Ms Domainer

3D Domains: Proceed With Caution!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:41:00 +0000

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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

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:21:00 +0000

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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?

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:27:00 +0000

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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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Disruptive Telephony Weighs in on .tel

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:17:00 +0000

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This article from Disruptive Telephony offers one of the most balanced and comprehensive articles on the .tel TLD I have seen to date.

Do read the comments as well because they offer an intelligent and careful discussion/debate (no name calling or anger).

Some of the article is pretty technical (at least for a non-techie like me), but you'll get the general idea of the pros and cons regarding .tel.

At a later time, I will discuss the .tel domains I have registered (and why I tried for them), but I'm not sure if I even have them--some confusion and technical glitches still remain from yesterday's Landrush.
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Ms Domainer's New Avatar

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:19:00 +0000

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Ms Domainer's Avatar, Copyright 2008
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Okay, so a new avatar isn't exactly big news, but it's something to do as I await the results of my pre-bookings at Dotster for the .Tel Landrush, which, so far seems to be still "pending."

I have uploaded this avatar at both Twitter and Namepros.

Yes, I created this myself (tweaked from a larger graphic--also my original work--and, no, you may not use it as your avatar).

Other than the long red hair, I look very little like my avatar. For one thing, I'm a boomer, so that should tell you something.

Ah, the internet: No one knows if you're old, young, a dog (literally--see Snark.me), or a precocious seven-year-old kid.

Like advertising, avatars are designed to present a desired image.

Ah, the fountain of youth.
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Warren Buffet, The Oracle of Omaha

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:50:00 +0000

“Be fearful when others are greedy

and greedy when others are fearful.”

--Warren Buffet

Trademark, Vanity, Boutique TLDs Revisted

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:37:00 +0000

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Back in June 2008, I discussed some implications resulting from ICANN's approval of Boutique TLDs.

My response was mostly positive.

However, I now have some reservations. I still believe that offering companies an opportunity to set up a Trademark TLD is a good thing and can only help large companies shift their websites to dedicated registrars and their .companyname, thus helping to protect trademarks and stifle phishing/scamming "look-alike" sites.

However, here is my caveat:

Like many [people in the domaining business], I fear that allowing business people/businesses to apply for generic terms is positively scary. Imagine if someone controlled .bank--that could possibly cripple the banking industry worldwide, especially if the owner is a terrible caretaker and/or allows spammers and scammers to sign up for domains and email addresses.

I would hope that ICANN would reconsider allowing any one corporation or person to “own” a generic TLD, just because they come up with the money and a good story.

I posted the above comment on Domain Name Wire's article Why .eBay and .IBM Make No Sense. This article is well worth reading, especially the thoughtful thread that follows--discourse at its best. Agree or disagree, the people making their arguments are doing so in a respectful and intelligent manner.

To ICANN: some moderation would be in order in approving new TLDs, perhaps NOT approving generic TLDs at all.
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A "No Bull" Discussion about .Tel

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:46:00 +0000

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WebNames.ca offers a sensible explanation regarding the .Tel TLD.

No bull.

Scroll down to "About the .Tel Domain."
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Discussion: Will .Tel Succeed?

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 03:12:00 +0000

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Yesterday, I reviewed telnic's new TLD .Tel, now in Sunrise.

Today, I want to discuss .Tel's possibility for succeeding.

This TLD's success (as an app) will depend on these factors:

1. Advertising the concept to the masses and convincing them that this cell phone app is desirable and will get them where they need to be fast. Success depends on getting the word out and convincing the masses that this is a must-have service/product (I was around for the Pet Rock mania, so I know it can be done).

2. After landrush, dropping the prices so that the average person can buy.

3. Retaining the ease of dashboard, but...

4. As cell phone technology changes, be willing to add some more features, such as an image-uploading capability (personal or company logo) and simple text-based .tel email, keeping well within its simple template.

5. Avoiding schemes like auctioning off .Tel premiums (which telnic seems to be avoiding so far).

6. Staying away from tiered pricing of premiums direct from telnic and their registrars, but don't try to stop or control the aftermarket. Resellers often offer the best publicity for the TLD; consumers may not buy on the secondary market, but they may hear about .tel from resellers and buy from the registrars. Most non-business consumers will seek to register their personal or favorite user names and won't care about purchasing premium domains.

7. Not allowing spamming or fraud.

This TLD has a chance make a global impact on the mobile devices market. It won't be a blockbuster like dot-com, but could offer consistency and reliability for mobile device users who are often on the run and in a hurry.
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Beta Site: MsDomainer.vip.tel (Overall Review of .Tel)

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:41:00 +0000

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There is a new TLD, now in sunrise: .tel (telnic.org).

Landrush will begin on February 3, 2009, and last until March 23, 2009. General availability: March 24, 2009, and beyond.

.Tel will be reserved for mobile devices. One will not be able to build websites on this TLD or place AdSense or other PPC ads on it; users will be limited to a specific dashboard template, very limited text, and no uploading of images. Its main advantage: fast loading on mobile devices.

Think of a .tel site as an electronic business card and/or business directory in a niche market, straight from your cellphone.

Telnic, the company responsible for administering this TLD, is offering a "test drive" in beta for potential users (available to anyone for a free trial on a subdomain of vip.tel: a free temporary page, which will disappear, I presume, right around landrush).

So I just set up:

http://msdomainer.vip.tel/index.action (which does resolve on a computer.)

The dashboard is very easy and intuitive, although it's a bit slow and doesn't recognize some symbols, like apostrophes ('), which is annoying to a person interested in correct usage, so "Ms Domainer's Feeds" becomes "Ms Domainers Feeds."

Being that this is only a temporary page, I have added only two website links and two sets of keywords. Theoretically, the keywords will help search engines find the site and add it to the targeted rankings--that's what Telnic claims, anyway.

You could create a directory of websites that YOU choose. Thus, if you owned the generic Lawyers.tel, you could lease directory space to lawyers, info that you input yourself (although check TOS before doing this; I already know that you cannot lease sub-domains--my test drive site is a sub-domain--to third parties, but you can assign free sub-domains to family members and/or business partners).

The profit factor regarding reselling .tel domains will depend how the major search engines rank yet another TLD. Will Google, MSN, and Yahoo rank these sites fairly? If the search comes directly from a phone or other mobile device, will the search engines rank the site accordingly? This is currently unknown.

Phone apps could prove to be powerful; however, I'm not sure how that will work.

My site literally took me minutes to set up, but I don't know if there will be glitches once the TLD hits the registrars or if cost for hosting will be extra. I appreciate being able to test drive the TLD, a rarity in this biz.

On the other hand, Landrush domains, offered on a first-come, first-served basis, are a bit pricy: $125.00 per year, and there is a three-year minimum, so if you decide to apply, make sure that you sign up for a true premium (preferably one word), not something silly like DomainDonkeyAss.tel or CabanaMama.tel.

For uncommon names and terms, I suggest waiting until March 24 (general registration), but if you are seeking a sought-after generic, apply ASAP (some registrars are accepting pre-registrations). Even then, expect to be disappointed.

By the way, telnic.org shows a scrolling list of trademarks granted during sunrise, and it seems they are taking a liberal view of what constitutes a trademark. For example, Joker.tel has already been awarded to someone; I would have never thought that "joker" was a trademarked name, although if the company sells computers or cars under a joker trademark, it would be trademark-able.

Telnic uses the .org TLD; their instructions are image and text heavy, and it is obvious that .tel will never offer full web page functionality but just a directory/electronic business card.

Positive: when users click on a .tel link, they can be assured that their phone won't crash from overload.

Negatives:

(1) All the sites will look alike and won't (to my knowledge) even offer a small space for a simple image (although this could change as phone apps improve).

(2) It appears that .tel does not offer a .tel email address.

See the graphic on this page:

telnic.org

I did not see this capability on my dashboard.

But it would be an awesome app, wouldn't it?

Applications: Business and personal. I suspect that during sunrise businesses are snapping up their trademarks in .tel to avoid having to go through the UDRP process--the .me release was a disaster for TM holders, such as Porsche and Nissan.

I predict that the best applications will be found in generic words and personal names, both first and surnames.

Overall, I believe that .tel could prove to be a popular and much used TLD; the Telnic administrator seems to be doing all the right things in launching this TLD, avoiding holding back pages and pages of generics for auction and being up-front with potential consumers.
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President Barack Obama Site

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:00:00 +0000

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Not surprisingly, my Barack Obama site has had a spike in traffic today. It is truly an exciting time in history.

No matter how you voted--that is, if you are a U.S. citizen--this presidency will go down in history as a shift in the way we view race.

I sincerely hope that our President will not be viewed JUST a Black president but everyone's president.

I'll be posting, on the Obama site, regular updates all day.
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Ms Domainer's Domaining Feeds: List of Sites Included

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:19:00 +0000

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In addition to my own blog, here are the sites that have been included so far in Ms Domainer's Domaining Feed Site:

. aeiou.com

. Asia Seo Guru

. AuDA

. Chef Patrick

. CircleID

. Conceptualist

. David Carter

. Defend My Domain Blog

. DNBlogger

. DN Domain News

. DN Journal

. DNN: Domain Name News

. DNUnderground

. DNXpert

. Domain Bash

. The Domain Columnist

. Domain Junkies

. Domain Market in Poland

. Domain Name Wire

. Domainer Income

. Domainer News

. Domaining.org.uk

. Domaining Sites with Unavailable Feeds

Domaining.com
Mister.us
Namepros.com
. The Domains

. Dot Sauce

. Dot Weekly

. eBusinessDomains

. Elliot Silver

. Fka200

. Frank Schilling

. Good URL Bad URL

. The Frager Factor

. Inside Domaining

. Michael Gilmour

. Name.com

. Name Cake

. Name Wise Blog

. New Found Names

. Predictive Domaining

. Rick Latona

. Rick's Blog

. Short Domains

. Sky Domains

. Traverse Legal

. Trend Domaining

. YGrab

I have included some international sites as well; when I first started domaining, Domaining.org.uk was kind enough to give my site a positive thumbs up, so I decided early on in my career that, whenever possible, I would make a point of including international domainers.

I also included CircleID because while it is not specifically a domaining site, this sophisticated and comprehensive site covers many aspects of internet issues, including domaining.

If you have a domaining site that you would like to appear on my feed, please let me know, and I'll add it.

Criteria: Your site must be about domaining and contain news, insights, and opinions about the industry (in other words, not just a sales page).
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ANNOUNCEMENT: Ms Domainer's Domaining Feeds

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:34:00 +0000

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UPDATE: Below, in red

And it's FREE!

See Ms Domainer's Domaining Feeds.

If you forget the URL, I have redirected MsDomainer.net to the site.

I adore the feed page at Domaining.com, but when the site started charging and asking for personal information, I decided to set up a personal feed aggregator, but then, I thought, "Why not set up something to share with the entire domaining community?"

But I'm not all that tech savvy; I often know WHAT I need to do, but not necessarily HOW to do it.

Then I remembered that Squidoo.com offers a module feature that sets up feeds. I'm sure that the intended use is one or two feeds per "lens" (their term for web page), but why not set up a site primarily made of feeds?

It's definitely a workaround for a less techie person like me, and it was a bit fussy to set up.

I feared that the page would load slowly, but I was pleasantly surprised.

It's not perfect, mind you; when you navigate away from the page (as one must do to read the articles on the sponsoring websites), you end up having to reload the Squidoo page, and you lose your place on the site. However, I find that using the Table of Contents helps to mitigate that a bit.

10:18 PM: I spent some time on the feed site today, testing various features. After reading content from various sites and clicking on the back arrow, Squidoo took me back exactly where I had left off, a pleasant surprise. Also, the page reloaded VERY fast. I'm loving it! I'm still mulling over the possibility of having the modules refresh after one hour, but I wonder if that might affect loading times.

If you are using this feed, please let me know how it is working for you. Thanks!

If the site begins garnering significant traffic, I will look into ways of setting up a better feed structure. If not, then I will still have my own personal site, which is all I really wanted anyway. No matter what, using the aggregator to read favorite sites will always remain free.

Details:

1. The list is in alphabetical order (as opposed to "most recent"). I have included a Table of Contents if you don't want to scroll through the entire list.

2. For each site, I have included the three most recent posts because the modules will update only once a day; I may reset to update once an hour, but I want to see how it goes first. Any suggestions are greatly welcomed (either here or the Squidoo site), although bear in mind that I'm limited to the features offered by my freebie host.

3. I was careful to include ONLY partial text. I set blogger sites to include the first 100 characters because it wanted to create full text or mostly full text (which is NOT cool). Some blogger sites (including mine) included images, even with the 100 character limit. I'm not sure what to do about this, other than to use the "no text" feature, which seems to defeat the purpose of a feed.

4. The site already has a Squidoo ranking of 98,000, 4,900 under geek and tech, and it's not even a day old! I think (so far) that I'm the only traffic to it.

5. I set up this site primarily because I wanted my own domaining feed list; but I'd love to share it with the community with no fees and no personal info required. This site has cost me nothing to set up (except about 8 hours of my time). I don't expect to earn a profit from it (though I wouldn't be opposed to it!).

6. If your site does not appear on my list (and you want to be included), let me know with feed details. You can either email me or use the comment section. I want to be as inclusive as possible, and I'm pretty sure I missed some important sites. The main criteria for inclusion: that your site is not just a sales site, but a site that offers news and insights into the industry, even if you don't update all that often.

7. Conversely, if you don't want to be included (and I really hope that you don't mind because I selected sites that I really like and feel are important), also let me know, and I'll regretfully delete it.

I have started a thread about this new feature over at Namepros.com.

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Sedo Blacklisting Political Domains

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:37:00 +0000

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I have recently received the following email from Sedo:

Dear [Ms Domainer],

We are writing to inform you that the domains listed below have been suspended from Sedo\\\\\\\'s services because this domain(s) is a potential violation of Sedo\\\\\\\'s policy against domains that include obscene or illegal subject matter. While Sedo strives to protect our users rights to exercise free speech and maintain a marketplace with a vibrant and diverse collection of domain names, we apologize any inconvenience that this may cause.

obamapresident.org

In the course of removing such domains from our system there is the possibility that otherwise legitimate domains were suspended due to their inclusion of terms used in different contexts. If you have any questions about this decision please contact your Sedo account manager or the Sedo legal department at legal@sedo.com.

Sincerely,

Sedo Legal Dept.
Sedo.com LLC
161 First Street
Fourth Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
Email: legal@sedo.com

You better believe I have gotten in touch with "legal" over at Sedo, who does a lively business in the U.S., where freedom of speech, especially for or against politicians, will trump Sedo's business model any day.

Let's see now:

ObamaPresident.org is

NOT a TM domain: Obama is a surname, and "president" (the last time I checked) is a generic word.

NOT a potentially "obscene" or "illegal" domain name.

I will await, with great interest, Sedo's rationale for its decision to blacklist my domain.
*

Google Chome

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:59:00 +0000

*
Photo courtesy of Google, 2008
____________________________________________________

I have just downloaded Google Chrome, and so far I'm impressed.

It's fast and also loads plug-ins quickly; I did not need to restart my computer and was able to download video media on the fly (what I need for YouTube).

I love Chrome's utter simplicity; no busy looking buttons and tabs. The tabs are at the top of the page, not buried in some ridiculous toolbar.

Normally, I'm a Joanie-come-lately to new tech, but decided to jump in during day 2 of Beta--just to be different from my typical bring-up-the-rear tendency.

Disclaimer: I have JUST downloaded Chrome, so have not yet had a chance to encounter the inevitable beta bugs. I'm working on the Chrome browser right now and am impressed how fast pages and postings load.

For those of you who feel unsure about direct navigation: I think you'll have very little to worry about. I tested a known parking page by typing "Looking.com" directly into the all-in-one search box, and it took me directly to the page. But I suspect that the browser will evolve.

For now, though, rest easy.

I have a feeling that this browser will work a little like gmail in that it will work with your bookmarks to remember your searches.

I'll keep you updated on any issues (such as pop-ups, etc.) I encounter.

For those of you who have decided to take the Chrome plunge, feel free to discuss it on my poetry forum (I have set up an off-topic thread dedicated to JUST Google Chrome):

Google Chrome Discussion.

What do you like about Chrome? What don't you like about it?

*

The dot-me Fever Continues...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:21:00 +0000

*
But I'm still keeping a fairly level head; I'm currently in auction for one domain and have regged two more:

Snark.me (now on a blog)

Literary.me (not a clue where to go with this one--maybe it will sink into Sedo hell with Literary.name and Literary.cc.)

But this will be it for me.

"Snark" isn't a super performing keyword, but I just couldn't resist it, and I'm having a good time developing Snark.me. Will it make money?

Doubtful--the story of my life. I love developing sites that have little commercial value.

But I AM puzzled at some of auction prices that some .me domains have been bringing.

Toyota.me = realized $90,000+ (Good luck with that TM nightmare, Georg Kohler of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Did you make a killing in the gemstone biz and have $90,000 in cash just laying around? Are you a Toyota dealership who has plans for it? Even so, will Toyota WIPO it? Unless you are Toyota, expect to lose your investment...)

Insure.me (still in auction)= 50,000+

What are these people thinking? Do they know something the rest of us don't know? Or is this simply speculation by a few rich domainers?

I just hope that shill bidding isn't going on--in my opinion, that would be the kiss of death for this TLD (at least in terms of commercial value).

I have been hanging out at Namepros; they have a few dot-me threads going. No matter what happens, this TLD is sure creating buzz.

As I said last post, within a year or so, domainers will have a better idea how .me will fare.
*

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:37:00 +0000

So, did any of you bite and reg any .me domains? A lot of people have so far, according to the NamePros forum.

I regged two, one during landrush (poet.me) and one on July 17, during open registration (Literature.me). I was late in registering Literature.me, so I didn't experience any problems; the Whois for Literature.me resolved almost immediately.

Poet.me resolved on July 10, shortly after I was notified that I was the only applicant for it.

I plan to park them soon, though I would like to develop them eventually, but I'm not in a hurry just yet.

(I have two more .me's pending in an auction, on which I may or may not bid--haven't decided yet.)

I'm a bit wary of .me right now, so I decided early on that any .me domains had to fall under these criteria:

1. Must be a high-performing one-word (Literature = 250,000,000+ Google hits; Poet = 50,000,000+ Google hits).

2. Fall within my field, thus useful to me personally, which both are.

3. Ideally, make some kind of sense with the .me (Poet is a descriptor of "me," so that's good; Literature does not quite succeed in this area, but the keyword itself was just too good to pass up. It's not like I mortgaged the house for it, so we'll see). Too bad that most of the great verb hacks are being kept in reserve for a later auction.

From the start, I had pretty much decided to stay away from multi-word domains, no matter how good. I already have my full name (with and without middle name) in .com, so I see no need for .me. Perhaps others who missed out on getting their names in dot-com might want to reg their .me names, however. Had "Jennifer" not been reserved in the premium auction, I would have applied for it, but I doubt very much if I'd pay a premium price for it.

What is the future for .me?

It depends. If the Montenegrin registry manages the TLD properly, it could do quite well and benefit everyone. On the other hand, if they bungle the premium auctions (like .mobi) or get greedy (like .tv), then it will just be another lame TLD.

The people who manage the .me TLD have so far done one very wise thing: they reserved the domains that they will need for government and citizen use; after all, first and foremost, .me is a country code for Montenegro (which means "Black Mountain" in Serbian. I spent some time there in the late 1980's, and it's quite a beautiful country). From what I understand, they also gave first preference to current .yu registrants before rolling out the TLD.

Advantages of .me:

1. So far, it seems to be well-managed, with its open registrant policy. By opening up the TLD to the world, they are likely to create more buzz and desirability, which, in turn, could result in healthy aftermarket prices.

2. The obvious personal connotations of "me" could create an untapped market for memorable personal website domains. For example, I may be able to create a space where poets could sign up for subdomains: MsDomainer.Poet.me.

Disadvantages:

1. It's not .com and will never have the cachet of that TLD.

2. Perhaps people who maintain a myspace or blogspot page won't care if their URL's are long and unwieldy.

3. It will probably have little, if any, business application. It will always be viewed as "personal."

4. If the managers of .me slip into the greedy ways of other TLD managers, then .me will become a huge joke, and potential registrants will stay away.

I have not offered any predictions today, just possibilities. One year from now, on July 17, 2009, we'll have a pretty good idea where .me is headed.

Meanwhile, I plan to keep a level head and not register every .me in sight.

*

ICANN and Boutique TLDs: GOOD NEWS!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:40:00 +0000

For the past few months, I have been busy setting up poets.net, a poetry forum, which has seriously impeded on my posting here.

But I have been keeping up on my domain reading, mainly via Ron Jackson's site and Elliot's blog (and then branching off from those places). I would go to Sahar Sarid's site more often, but my computer often gets hung up there. Too bad because I like his blog (Hint: sometimes less is better).

On May 2, on the Domain Tools blog (comment #29), I raised the possibility of ICANN approving what I called "boutique TLDs." The idea was pretty much pooh-poohed. Evidently, the concept was so preposterous, and I'm a dabbler, so what did I know?

I like when I'm right. Good for the ego.

More importantly, I think this decision will be good for industry (most definitely good for ICANN's bottom line). No, I'm not going to rush out and apply for a .MsDomainer or a .jennifer TLD because I doubt very much if this new application will benefit individuals on a global level.

However, major businesses will benefit tremendously.

For an example, let's take a look at .apple (since this company already owns Apple.com).

Okay, so now Apple applies for .apple and is approved. The company sets up its own registrar; however, Apple is not going to rush out and sell .apple domains to the public; Apple is going to use its shiny new TLD for two purposes: in-house communications (for example, employee email and confidential/proprietary information) and intensive branding. What's more, within its .apple TLD, Apple will own EVERY permutation of domains, so there would be no cybersquatting issues. And, remember, Apple still owns Apple.com and (most likely) many of its variations. With intensive advertising (on TV and on the net), Apple will "train" its users to think of its brand in terms of .apple--never underestimate the power of advertising.

Because Apple represents huge ad revenue for the major search engines, you will see high search engine rankings for .apple and even a form of direct navigation. Instead of typing in ipod.apple, all I have to do is type "ipod" into the search box (which is how most users search anyway), and I will be directed directly to ipod.apple or placed number 1 on page 1 (the second slot would probably go to apple.google, apple.yahoo, apple. microsoft, or apple.msn, depending on the search engine). In other words, the end user will have to work very hard at being misdirected to a spoof site. Of course, one can never underestimate the stupidity of some end users...

Meanwhile, the major search engines will most likely register their TLDs: .google (or .goog, probably both), .yahoo, .MSN, etc. Because of the expense and intensive application process of setting up a TLD, you are not likely to see "typo" TLDs, such as .gog or .yhoo. The search engines will sell TMs ONLY to companies who have the right to them; otherwise, the names will simply resolve to a "Cannot Display" page (that is, if Google is ethical). Google may even give/rent TM domains to the companies for a certain level of advertising revenue.

Now here's the benefit to individuals and domainers: by regging a generic, for example buffet.google, it is likely that you have just purchased a keyword, an automatic high ranking on Google for your targeted group. I suspect that Google isn't stupid and will not sell premium words for $9.99 a year, so much of this will be out of reach for Mr. and Ms. America or even the low-level Mr. and Ms. Domainer (like me). However, Google will also sell second- and third- tier domains for a reasonable price to the general public for its Google apps. For example, I now use NewMemoir.com on one of my blogger blogs. If I reg and use NewMemoir.google, I suspect that whenever someone types in the term "New Memoir" in the URL box, the user will land directly on my blog. At the very least, my blog will sit at the top of my category.

;=)

However, I doubt very much if Google or any other search engine will tolerate most types of parking pages on its TLD and may impose other usage restrictions (depending on policy and rulings from ICANN).

So where does this leave .com?

In my opinion, it's a mixed bag. For developed dot.coms, I believe any negative impact will be minimal; the power of .com is simply too deeply ingrained.

However, parking sites will suffer, and companies like Sedo, Parked, Traffic, etc., will have to become more "nimble" in helping their members develop mini-sites with good (and fresh) content and illustrations. Perhaps in the beginning of this revolution, they may have to take a hit, and offer their members a free content and illustration bank for their parked sites. If they don't, young, hungry upstarts will, and the entrenched-in-the-old-ways companies will die out.

The biggest losers: domainers who depend solely on direct navigation to parked sites. I may not be a power player in this field, but it's not difficult to see how, in the next few years, the landscape of direct navigation is going to change dramatically.

Now for a little fun. On my poetry forum, I posted the following:

I thought maybe that some non-domainers might find the following articles of interest because down the road, the decisions made by ICANN (the organization that administers the policies surrounding domain name distribution and acquisition) is going to consider some new TLD's, which will likely eventually apply to poets and writers (among other groups):

Big Ticket Domains

My favorite quote from this article:

"History has proven though that the simplest things in business work best and last the longest, so this could just turn the Net into a frustrating convoluted clusterfuck."

The Domains

Favorite quote:
People will be lining up to get their personal and/or business name.
mike.ebay or mike.google
Got to love those.
Sometime in the future, you may be able to acquire a boutique domain that is very specialized, such as Jorie.poet, Grisham.writer, MondayLove.ID, Jennifer.admin, Matt.psych, Christopher.whistleblower (oops! too long), Levine.pobiz.

The articles discuss the possibility of .nyc (.la already exists). Think of the other possibilities: .troll, .trek (hikers or fan TLD) or .borg (elite group of admins and mods on another forum). Even more specialized: last name TLD's, such as .Smith, .Siegel, .Munster--Talk about family feuds in the works!

How many cool TLDs can you think up? Perhaps we'll forward our ideas to ICANN. Make em' listen to people not in the domaining biz!

For the immediate future (beginning on July 17), you'll be able to acquire a .me domain. How cool is that?

Unfortunately, f**k.me (and other $$$,$$$ hack domains) have been placed in reserve for a later auction.

Jennifer, a.k.a. Ms Domainer (www.MsDomainer.com)

Alexa: The Web MIS-Information Company

noreply@blogger.com (Bugzita) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:36:00 +0000

In my estimation. Alexa needs to be thoroughly spanked.

At the very least, this company needs to offer an easier platform so that information can be updated easier, keeping in mind that

1. Not every website owner has activated the me@mydomain.com feature. For Poets.net, my registrar charges extra for domain-based email, and I don't need this to conduct my business, so I'm not inclined to pop for this so that I can do Alexa's job for them.

2. Not everyone is tech-savvy enough to place a code .txt code on one's site. In fact, I'm not even sure my blogger site offers this feature, and even if it did, I wouldn't know how to use it.

So I emailed Alexa directly FROM MY EMAIL OF DOMAIN RECORD along with a link to my WHOIS information and asked that they please update my information manually. I recieved this email from Alexa's customer NO SERVICE:

Thank you for contacting Alexa regarding the contact information for your website.

In order to protect our users, Alexa's contact information submission tool (http://www.alexa.com/data/details/editor?type=contact ) only accepts submissions for sites when the submitter's email address matches the site's domain. In other words, if you are trying to submit/change/de-list information for mydomain.com, you must use an email address that ends in mydomain.com. You can use any address from that domain; webmaster@mydomain.com, sales@mydomain.com, info@mydomain.com, guido@mydomain.com, etc. This is the easiest automatic way that Alexa can confirm that you are a legitimate representative of the site, and allows us to process your submissions more quickly.

In cases where the email address does not match the domain of the site, you can submit your changes to be verified automatically by following the instructions on the Contact Information Editor page. These are just below the field where you would have submitted your domain-matching email address if you had one.

This method involves placing a text file we will generate for you on the root of your site, verifying that the text file is in place, and sending our crawler to "fetch" the contact info. This process essentially demonstrates that you are authorized to make site-level changes and expediting your updates. For example, if your site was www.mydomain.com, the info.txt file would go at www.mydomain.com/info.txt.

In order to use this method, proceed through the Contact Information Editor until you reach the page that shows an overview of the data you've changed on the previous page's web form. Look just below the "Continue" button for the section titled "Or, Place a file called info.txt on the root of your site" and follow the instructions.

If the "info.txt" method will not work in your case, you may reply to this message with the information you would like to have us update, and a link to somewhere on your site that our editors can visit to verify the legitimacy of the request (somewhere that has your contact information and lists this e-mail address, for example--to be sure nobody's trying to change your information without permission), we'll be happy to make the changes manually. Please use the info.txt format, for clarity.

Changes made to contact information will appear in our live Service within one to two weeks.

We appreciate your interest in Alexa.

Best regards,

Alexa Internet Customer Service

Huh? You got that? I sure didn't.

I don't put personal contact information on my website, and I use a different email that I give out to web users, which is why I emailed them directly from my email of record. I don't WANT my Whois email to appear on my site.

So this was my admittedly snarky response (which was never answered, by the way):

I don't use domain-based emails, and I'm not going to start now. My registrar charges extra for this, and I have discovered that the domain ends up on the black list because spammers LOVE hitching onto domain emails. I'm not sure what the problem is; I gave you to my Whois link for the domain--it's big as day there. And THIS email is the email of record. I don't have time to figure out your coding system, and I certainly don't want to download your toolbar (or anyone else's for that matter). If you want to maintain incorrect information for people's websites, knock yourself out. In the end, it's your company that will look like a big doofus corporation.

Meanwhile, my website will continue chugging along as usual and my traffic is recording with or without you. Have a nice day.

Let me make this clear: the WRONG information remains on the Alexa site. I'm sure that Edmund Skellings of Florida would prefer that his personal information be taken off Alexa's site, and I would sure like to see the following information put in its place:

Site Owner: Jennifer International

Email: Bugzita[at]gmail.com [which, for obvious reasons is different from my Whois email, which is why I originally emailed Alexa from my Whois email]

The rest of the fields to be left blank.

Would that be so difficult?

WARNING: From the I.R.S.--NOT!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:28:00 +0000

On Sunday, I received the following piece of email purporting to be from the I.R.S.:

Over 130 million Americans will receive refunds as part of President Bush program to jumpstart the economy.

Our records indicate that you are qualified to receive the 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund.

The fastest and easiest way to receive your refund is by direct deposit to your checking/savings account.

Please click on the link and fill out the form and submit before May 19th, 2008 to ensure that your refund will be processed as soon as possible.

Submitting your form on May 19th, 2008 or later means that your refund will be delayed due to the volume of requests we anticipate for the Economic Stimulus Refund.

To access Economic Stimulus Refund, please click here.

[Link removed--should you click on this link, you would be directed to this site: www.smfarms.com/catalog/images/hewlett_packard/.refund.php--definitely not the I.R.S.

Gmail also removed the URL from "click here."]

© Copyright 2008, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.
__________________________________________

Despite some of the grammatical errors, this email is very convincing because the sent info specified "service@irs.gov" as the actual sender. To give gmail its just due, the message contained the following warning (Highlighted in bold red):

Warning: This message may not be from whom it claims to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender with any personal information. Learn more. [This link shows how you can check your gmails for validity.]

Here is the code I found when I clicked on to "Show original":

Delivered-To: [Deleted]
Received: by [Deleted] with SMTP id u1cs271976wfu;
Sun, 18 May 2008 10:23:31 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by [Deleted] with SMTP id [deleted];
Sun, 18 May 2008 10:23:30 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path:
Received: from dollman-enterprises.com (mail.dollman-enterprises.com [68.105.207.240])
by mx.google.com with ESMTP id h8si9853846wxd.26.2008.05.18.10.23.29;
Sun, 18 May 2008 10:23:30 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: fail (google.com: domain of service@irs.gov does not designate 68.105.207.240 as permitted sender) client-ip=68.105.207.240;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=hardfail (google.com: domain of service@irs.gov does not designate 68.105.207.240 as permitted sender) smtp.mail=service@irs.gov
Received: from User ([76.202.29.82]) by dollman-enterprises.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.211);
Sun, 18 May 2008 13:23:28 -0400
From: "service@irs.gov"
Subject: 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund ( $1800 )
Date: Sun, 18 May 2008 12:24:23 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html;
charset="Windows-1251"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000
Bcc:
Return-Path: service@irs.gov
Message-ID:
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 18 May 2008 17:23:28.0887 (UTC) FILETIME=[E3464070:01C8B90B]
_______________________________

When it comes to phishing and other email scams, domainers tend to be a fairly savvy group. But I must admit, this particular scam message caught my eye, although I did NOT fall for it.

Just remember: you need only to file your U.S. Federal tax return to receive your economic stimulus check.

YorkReview.com -- York Review

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:24:00 +0000

About a month ago, I was trolling the aftermarket for some possible GeoDomains.

I didn't find much there, but I did stumble on YorkReview.com. Now the York Review is the literary magazine of York College of Pennsylvania, where I teach and where I did my undergraduate work. Also, in 1993, I founded the magazine and worked on three issues before turning it over to someone else.

I could scarcely believe my eyes; it was like a jewel had fallen from the sky. Best yet: it was a fire sale domain. Of course, I snagged it first and decided to ask questions letter.

After conferring with the department Chair, I'll be transferring the domain (as a donation) to the English and Humanities Department, probably in the fall. As part of my donation, I'll pay for 10 years of registration along with 10 years for TheYorkReview.com (which I regged about two weeks later, after a DUH moment.

I may do some training sessions (a scary thought) on managing the domains and keeping them safe. I ran two freebie appraisals ($1,700 - $30,000), but will get a professional appraisal for tax purposes, probably Sedo.

Meanwhile, I have done a mock up page on blogger so that the faculty advisor and student staff have an idea of where to start when developing their web presence. I purposely kept it simple so that the students can put their own unique stamp on it.

This is the kind of donation that feels really worthwhile. So often, we throw money at our alma maters and have no idea where the money goes. On the other hand, a domain donation with a donation of training time has the potential to pay off big time down the road; not only will the journal be able to expand its literary offerings but also its web presence, which, in turn, will enhance the college web presence.

In my opinion, this was one of the best acquisitions I have made to date.

;=)

Have a great day!

Ms Domainer

Poets.net to be Launched in Summer 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:02:00 +0000

UPDATE!

I have already launched the site, but for now it's in blogger mode.

I have acquired Poets.net, which will be launched as a poetics forum.

Poets.net will offer a big voice for the serious anti-establishment poet and writer.

A construction page has been set up.

The current Post Foetry blog will remain active.

Ms Domainer

Good Advice from SevenMile (Frank Schilling)

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:23:00 +0000

On a whim, I decided to visit Frank Schilling's SevenMile blog and discovered this breath taking March 21, 2008, gem:

With 6+ billion would-be “sellers” on our planet and just 10 to 18 million “meaningful” domain names across “all extensions” good enough to do the selling, this might just be the right time to put your feet on your desk and triple your prices - or to not sell at all.

Actually the entire article is worth reading, although it's long and flies in the face of conventional wisdom.

But when a master domainer speaks, maybe one should listen.

I thought Frank had retired from blogging (?)

Ms Domainer

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:06:00 +0000

Is it my imagination, but are domainers dumping their inventory?

Ms Domainer

My Response to Rick Schwartz's Blog Going Dark

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:50:00 +0000

Rick's blog is going dark; In his post "What's Your Excuse Now?" Rick Schwartz laments the apparent apathy of the average domainer. I posted the following response on his blog (I don't know if my comment will be approved or just dismissed into cyberspace. Update: the post has been approved. Thanks, Rick):

I am a relatively new domainer (since May 2007), and I recognized early that this business was filled with self-serving people and organizations who just took care of #1 and didn't give two hoots about the questionable practices going on. (TM squatting, typo-squatting, hinky aftermarket auctions, to name a few).

As a new domainer, I tried to help other newbies by posting my experiences and the pitfalls I have experienced. For my efforts, I was called a name on my own blog, probably from someone who has forgotten what it's like being a green domainer.

Whenever I posted about practices that concerned me, I got nothing but a code of silence (with a few exceptions).

Now, all of sudden, these selfish people want me to join their organization so that they can save their expensive domains; these are the same people who ignored my questions or blew me off just because I was a silly newbie who dared to question the industry or even ask a silly question.

Well, I'm not buying into it. Those whiners can twist in the wind, for all I care.

Had anyone in a so-called power position paid a little heed to the newbie population, even those of us who dared to question, I think the ICA would have had support from more of us.

More importantly, had efforts been made to clean up this industry BEFORE the Snowe bill became a threat, ICA would have had better support. Last summer, I would have lined up to join an organization that promised to clean up the domaining mess. But now, the ICA comes across as being totally self-serving and concerned only because the status quo is threatened, not because there are some very real ethical gaps industry wide that need to be addressed and solved.

My question, then: why should I (and others like me) help people who were mostly unhelpful as I was learning the industry? Where were ICA members last summer when I posed my "dumb" questions, questions that were serious from a newbie point of view?

Maybe, Rick, this is why most domainers are apathetic toward ICA and the Snowe bill threat.

We know that if the bill is rewritten to be friendlier toward big money domainers, it will again be business as usual: the small domainer forgotten and slimy business practices continued.

Ms Domainer