Acro.net – Technology Rants & Raves by Acroplex®

Mike Berkens over at TheDomains.com blogged about how the domain Switch.net – a generic term pertaining to several uses – was sent to the WIPO days after it was won at a NameJet auction.

Dorian Banks, CEO and co-founder of Metro Bridge – a Vancouver, Canada based company that provides broadband wireless Internet access to businesses, won Switch.net at NameJet with a top bid of $3,655.

Soon after, he was hit with multiple notifications – including one UDRP notice – which allege his involvement in a scheme to defraud Swiss company Switch.ch

The byzantine scenario gets denser, as a person by the name of  “Mr. Pattersons” is named as the defendant. It is not clear if this is the name of the previous holder of the domain name, Switch.net, or a third person involved in negotiations with the Swiss company Switch.ch

Sounds familiar?

A couple of years ago I blogged about the proliferation of a practice on NameJet, whereupon a bidder lurking at auctions of domains offers to bid on behalf of companies that have a bidding interest – some might own a trademark similar to the domain being auctioned.

In the process, he refers to fellow bidders on NameJet as “cybersquatters“.

Clearly an issue that needs to be examined by NameJet and an interesting situation unfolding with WIPO and the popular auction marketplace in focus.

A few months ago I mentioned how a domain of mine got hit with 4,000 WHOIS queries while it neared its expiration date.

After reading Shane’s post about the sale of 55.com to a Chinese company, I noticed that one of my numeric domains accumulated almost 1,000 WHOIS queries – again at expiration.

I decided to once again leave this domain 1-2 weeks past expiration, to tease the crowds of Chinese domainers that are drooling over it.

Incidentally, the meaning behind numbers in the Chinese culture was covered in another post earlier this year.

While on the subject of numeric domains, almost 3 years later, my sale of 360.org still remains as the highest recorded NNN .org domain sale of all time

Last week was long and busy and in more than one sense, counter-productive. Domaining is not a science and yet, it appears to require more energy than being creative and artistic.

What a better way to flush out all negativity and non-constructive thinking than take a mini vacation to Asheville, North Carolina.

Flying to Greenville, South Carolina was a smooth sixty minutes, then driving up to Asheville for another hour through the rising elevation of the Carolina mountains.

The brown colors of the trees blended beautifully into the yellow, orange and red of the leaves, creating a powerful palette that sends waves into the mind. The temperature, ranging from the low 50′s to the upper 60′s was perfect for walking on trails with nature’s sounds prominent; birds, furry animals and waterfalls; the air cool and fresh felt like 100% pure oxygen.

What a miracle: the eyes, the mind, the soul – refreshed all in one go.

Nothing there existed to remind me of domains or web development, nothing related to the mechanical chains that sap away so much energy on a daily basis. Just my camera to capture the moment that I will then share with friends and loved ones, to remind myself that life is short and nature’s art goes a long way.

But if you still want to see a domainer’s post, visit Biltmore.com to view the largest home in America, a tour that requires at least 3 hours to complete, visit the humane, never-sleeping city of Asheville and drown yourself into the natural palette of North Carolina’s fall.

As TRAFFIC Ft. Lauderdale ended, it’s back to business as usual.

Some liked it, some did not.

Those that loved it have a reason, those that didn’t get what they wanted by attending seem to have a specific agenda to ponder over.

The bottom line is: business goes on, with or without mass gatherings.

The biggest advantage of domain conferences is to physically meet people you would not otherwise have the opportunity to interact with, or whose online persona you cannot fully grasp.

There’s a psychological stronghold during domain conferences as well: online business outside the conference’s sphere seems to come to a freeze. When the domain conferences end, things resume their normal pace.

A day later and I’m swamped with offers on Sedo. Coincidental? I think that once a conference comes to an end, buyers loosen up and open themselves to making offers. They have money to spend, potentially the full wad of money that they intended to bid on at a domain conference’s auction – which apparently they didn’t.

So let’s go back to doing business – before the next domain show begins.

The domain blog of Mike Berkens has been voted by the TRAFFIC attendees as the “best domain blog” for 2011.

That’s probably fair and square, given the amount of daily traffic TheDomains.com commands.

Mike seems to put a continuous effort into it, publishing a variety of daily content. He has found what works well with the domain industry’s readership and provides that info in a daily, well-packaged format.

I’ve never met Mike in person but I’ve met his blog trolls.

I’m referring to the stream of anonymous commentators that Mike allows through, some of which range from the silly to the downright insulting, to those that make false allegations.

Thankfully, Elliot Silver – who was also nominated for blogger of the year at TRAFFIC – started clipping those trolling retards a few months ago.

When you give a troll commentator the opportunity to engage in a conversation alongside decent debaters who use an actual, active domain as a signature, the quality and level of discussion drops dramatically.

Mike Berkens also possesses a sense of humor – a rarity in today’s niche market of domaining.

I’m not going to tell Mike how to run his blog. It’s the ‘best domain blog’ as it is, so why ruin that. But it’d be really substantial if comment trolls were evicted, to allow the rest of us engage in fruitful debates versus endless pissing contests marred by white noise.