Uniregistry! (Review)

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NOTE: This is NOT a paid post.

After attending Namescon 2016, I decided to give Uniregistry a try.

First, I hand registered a few domains to “test the waters,” so to speak.

I love it! I am amazed at how smooth and fast managing the domains was. No hanging loops, no error messages, or complicated click-throughs to get where I needed to go.

Uniregistry is keeping it simple and stupid – just the way I like it!

So I decided to transfer some domains to them.

I had some issues, but, in the end, these issues were user-based (In other words, it was me, not them, LOL), such as forgetting to turn off privacy or forgetting that some emails were non-matching emails at the old registry. Yikes!

Then I had some Form of Authorization (FOA) issues. Again, it was a case of my not clicking on a button (not scrolling down far enough, etc., really stupid stuff).

Even so, after I submitted a support ticket, Jordan Fox Seales from Tech Support called me from the Cayman Islands, and he walked me through everything. I was so shocked.

Wow!

And, THANK YOU.

At this point, I’m just a small account, not of much significance to their bottom line, but I was treated like a major player.

I recommend that potential registrants give Uniregistry.com a try, perhaps starting with a hand-regged domain that needs to be private because privacy is free at Uniregistry.

Frank Schilling Speaks Out on Twitter (and It's Brilliant)

Domaining is a 50/50 balance between errors and brilliance. The most successful people make the most mistakes.

~ Frank Schilling on Twitter (9/24/15)

Brilliant observation and very true!

Introducing our new name: THE Domain Page

THE Domain Page
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Formerly Ms. Domainer and the Synerji Blog, our blog has a new name: “THE Domain Page,” our forever name. Why we like this change:

* The name is descriptive as to what this blog covers

* The name is less specific to one person

* The name is politically neutral

* The name is gender neutral

* The name echoes the description of our sales page, which is “THE Name Page”

* In this instance, the definite article “THE” (in all capitals) strengthens our brand, suggesting a one-of-a-kind experience

* The name has a nice ring with its slant rhyme

We post only when we can offer important information and in-depth coverage on current domain news through opinion, editorial, and humor.

So welcome to old and new visitors!

Alphahol!

A New Elixir for Domainers!

Hot from the distillery!

The Alphabet Craze (Let’s Sing the ABC Song)...

The ABC Song __________________

For all of you jumping onto the Google Alphabet craze by registering hundreds of Alphabet or Alpha domains (either in .xyz or .com):

Beware of hitting the Alphahol*, lest the non-domaining world asks Alpha, WHAT???* and decides to AlphaLOL* at your lemming behavior.

And, yes, Alphahol.com, Alphalol.com, ABCWHAT.com, and TheABCSong.com redirect here – my only Alpha or ABC domains.

Yes, I have coined the first two terms (the third term could be argued against, LOL).

“The ABC Song,” of course, is a famous ditty among the 0 - 6-year-old set.

I have no .xyz domains and do not plan to register any...

LOL!

And enjoy!

Definitions Added:

* Alphahol: 

The ABC/Alphabet/Alpha elixir – or is it something in the air? – that causes domainers to go into a hand regging frenzy, slurping up all the available satellite ABC/Alphabet/Alpha words

* ABC, WHAT???:

A term of incredulity after non-domainers heard about Google’s BIG ABC.xyz announcement. Perhaps a more focused “Say, what?” (Variant: ABC, WTF? Not a domain for me, though).

* AlphaLOL:

After their incredulity, the reaction of the rest of the world when they process the fact that Google has actually registered ABC.xyz and that domain investors are chasing similar domains, especially in .xyz.  

* “The ABC Song” (a.k.a. “The Alphabet Song”):

No definition needed, but the song was first copyrighted in 1835 by the Boston-based music publisher Charles Bradlee, and given the title “The A.B.C.”

Wikipedia offers the history of the song. 

BabyBanana.com UDRP Grab Denied!

Live-Right, LLC: Waaaaahhhhhhh!
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In an important 16 July 2015 UDRP decision, Respondent Vertical Axis (Kevin Ham) and law firm Esqwire.com successfully defended BabyBanana.com in a potential domain name grab by Complainant Live-Right, LLC.

Read the full decision here

In an age in which just about every term is trademarked for one thing or another, this is an important decision in favor of domain investors, especially long-term holders of domain names who renew their domain names.

The Complainant argued that renewing BabyBanana.com constituted “bad faith”;  in a strongly worded statement, the three-member panel (Diane Thilly Cabell, Beatrice Onica Jarka, and Hon. Karl V. Fink, Retired) roundly rejected that claim:

  

“There is no evidence that the renewal of the domain name was anything more than protecting an existing investment.”

This is a case well-worth keeping in mind; domain investors can only hope that a body of precedent will stop this nonsense of frivolous UDRP filings.

Additionally, the panels ought to include more Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) rulings with hefty fines attached, monies to be distributed to the Respondent.

Hit frivolous filers where they live: their pocketbooks!

One important point to remember: a long-term holder of a domain name can still lose a UDRP; “bad faith” can also include shady use of a name, for example, parking the domain and filling it with the Complainant’s ads, creating scam sites, or cloning the Complainant’s website.

Thanks to TheDomains for this tip.

Idete.com -- Idete (Foreign Travel Domain Name)

*Years ago, I picked up idete.com (for now, parked on my sales page); the word looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it, so I Googled it: over 900,000 hits.

It means “going” in Serbo-Croatian (yeah, yeah, I know – the Serbs and the Croats are working toward developing two separate languages, but expats like me who have lived in that region still see them as similar languages with different alphabets). It’s pronounced something like “idea tay” (but not exactly).

This domain would be perfect for a travel site for Eastern Europeans; I have never met people who like to travel as much as my Eastern European friends. They will often plan a last minute trip on a dime, and travel agents in the Balkans do pretty well. Also, when they vacation, they do it wholeheartedly and are willing to spend their hard-earned Euros (and local currency) for a nice, relaxing vacation.

Back in 1988, when I lived in Macedonia (then part of Yugoslavia), computers were a rarity (I wrote my first novel in longhand--it remains unpublished), and the internet was non-existent – everything was done by hand, including transferring my husband’s dinars from a bank in Belgrade into his Skopje account.

When we returned in 2004, Macedonia was no longer a part of Yugoslavia, most young people spoke English (not the case in 1988), and other changes no less dramatic: computers and ATMs were everywhere, and the internet was available (although expensive – we paid $80.00 a month).

In 2008, the internet is less expensive, and even more Macedonians than ever use the internet. Computerization has become the norm, and the 21st Century has rapidly arrived in this small country and the adjoining countries and beyond, the rest of the Balkans advancing even further. I believe that the area is beginning an era of growth and boom times.

Still, the Balkans is a small area and, thus, a small market, so a travel site built around this word would need to reach a more international market.

Then for an English-speaking consumer, I needed to come up with an English subtitle and registered the following possibilities: GoingGoingGO.com (Going, Going...GO!), GoingGO.com (Going...GO!) and YouGoPlaces.com (You Go Places).

I like the second possibility the best, but the others look pretty good as well. And it’s just too complicated (and $$$) to chase after an aftermarket domain that has just “possibilities.” Better to be safe than sorry later. In the future, YouGoPlaces.com should be fairly easy to sell, though I wouldn’t expect a huge profit on it.

I would be tempted to pay someone to help me develop the idete travel site, but I need to sleep on it for a while. It could be that there are too many sites like that, so I would need to do some research and find a niche.

For now, I have invested very little to develop the beginning of a viable business with a brandable and pronounceable five-letter dot-com domain (with good Google numbers and alphabet position), and three snappy satellite domains.

My advice to new domainers: keep your eye on fire-sale domains, but do be careful. I discovered some domains that sounded good, but they just didn’t have the Google numbers.

For names that sound good but have lousy numbers: don’t look to them for direct navigation possibilities but, rather, as branding possibilities.

Also, don’t forget to check the USPTO website for possible trademark issues.

Right now, I have a fire sale name parked on Sedo with a totally unrelated keyword because of possible trademark issues – another story, another post.

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*This piece has been updated and moved here from an old blog.

Life is a Brand -- Lifeisabrand.com

I have decided to mix the personal and the professional on my personal blog:

LifeIsABrand.com

All new domaining related posts will now appear on this blog.

Thank you!

NewsVroom.com: A Newspaper That Gets It, and Gets It Right!

In today's local paper ("Viewpoints," York Sunday News/York Daily Record, York, PA, 26 August 2012, page 1B) announced a new "media lab" called NewsVroom, which "...will help journalists interact with the community."

This mobile news van, which uses up-to-date, state of the art technology, will travel around the community and cover important sports events, among other stories.

Randy Parker, Managing Editor, says, "With this technology showcase on wheels, we'll show [our readers] the latest tools and techniques we use to help [readers] get the news [they] need about York County."

I'm delighted on two levels:

1. The editors "get" that the newspaper medium is changing rapidly and that they must change with it. And so they are. Over the past few years, the YDR website has evolved into a wonderful news site. And, yet, they are still catering to an older generation who still like the smell of news print--the best of both worlds. Eventually, I suspect that YDR will eventually evolve into an all-web publication, but, for now, YDR recognizes its current demographic.

2. A savvy Webster registered NewsVroom.com (redirects--unmasked--to the YDR main site) on August 20, 2012, BEFORE making the big announcement. I don't know if this was a hand reg, backorder, or an aftermarket buy, but it hardly matters. I can't imagine that a name that has experienced four drops in six years would be that expensive (but in this biz, one never knows--that is, unless the domain hits the DNJournal sales page or NameBio).

I have seen far too many instances of companies that announce a new technology, product, or service, only to later say, "Ruh, Roh, we forgot the domain name" and then end up having to buy the domain for way too much money from someone who registered the name seconds after the announcement.

I absolutely love the term NewsVroom: it's brandable AND descriptive of what the service actually is and does. Perhaps the next step would be to apply for a trademark on NewsVroom on USPTO.

Hats off to the York Daily Record!

Vroom! Vroom!

An important Decision...

March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move toward perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life's path.

--Khalil Gibran

There is a good reason why I haven't updated this blog for a long time: I simply didn't have that much to say about the domaining industry, and I have no desire to parrot what others have already covered, nor do I wish to dig up dirt--much too easy.

Also, I doubt very much if this industry will ever clean itself up: too many scandals have taken place in the past few years, and very few people give a damn.

Business as usual.

While I'm not quitting the industry, I'm curtailing my involvement, primarily my public presence.

Instead, I'm going to concentrate on my blogging activities, paying special attention to Thought for the Day, my latest blog.

Goodbye!

CoAftermarket.co(m) Sales Site: Become a Team Member!

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Got .co to sell?

Got second thoughts about your .co investment?

It looks as though .co will be popular, at least in the short run, but if you're feeling a bit shaky about your .co buys, why not try selling them at CoAftermarket.co(m)? (Yes, I regged both--I'm no fool).

Becoming a team member is free because you'll be posting all your own listings.

If you would rather not become a team member, you may purchase a listing for your domains, at $10.00 each.

More information

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Snark.tv: SOLD!

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SOLD!!!

Since March, the .tv TLD has exploded!

And Snark.tv has fantastic potential as a humor channel, either as a new channel or a re-branding of an existing channel.

Snark is defined by the Urban Dictionary as a combination of "snide" and "remark"; a sarcastic remark.

Snark originated with Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark.

So "Snark" is both a dictionary word and a brandable term.

Happy bidding!

SOLD!!!
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3D Domains: Proceed With Caution!

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Image from Wikipedia Commons and released into the public domain

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Over at Namepros, a lot of domainers have caught the 3D fever, and, predictably, some major trolling has been occurring, probably an effort to pump up a lot of bad domains, create buzz, and then sell to newbies.

It's a very entertaining thread, but don't take it too seriously. Most of the premium 3D domains were registered in the 1990's and early 2000's. Your only hope of snagging a premium 3D is on the aftermarket. However, be careful there as well; a lot of lousy names end up on Snapnames, Namejet, and Pool. Also think about possible applications for your future 3D domain: 3D Film is better than 3D Steak.

It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of domain name pumping; however, these hucksters on Namepros and Digital Point are pros who have only one goal in mind: to part the naive and the newb from their hard-earned cash and then disappear.

I would be willing to bet that some of the so-called new members are quietly PM'ing the real newbies and offering them junk 3D domains for inflated prices.

Don't fall for the ploy.

I hand regged six 3D domains, but I believe that they are long shots, so I stopped there, but some newbies are regging 150-300 domains (or so), based on the domain pumping going on. I would never buy from some of the "new members" who are loudly declaring 3D domains the best thing since the internet.
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My Take on "Halvarez" and My Five-year Plan as a Domainer

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I'm coming out of temporary semi-retirement for two purposes:

1. To weigh in on the Snapnames "halvarez" scandal.

2. To articulate my five-year plan in this or a related industry

Two and a half years ago, I fell into this industry quite by accident. A friend, a non-domainer, showed me the link to Domain Tools Whois. I was interested in regging some domains for a project (now defunct), but I didn't like Netsol's search function (a good thing, given Netsol's front running activities). It was kind of fun, poking around to see what was available. I was truly shocked to see that most of the premium names were gone.

I knew nothing about domain parking, although I had seen some of those minimalist Geo portals that the average web surfer hates.

Then I stumbled upon the Domain Tools Blog, which then belonged to Jay Westerdal (along with Domain Tools WHOIS). In those days, before he sold Domain Tools, he posted a lot of good information, and I had a lot of questions, which he would patiently answer.

Without not really knowing too much, I started hand-regging domains. Some were for projects, others I just liked.

Most of them were crap names, long since gone, though a few still hang around (these are semi-developed). This mad regging of junk seems to be a natural learning curve for the newbie domainer, so I'm not ashamed of this part of my domaining life. Live and learn.

I always knew that the domaining biz had a whiff of a stink about it, but it was only when I started becoming more knowledgeable did I realize how corrupt this field really is. I even wrote about it here, in particular about the way the deletion cycle is supposed to work and the way it really works.

I have always suspected that shill bidding is rampant in domaining auctions, which is why I try to be careful when I bid in an aftermarket auction. I go into an auction knowing that a competing bidder could be a shill, so I set the highest amount I am willing to pay and then step away from the computer.

I am fairly certain that this happened with Please.info (at Pool), an auction I actually lost because I had set my highest proxy at $207 (or $227--I don't have access to my records at the moment), and the high bid was $300-something. A few days later, the domain showed up in my account with no explanation. When I questioned Pool about it, they were waffly, but it had to be one of two circumstances: a shill bidder or a non-paying bidder (which, in a sense, IS a shill bidder). I believe I got a great deal on this domain (especially now that .info seems to be emerging as a good, solid TLD), but it was also a bit disconcerting because a nagging question remains: Should I have paid less for this domain? It's not that the amount was going to break my bank, but no one likes to feel like a dupe.

Here's my take: at both Pool and Snap, I am required to have a credit card on file. When I win an auction, the money is taken from my card automatically; there is no waiting for funds to clear. Perhaps the "top" bidder's card was over limit OR top bidder simply did a chargeback (buyer's remorse) or top bidder was a shill. None of these scenarios bode very well.

Right around the same time, I started to read stories over at Namepros about "halvarez." In fact, questions about this "legendary" ghost bidder started in 2006, long before I started in this biz, but Snapnames remained mum and did not investigate until a few weeks ago.

Those of us in the biz are familiar with the details surrounding former Snapnames V.P. Nelson Brady shilling as halvarez. But if you're new and have not heard the news, here's a link to DomainNameNews, which leads to other sites about this scandal.

So here's my take on halvarez and Snapnames:

First of all, I doubt if I can ever trust Snapnames again and will never probably use their service again.

All their contrite apologies mean nothing. The fact that they waited for years to investigate their resident V.P. crook leads me to believe that Snap officials didn't want to investigate, that they had a hand in the shill bidding. Even after all the warnings, Snap officials simply insisted that halvarez was a premium bidder--that nothing shady was going on.

Nelson Brady may be guilty, but he's also a scapegoat.

Companies don't admit to wrong doing unless a whistle blower or blackmailer threatens to blow the lid on the scandal. There had to be a legal and financial reason for coming clean, having nothing to do with consumer confidence. I suspect that if there were no precipitating circumstances, we would still be discussing the "legendary" halvarez throughout the domain blogs and forums.

The "confession" may also be a smokescreen for something more sinister going on at Snapnames and Oversee.

Also, I have questions about other auctions I have won. Apparently, halvarez typically did not bid in on other TLD names, even premiums, at least in the auctions on my list. But I wonder: were there other shill accounts at Snapnames, perhaps specializing in other TLDs?

When I was bidding on Poets.net (which I eventually won), I had a rather avid competing bidder, which raised the winning price by $500. I don't want to blab this user name because he or she might be completely innocent, and I think it's unfair to "out" someone who could be innocent of any wrongdoing.

But, you see, I have this nagging question in my mind: Did Snapnames steal $500.00 from me?

As long as this question remains unanswered, I simply can no longer do business with this company.

This scandal (among other issues) has caused me to rethink my place in the domaining business. I'm just not willing to do some of the seedy activities that seems to come with this biz, for example, spamming email addresses with sales pitches.

I have no doubt that I COULD do this and make money--I have sold domains to people who have come to me--but I just can't seem to hit that "send" button without feeling sick on my stomach.

You know, it's that "do unto others" rule that stops me dead in my tracks. I don't LIKE receiving such mail, so why on earth would I want to SEND it? I suppose I am what I am, and I'm not going to change.

So, here I am, a domainer who won't/can't do what she needs to do to sell domains. Not a very profitable business model.

Therefore, I have been thinking a lot about what I would LIKE to do that is somewhat related to domaining but doesn't involve direct sales. I have come up with the following five-year plan, to commence late July 2010:

1. Develop (with some professional help) some key sites that I already have, such as the following:

--Poets.net, which is my premium domain. This domain has the potential to be a category killer, but its potential (in its current form) is yet unrealized.

--PleaseBeAdvised.com, currently a redirect to Ple-ase.com, is a small advice site. Please.info also redirects to this site. I may switch the custom domain to the PleaseBeAdvised.com domain, but I want to ask around first.

--V-te.com ("Getting Out the Vote"), a voting platform that lists some voting-related .tel domains and links to their possible use. This is still somewhat speculative, but I have some time yet, given that none of my .tels expire before March 2011. Then I will have to decide if this is really a viable TLD. My gut says it's too soon to tell. If a large tele-communications company buys into .tel, then those of us holding premium one-word .tels could do very well, indeed. So I'm holding, despite what naysayers say.

--CharlottePerkinsGilman.com, which is a fairly high traffic site dedicated to a well-studied literary figure (long dead). But the site needs serious work and attention.

I'm not too worried about my personal sites (JenniferHome.com, MacedonianJournal.com, and Bugzita.com) or my academic site (MsSiegel.com, a God-send in my current position overseas). These were never intended to be money-making sites.

2. Invest in domains that follow my interests and passions, but dump the names that are NOT related to my areas, unless they are semi-premium names that I'm willing to hold for the future or sell at a profit.

Before I left the U.S., I already started this process: I went through my list and decided what I wanted to keep and what to let go that is no longer relevant. It's been difficult watching some of those names drop, but why keep them if they have little domaining value and no personal value? Why not let someone who might really want the name and could make something out of it have a crack at it?

Still, I see every drop as a personal failure, a name that once held high hopes and a great idea. But life changes and so do great ideas.

After five years, I would like to be out of domaining altogether, perhaps hanging onto a few great names that have been fully developed and realized as part of my business or names at least directing to these developed sites.

My Fulbright Award has made me realize that my first love is literature and writing, and, perhaps, domaining, for these past 30 months, has been a strange and surreal distraction.

By the way, I am writing a novel and posting a first draft online:

Corpus Delicious

There are some domaining references in it, but domaining is not the major premise of the novel. Also, I have used one of my domain names to create (for the novel) a substance called "A-hh."

The domain, A-hh.com, currently directs to my memoir excerpts.

See? I am a mess!

I will probably post at least one more time before July 2010.

I believe that this industry is in crisis, and I'd like to offer some suggestions on how to fix some of these problems.
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Is This the End of Journalism as We Know It?

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I haven't posted here lately because the longer I have been in this biz, the less (I realize) I know. And I haven't felt inspired to write much of anything about domaining. I'm sort of at a domaining crossroads right now.

In addition, in late September, I'll be off to Europe for 10 months; I have been awarded a Fulbright lectureship in my other field: creative writing. So much of my time has been taken up with preparing for my grand adventure. I feel very fortunate, indeed, to have been granted such a special honor.

But I'm not jumping on my blog (after a long absence) just to brag. Over at LLLL.com, Reece Berg has raised a point about traditional journalism that has struck a chord with me. I wrote the following response:

I absolutely agree that traditional journalism is in a sorry state and not just because of the internet. When journalists started giving up objectivity in their reporting, they started down on a slippery slope of presenting personal opinion as news. Yes, there is a place for editorial opinion, but it should be clearly presented as such. Believe it or not, people like their news straight--they like being able to come to their own conclusions about what the news story means to them.

Journalism as a field is definitely is at a serious crossroads; those who adapt to the new reality will survive. There will always be a place for good journalists (also known as "Jack-of-all-trades" because if they don't know much about a topic, they will do their research). However, the actual newspaper structure needs to change to an internet format--and fast.

Yes, I would pay for a subscription to, say, The New York Times and, maybe, my local newspaper, IF I could get my daily fix on a portable internet-enabled device, such as a Kindle. At least I would know that the writers would be vetted and that I wouldn't have to suffer through bad writing, horrid sentence structure, and unclear statements. Except for a few well-funded sites, citizen "journalism" tends to stink. No one wants to pay good writers what they are worth, so citizen journalism sites tend to hire anyone, whether or not they can write well.

To get my subscription $$$, a professional newspaper site would have to do the following:

1. Keep the site simple, free of pop ups, slide across ads, and flashing images, so that it doesn't take forever to load a page. Simple ads would be okay, for I do understand the realities of running a news site.

2. Give me access to their archives for free or at a reduced cost.

3. Offer other goodies, such as the book review and entertainment sections: ONLINE!

4. Make navigation as easy as possible, and also offer instant indexing of important news stories.

5. Most important, give me back my objective news stories, and don't tell me how to think. Let me digest the news the way I want. If I want someone to "analyze" a situation for me, then I'll go to CNN or MSNBC or some other political wonk site. For breaking news, I'll go to Twitter's Trending Topics (which often breaks news hours before CNN).

Newspapers have just been too slow in reacting to modern times. By not being proactive (by placing their internet ducks in a row, say, about 1990), they are now scrambling to keep up with the flow of internet news, much of it poorly written.

In the end, quality will prevail, but it may take a few years for the Old Gray Lady and her ilk to pick themselves up and adjust to an internet world.

By the way, as a side note, I have noticed that domain bloggers often just regurgitate what other domainers and, yes, what real journalists post online. Moreover, I have seen more bad grammar and creative spelling on domainer blogs than anywhere else. I figure that if a blogger doesn't take care of the basics, why should I find his or her posts credible? Why should I believe that the blogger's research methodology is any better than his/her sloppy spelling and sentence structure?

As an older person, I do lament the end of newspapers, the thump of my daily newspaper against the door, and the smell of newsprint.

But nothing ever stays the same, and I hope I never become the kind of old person who simply can't adjust to The New Realities of news delivery.

Besides, once newspapers go online, just think of all the trees that will be saved. The nostalgia of newsprint notwithstanding, I must admit: getting sheaths of papers delivered daily to my door does seem highly inefficient and cumbersome.

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