You Missed The Gold Rush - Letting Go Of The Past (Agree? / Disagree?)

[ChrisGuthrie]

I see people on this forum from time to time say things like "If only I had registered whatever domain name back in 1995 that would have been so awesome"

Do you believe the woulda shoulda coulda attitude that occasionally crops up as helpful or harmful?

I know people love to talk about the "what if's" in life but I'm just curious what everyone thinks about this attitude.

I believe it's only stopping people from taking action and becoming successful in something else because they are so focused on the past successes of others.

What is your opinion?

 

[glaxxon]

Very true.
Its a fact that people in the 90's had better chances to get their hands on premiums.
But, would you have done that had you been in their place? It was a new market and nothing could be said about the future of domains and whether it was worth shelling out $100 for a domain at that time and then renewing it yearly.
Most people would have stuck to something more conventional like stocks, etc rather than investing in domains. Its only now that everyone knows thats its a proven market that we all invest.

Its like saying, if i was in the 90's i could have started Amazon or Ebay.

You can still do something in the present, just that what you have to do to make it big is either very competitive or not that obvious as it was in the 90's when these people started Amazon, etc.

 

[LegitimeDomains.com]

Maybe the llll.com will be like lll.com 10 years from now. Maybe even more maybe much less. .

 

[edomain.biz]

I was hand regging on dial up in 2000-2002 during drops against what I call the big boys. I still picked up a number of pretty good names. Most people said that they would never amount to anything. LOL

---------- Post added at 07:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:24 AM ----------

Also, I think there are numerous deals to be had today.
Instead of investing a few hundred in a bunch of crap names, it is much better to take that money and get the best name you can.

 

[John Baron]

the question we need to ask our self is what does the people in 20 years from now going to say about our time and all the opportunities they missed back in 2011 when the internet was so young.

 

[edomain.biz]

Good John!


I have registered a number of technology names that I thought would break through in the future and made some money that way. I have also been wrong… like my interactive video names that everyone called Wii! The large sales seemed to make up for it though. There are a lot of opportunities out there.

 

[twomoon]

If I would begin to invest in domains in 90's I'm not sure would I hold names that I registered in 90's till today. I guess - no.
So, I'm happy I'm here now.

 

[Sparhawke]

If I stopped and thought about all the "what ifs?" I would be in a state of total catatonia...

When I was 12 I went to a stockbroker asking about buying into a company that was one of the first to lay fiber optics in England, 7 years before the boom. I was never taken seriously and didn't know how to assert myself better in that situation, needless to say if I had pressed the issue I wouldn't be sitting here now :p

Looking back can be a good thing, but not if it stops you going forward, or in the words of the great man himself:

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it" ~ Winston Churchill"

 

[alien51]

Do you believe the woulda shoulda coulda attitude that occasionally crops up as helpful or harmful?

Yes, it is helpful.... to ICANN. Every form of "regret", is a human "need" that entrepreneurs can exploit to make money. If people "miss" something, they'll buy it if you offer them a ticket to catch up.

That is why ICANN is opening up a new set of exotic TLDs, so that people can relive once again the Gold Rush of the past, and give today's speculators a chance to make their dreams come true. lol

---------- Post added at 01:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:21 PM ----------

the question we need to ask our self is what does the people in 20 years from now going to say about our time and all the opportunities they missed back in 2011 when the internet was so young.

People 20 years from now will say... "those were the days".

Because by that time, people will perform online search by just touching ICONS on their touchpads. Typing on keyboards just to search stuffs, is a terrible waste of calories. Using the "Minority Report" finger-touch-and-drag technology, websites will appear as icons that will launch when you touch them. Domain names will just be embedded in the background and will become irrelevant. Icons about "Merchants" or "Info" will open up into more icons that would say "Hotels" or "Rental Cars" or "Wikipedia" or "Online Magazines". It won't even matter if you have the right keywords on your domain. Your popularity will be rated based on Social Media scores, and content. Domain extensions will be used just for "segregation" purposes. So your domains don't even need to be catchy, brandable, or beautiful. Domains will just be treated like dog tags. Your prominence on the internet will be based on your website's true content value, because people won't even need to "memorize" your domain to find you.

It's up to the Search Engine companies to dramatically change the face of searching on the internet. This "list" type of search results is sooo Yesterday.

 

[thetruman]

Because by that time, people will perform online search by just touching ICONS on their touchpads. Typing on keyboards just to search stuffs, is a terrible waste of calories. Using the "Minority Report" finger-touch-and-drag technology, websites will appear as icons that will launch when you touch them. Domain names will just be embedded in the background and will become irrelevant. Icons about "Merchants" or "Info" will open up into more icons that would say "Hotels" or "Rental Cars" or "Wikipedia" or "Online Magazines". It won't even matter if you have the right keywords on your domain. Your popularity will be rated based on Social Media scores, and content. Domain extensions will be used just for "segregation" purposes. So your domains don't even need to be catchy, brandable, or beautiful. Domains will just be treated like dog tags. Your prominence on the internet will be based on your website's true content value, because people won't even need to "memorize" your domain to find you.

It's up to the Search Engine companies to dramatically change the face of searching on the internet. This "list" type of search results is sooo Yesterday.

and you sound so much science fiction (being an alien I guess helps ...:tu

 

[alien51]

There is an old saying which goes: "If you can't win the battle, then perhaps you need to change the battlefield".

The problem with earthlings, is that your entire world revolves around the set of rules forced upon you by your dominant fellow earthling rulers. You work around Google's rules. You work around ICANN's rules. You work around Godaddy's rules. And you love it.

Aliens like Steve Jobs, know how to change the battlefield. That's why Apple's stock price is soaring. If not for the IPad and IPhones, you're probably still stuck with your desktops and cranky cellphones.

BTW, that Mark Zuckerberg guy, he's just an earthling who got lucky.

 

[Domainate.com]

There's always opportunity in domains. Whether there's a "gold rush" kind of opportunity or not, there's always opportunity in domains. Some people just don't look hard enough because they only care about the blatant gold rush opportunities (or ones that appear as such).

 

[alien51]

There's always opportunity in domains. Whether there's a "gold rush" kind of opportunity or not, there's always opportunity in domains. Some people just don't look hard enough because they only care about the blatant gold rush opportunities (or ones that appear as such).

However, the word "opportunity" also equates to the word "speculation". When you speculate on domains, it is a given that you see an opportunity that's why you bought it in the first place. Only in the end you'll find out that your speculation (a.k.a. opportunity) turns out to be a bust.

I think it's much more important that you drill down into your opportunity, and examine your "business model" and assess whether it will actually work for you to earn a profit.

It may have worked in the past, but will it still work today?

 

[thelensboss]

it really doesnt and shouldnt matter that much.

 

[gemstar]

Been there.Done that. What people don't get is that opportunity is just around the corner regarding domain investment.

P.S.You may quote me years down the road.

 

[cache]

the year 2011 will be the missed "gold rush", history will repeat

 

[gemstar]

The only good thing about saying "History will repeat" is domain investing.

 

[Sparhawke]

The thing about pioneers though is usually they end up having a fairly bad end, and they are never written into the history books; we all know the story of the bloke who brought disease to foreign lands back in the day, but who here actually knows the name of the sailor who fate decided to be that person?

Much better to be a settler, you live longer.

 

[GiftedDomains]

the question we need to ask our self is what does the people in 20 years from now going to say about our time and all the opportunities they missed back in 2011 when the internet was so young.

after reading OPs post, i was going to write this exact comment of yours, when i saw that you already wrote it!

fully agree

---------- Post added at 03:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:11 AM ----------

Because by that time, people will perform online search by just touching ICONS on their touchpads. Typing on keyboards just to search stuffs, is a terrible waste of calories. Using the "Minority Report" finger-touch-and-drag technology, websites will appear as icons that will launch when you touch them. Domain names will just be embedded in the background and will become irrelevant. Icons about "Merchants" or "Info" will open up into more icons that would say "Hotels" or "Rental Cars" or "Wikipedia" or "Online Magazines". It won't even matter if you have the right keywords on your domain. Your popularity will be rated based on Social Media scores, and content. Domain extensions will be used just for "segregation" purposes. So your domains don't even need to be catchy, brandable, or beautiful. Domains will just be treated like dog tags. Your prominence on the internet will be based on your website's true content value, because people won't even need to "memorize" your domain to find you.

It's up to the Search Engine companies to dramatically change the face of searching on the internet. This "list" type of search results is sooo Yesterday.

as a domainer, i hate to write this, but i agree that in 20 years things will be totally different than today. and yes, maybe domains won't be important anymore. maybe even there won't be such a thing as Domain Names anymore. who knows. I don't know. but i guess it will take longer than 20 years.

but maybe there will be new "gold mines" soon with same possibilities like in domain biz 1990.

well, whatever, until that time i will keep domaining.

btw, i sold A-51.com 2 years ago cheap on ebay. would have been the perfect name for you lol

 

[twomoon]

The perspective that in 20 years there would be no domains is a good perspective for us, domainers.

On the other hand I can't even imagine how domains could disappear. More and more people and companies are coming to Internet and every company need to have something that will identife this company - the domain.
I think it's almost impossible that something would replace domains.
Every house need some ground to be build on it and every site (company's avatar in cyberspace) need to have a domain to be created on it.

IMO