Friday, February 29, 2008

Edmund Burke and the Triumph of Evil

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
__________________________________________

A lot of good "men" did nothing while, spammers, scammers, and scrammers ran rampant through the internet.

"It's not MY problem," said the rich domainer raking in a thousand-plus a day. And he turned away and went back to his self interests, leaving the small domainer to struggle on his or her own.

God "men" did nothing as companies continued to auction off obvious TM and typo domains to spammers, scammers, and scrammers.

"It's perfectly legal, and you can't nail us," they said as they carried their bags of money to the bank. "We are untouchable."

And so they continued selling thousands of questionable domains, claiming that it would be "impossible" to develop the software to weed out the baddies and contact Apple when Apple look-alike domains come onto the auction block.

Yet these same naysayers know exactly when to grab expiring premium generic domains to be held hostage for the biggest buck.

Funny about that.

And now you want me and other small domainers to fork over a bunch of money to join ICA? To protect YOUR self-interests?

Really?

I think not.

The government and major companies won't be interested in my piddling domains; my domains are small potatoes--REALLY small potatoes. The most I ever paid for a domain is $205.00, and I have actually developed that one. It's not a dot-com, either.

The few TM infringement domains (bought when I was still a new domainer) I'll gladly hand over--consider it my tuition for the school of hard knocks.

Besides, I just don't give a flying f*ck anymore.

Go ahead. Organize. But I think you're too late. The congressional hounds have already been released, and the special interests of major companies are stronger than yours. MUCH stronger. And richer, too.

You had your chance to make a difference and still get rich. Instead of watching out for the general good of the internet, you were busy grabbing more and more for yourself. ICANN has turned a blind eye to your nefarious activities, because, guess what? YOU are ICANN.

The general public (including your legislators) doesn't give a flying f*ck either; just ask your average representative what he or she knows about domaining, and I'll bet you'll get a blank stare.

But, boy, those special interest groups know the drill and have the money to back it up. And now they will be able to grab your million-dollar domains willy-nilly, and the general public won't give a flying f*ck either.

Have a nice day.

Ms Domainer

3 comments:

  1. I was really surprised to see how much the ICA membership fees were.

    Maybe it's time a bunch of us parttime prefessional domainers banded together into our own organization.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Spambait.

    I can't imagine that our small numbers would impact a whole lot, although David did nail Goliath.

    ;=)

    I suspect that ICA is dollar short and a day late.

    Six months ago, despite the expense, I would have considered joining this organization, but I now know that these people do not have the small domainer's best interests at heart.

    They're scared for themselves, which is why they suddenly got religion.

    Best,

    Ms Domainer

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Ms. Domainer:

    This is my first time posting on your blog although I do frequent your blog from time to time. I was compelled to share my thoughts here because of the obvious passion that you displayed on the Snowe Bill issue.

    I think you have said perhaps what a lot of folks are thinking or asking themselves. . . who really are the threatened ones here? Who really has the most to lose? For me, I am still in my honeymoon phase of domaining. Although, I would hate to see this thing end right at the time that I decided to dive in at the deep end of the pool . . . ultimately, what can you do?

    Nevertheless, for what it is worth, in my final analysis, I believe that the proposed legislation will not pass as presently written, especially if every domainer under the sun begins to shoot his/her opposition of the Bill to their respective congressmen and women in Washington ASAP.

    I don't believe that the Snowe Bill will make it beyond the floors of Congress because it seems to me that in an already rocky and shaky economy, the Snowe Bill if it is ratified by Congress would have an effect so rippling and slippery that it would prove untenable for business, and the gains of trade.

    Quite simply, it seems to me that the passage of the Snowe Bill would have the potential to rock the publicly-traded domain companies. The trickle-down effect bourne out of this would then reverberate into the public and financial community in a manner similar to the current mortgage crisis, although perhaps on a smaller scale--but still quite damaging.

    Imagine if you will, "EveryDay Joe" who buys shares of Commmunicate.com, NameMedia, and other publicly-traded domain companies--not only would Domainers lose out, but also other stakeholders (i.e., Banks/financiers, etc)who are heavily invested. The passage of this ill-conceived and self-interested Bill would be almost Enronian in its effect and application, and I for one just don't see those Senators and Representatives ratifying a bill that will send the economy into further descent, and tailspin this time around. The impact would most likely put a lot of folks out of work and further disturb an already shaky economy.

    In any case, I, too was also amazed at the costs involved in becoming a member of ICA, and have not joined because of the costs. However, I do plan to join the ICA when I start making some real money off of some domain sales.
    Through my nine-month observation of the domain industry, I defintely can see a very developed domain caste system that exists between the "domain-haves" and the "domain-havenots." One can read about it almost everyday when a "have" says that any domain extenion other than .Com is garbage. This socially constructed domain stratification, says you are only a player if you were blessed, fortunate or lucky enough to get into the domain game 10+ years ago. Ironically, its almost collusive by nature if one sits back and really observes the domain dynamics at play. And yet, isn't this the American way--free enterprise, etc., etc. We have to remember that this industry is just a microcosm of larger society--same ailments and the same rewards.

    Nevertheless, to digress a bit: a few weeks ago, I suggested via email to an ICA Board Member that the organization consider offering membership through domain donation. Essentially. a domainer could join ICA by tendering a domain or domains equivalent to the relevant value of the membership interest.
    At that time, I intimated that the cost factor to join the ICA might be more of an impediment to increasing the ICA membership numbers and coffers. I suggested that in lieu of the relevant membership fee, that a prospective member be afforded the opportunity joint ICA by donating a domain or domains equivalent to the level of membership sought by the individual. Subsequently, ICA could then pool the donated domains for auction to help generate the revenue necessary to support ICA membership in defending against institutional and public legal attacks. At the time, I thought this was a reasonable and feasible idea if not acceptable to the ICA Board . . . to date, I haven't heard a peep back about this in the domainersphere although I thought it might be discussed at the most recent ICA meeting.

    Nonetheless, at this time, I don't think that Domainers should reinvent the wheel here, but rather I submit that serious domainers should at the very least try to form and present a very real and unified front regarding the Snowe Bill. However, if in fact, the chasm between the established, intermediate and upstart domainers is really too wide a gap to bridge, then perhaps a second organization may need to be formed. At present, I am warm to this idea, but if left with no other viable options, spambait's prior suggestion maybe right.

    Finally, if the Snowe Bill did get passed, wouldn't big companies like GoDaddy, Oversee/Moniker, NameMedia, and all other domain stakeholders lose a small fortune because many registrars also hold their own private portfolios? I am definitely not an economist, but I just don't see this Domain Apocalypse happening--at least not on the scale that is being proffered. Is the threat real? Yes, very real, but everyone is dirty in this game from what I can see. Perhaps the "Haves" for resting on their laurels for too long; smaller stakeholders for sitting on their hands too; and the politicians for inadequately protecting the rights of domain registrants in the first place.

    Anyway, as I said before--maybe I am just naive regarding these issues.

    Sorry for the long post,

    Dey

    ReplyDelete

Word verification has been enabled to circumvent spammers, not to censor bona fide posts. ;=)

I welcome your comments!

Ms Domainer

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

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