local extension is not perceived so well by consumers.

 

[Archangel]

1.) We believe .com is valuable.And yes, sometimes .com is overvalued, but aren't all extensions the same? Answer: yes.

2.) Even in America,many ppl dunno what .us is. You want 1 reason? I could give you at least 10 off the top of my head without even trying. But the fact .us doesn't exist to the vast majority of the world is the only reason you need. ppl would type in MusicUS.com before the addy they were trying to access: music.us.

3.) .com is not and had never been 'fashionable.' Fashionable extensions are VANITY extensions. .company is a fad/vanity. .com is a solid structure, tested throughout well over 20 years.

The fact alone that you compared the value of a .com to a .us pretty much says it all: you really need to leave the domain industry before your wallet gets hurt.

"Ew! I don't want that wine! It's 300 years old! I'd rather have a can of beer, seeing as it was made a week ago and is fresh!"

If you believe that .COM is overvalued, why would you own one?
Especially when you can get great .US domains so cheap.
Can you give me a single reason to own .COM over .US other
then the fact that its fashionable? And it would have to be a really
awful .COM domain that you can get for the $8 registration fee.

 

[dnk]

It appears the value of .com domains is decreasing. Finding it difficult to get a fair price for any of my LLLL.com domains

 

[bmugford]

As long as there is an internet, and there is a need for domains, then .COM will be the dominant global extension.

.COM grew organically as the internet grew. It has become synonymous with the internet. It is not going to be replaced by an endless amount of inferior options.

Brad

 

[Archangel]

And you think a niche being lower than hoped (in this case, LLLL) means .com is decreasing in value? Sorry but I'm finding it extremely hard to think of you as a real domainer right now.

Of course, you can just sell me all your LLLL.com's for reg fee, if you believe .com is dying. I'd happily take them off your hands.

It appears the value of .com domains is decreasing. Finding it difficult to get a fair price for any of my LLLL.com domains

 

[forge]

It appears the value of .com domains is decreasing. Finding it difficult to get a fair price for any of my LLLL.com domains

LLLLsales dot com and even eBay contradict this and show that at least wholesale values are higher than ever before, with the possible exception of 2008.

 

[Kate]

It appears the value of .com domains is decreasing. Finding it difficult to get a fair price for any of my LLLL.com domains

LLLL.com are overrated by domainers, If you bought yours at the peak of the bubble then you may have overpaid for them.

Of course, you can just sell me all your LLLL.com's for reg fee, if you believe .com is dying. I'd happily take them off your hands.

Actually many are worth little more than regfee.

And for some bizarre reason domainers think an artificial buyout can do anything to increase the value.

 

[Archangel]

I've rid of all my LLLL's long ago. It does confuse me how LLLL.com's not being worth as much as 2009 etc. numbers is a sign of the .com losing value. But if someone wants to think aexr.com & aexr.us have the same value (or the .us being the more valuable of the 2), then it's a sign that some domainers lack common sense. lol

I recall the LLL.mobi buyout. Yeah, we all remember how well that went.

LLLL.com are overrated by domainers, If you bought yours at the peak of the bubble then you may have overpaid for them.

Actually many are worth little more than regfee.

And for some bizarre reason domainers think an artificial buyout can do anything to increase the value.

 

[forge]

It appears the value of .com domains is decreasing. Finding it difficult to get a fair price for any of my LLLL.com domains

Can you please qualify your statement? Are you referring to the reseller market or end-user sales.

I have noticed some end-user hesitancy but I blame this mostly on today's overall economy.

 

[dnp1234]

I love .com. Spent the most I have paid so far for a domain two months ago on a nice keyword/product .com as well. .com ftw Still hanging onto my premium .in investments though.

 

[mwzd]

.Com still has the most recall and probably will for the forseeable future, too many people have invested too much money in it for it to be otherwise. Likewise any other existing TLDs that have substantial development. All the other TLDs launched for the next 50 years, combined, probably would not match the investments various stakeholders have put into existing TLDs – its just simple economics really.

http://www.mwzd.com/domain-names/forget-domains-buy-a-tld/

I wrote that in 2008, haven't had any reason to change what I think yet.

 

[dna]

1.) We believe .com is valuable.And yes, sometimes .com is overvalued, but aren't all extensions the same? Answer: yes.

2.) Even in America,many ppl dunno what .us is. You want 1 reason? I could give you at least 10 off the top of my head without even trying. But the fact .us doesn't exist to the vast majority of the world is the only reason you need. ppl would type in MusicUS.com before the addy they were trying to access: music.us.

3.) .com is not and had never been 'fashionable.' Fashionable extensions are VANITY extensions. .company is a fad/vanity. .com is a solid structure, tested throughout well over 20 years.

The fact alone that you compared the value of a .com to a .us pretty much says it all: you really need to leave the domain industry before your wallet gets hurt.

"Ew! I don't want that wine! It's 300 years old! I'd rather have a can of beer, seeing as it was made a week ago and is fresh!"

I would like to thank Archangel for his obviously heartfelt and
sincere concern that my economic well being might be hurt
by my incompetant domaining. I would like to ease his concern
by letting him know that would be extremely unlikely.
The vast majority of my 50+ domains that I own, I got for the $8
registration fee. Some of those domains were

anatomy.us
dna.us
biology.us
chemistry.us
physics.us
geology.us
soul.us
hydrogen.us

I wonder what those clever dot Com snobs were doing when I was
registering these domains for $8 (dot com snobs is what the urban
dictionary calls you, I think it fits).

Occasionally I did pay the big bucks for a domain name at a Namepros auction.

LSD.us cost me $75
HTML.us was $150. Someone else taking part in the auction thought the auction was unfair
and offered me $400, which I turned down.
fiction.us was $150 and is now a DMOZ listed and PR4 website.
I forget what EXE.us cost me, but again someone said the auction to be somehow unfair
and offered me more money than I paid for it.
JPEG.us cost me $250.
creation.us cost me $250. Some minister who was building a creation museum ofered me $2000.
I asked for $10,000 and never sold it.

I still own them all actually. They aren't for sale.
I will take them to my grave with me.

If I lose too much money on the yearly registration fees, I can always
sell my beach house. Let's hope that it doesn't come to that.