Apparently, domain sales at TRAFFIC Dublin weren’t that great. Objectively speaking, compared to DomainFest’s recent record sales, the TRAFFIC Dublin auction results were pitiful.
But really, who cares?
While it’s important for the conference organizers to make money from auctioning domains, TRAFFIC – or any other conference big or small – isn’t all about the auction sales.
TRAFFIC is my favorite conference due to both the style and the type of its attendants.
I witnessed the organizational style of the two Ricks, and they are doing a great job gathering the important members of the domain community, allowing them to share a physical common ground to establish new business relationships.
A domain that can be sold outside of an auction does not make or break a conference’s quality or status. The afterhours meetings, the brain-storming, the sudden formation of business alliances – all these are elements that in my book are more important than the total number of domains auctioned.
TRAFFIC Dublin is an opportunity to forge alliances, especially between American and European domainers; there is a lot of potential in that convergence of talent, regardless of the auction totals that seem to be occupying the minds of some domainers to the point of obsession.
Without doubt, the biggest event of the year will be held in Miami in October. TRAFFIC is the domain conference paradigm and it will prove itself once again, in less than 2 months from now.
Since the introduction of the so-called “social media” Internet users are spending increasingly higher amounts of time being “social” online.
Which translates, of course, to less real-life socializing. 
Regardless of whether your friends, buddies, followers or readers share that same feeling of connection to you, there is a certain danger lurking in the shadows.
Trojans and viruses.
Although on very rare occasions there are incidents of malware existing directly on the social media platforms themselves – e.g. Facebook or Twitter – the real problem is email.
Email is still the #1 source of computer infection from trojans, viruses and other malware, delivered in the form of an attachment or as a URL forward to web sites that contain code which in turn infects the unsuspected visitors.
With social media being a daily source of communication, there is a huge increase in the number of fake emails that appear to be coming from Twitter, Facebook, Myspace etc. These emails mimic the notifications sent by the respective social media web sites, and more often they are carrying the little germs that will attempt to take over your computer.
With subject lines such as “You have a new message on Twitter” or “John Doe has sent you a message on Facebook” these emails are relying on a user’s instinctive reaction to a message that they are familiar with receiving many times a day.
Be careful with these messages – ensure you have a quality antivirus installed and active at all times and preferably never open such emails. Instead, just go to Facebook or Twitter or Myspace directly and check to see if indeed a message is waiting for you.
The overall state of the economy might be bad but only to those that have not been careful with their investments.
Another thing to consider is the management of credit. If you’ve been negligent in the past, you probably noticed a series of changes in your line of credit.
Most credit card issuers in the US have decreased the line of credit of long-term customers. Visa, MasterCard, Discover – they are playing a game of numbers in lieu of the new, improved protection for American consumers.
Of course, that’s not always the case. If you have a stellar, perfect, outstanding credit record with no late payments whatsoever on it – then you receive some hefty, automatic credit limit increases in the mail. I just got one emailed and it’s odd seeing that six-figure number on my screen.
Do I plan to use it? Absolutely not. A line of credit should be there as a safety mechanism in case of extreme emergency. It’s good to have, it’s prudent not to use. Also, what matters with regards to your credit score is the percentage of your credit limit used. The less of it that you use, the better.
So while the economy is still in the red, certain things are improving, including the amount of trust returned from the banks to the consumer. But as someone who believes in the motto “once bitten, twice shy” I would say frame that email or letter and cut your credit card in half with a pair of scissors.
You won’t regret it!
I’ll be darned, I am in total shock.
It seems that both Beyonce Knowles and Nicole Kidman died today. That’s what the emails said.
What emails? The ones I got earlier.
Wait a second, what do you mean by “spam”? You don’t believe everything that’s being discussed on the Internet? The headlines and the descriptions of events – it can’t be! It’s on the Internet so it has to be true!
Unfortunately, there’s a misconception that most people’s intentions are good. That every bit of information shared or released on good old “Information Superhighway” is accurate, true and correct.
So how do you deal with every bit of misinformation, particularly the malicious type? How do you handle the rumor, the false news, the alleged truth that is in fact a lie?
They say it’s hard to prove that you’re not a dog on the Internet – but at least, you can be a dog that bites back.
Bite back with facts.
That’s the only way that works. When bullshit is piling up, get your screenshots, your numbers and your arguments ready for the debate that would ensue.
And then, bite down on those other dogs, really hard.
Some rumor about Owen Frager leaving blogging and domaining behind made me worry for a while. After all, Owen is an “old timer” that precedes the digital era that many current entrepreneurs and developers were born into.
In fact, Owen isn’t going anywhere and the whole thing was an apparent misunderstanding and a misquote of his intention to leave the social media.
However, apparently speculation grew as Owen’s popular blog, FragerFactor.com was temporarily down earlier tonight.
Owen has already issued an explanation that he’s not leaving domaining or blogging; in fact, he’s back with no fewer than three posts in a row, some of which will be leap-frogging other people’s posts in the am.
But it is what it is.
I like Owen Frager and because he doesn’t take any shit from anyone, including myself, I respect his way of sticking to his guns and speaking from experience. Nothing can be more aggravating than blatant disrespect from new players; that, I realized myself on several occasions.
The Frager Factor brings a lot of character to the domain blogosphere and I’m certain that a lot of non-domainers read it, especially people in marketing and creative. So after this short hiccup, I’m glad to see Owen “back”.
Speaking of speculation and rumors, the type that I thrive on rebutting is the malicious kind. But more on that later 
Yesterday I witnessed an example of Sedo’s efficiency in completing domain transactions on their marketplace, at Sedo.com
With $23 million in domain sales during the first quarter of 2010, Sedo remains the #1 place to buy and sell domains in the secondary market.
But back to the sale of a two-word compound .com
The $x,xxx offer was made at 2:49pm and a few minutes later I accepted it. Apparently, the transaction manager was checking his email quite often. By now Sedo knows that when I purchase domains, I pay swiftly; when I sell, I have the same high expectations from the buyer 
The buyer paid promptly and Sedo informed me to push the domain to their escrow account. Minutes later I did just that and also created the invoice that the buyer had requested. Sedo confirmed the domain was in their account and created a credit note.
Sale completed – easy like 1-2-3.
Total time from placing the accepted offer to payment to my account: 23 minutes.
Once again, I’m very impressed by Sedo and looking forward to the SedoPRO conference in Boston at the end of the month!
Those of you that had the patience to read through my exceptionally long post about the stolen domain names jis.com, leading.net, southeast.net and jaxnet.com – should be delighted with the news.
The domains have been returned to their rightful owner, Karl Renaut and are now in his possession and control, as Karl confirmed this to me earlier today.
After directly contacting the winner of FloridaDigital.net to inform him that his wrongful actions would have serious consequences, that gentleman did the right thing and contacted Karl Renaut at Windstream and handed over the domains.
In the process, the advice of expert IP attorney Marc Randazza was utilized and I’m glad this is a case where justice and logic prevailed.
