Acro.net – Technology Rants & Raves by Acroplex®

Earlier today, Mike Berkens posted about a UDRP case that is about to claim the ‘developed’ web site, Vanity.com

Because it’s pointless to wade through trolling comments in order to relay the type of information that such a post deserves, I’m posting it all here.

What does one do with a domain, as soon as they register it?

The obvious answer is parking. It works for the most part, as a place holder that requires no development and no web hosting is needed for some temporary, under construction notification.

The next step up, is exactly that: a simple page that notifies visitors that the content is not there yet.

One step up, is a system that collects email addresses, all while the web site is “under construction”.

A mini site exists for the purpose of delivering content in small, organized chunks, interlaced strategically with ads such as AdSense, for monetization purposes.

Static web sites contain more info than a minisite and their content does not seem to be updated often; the manual editing of pages might occur once in a blue moon.

Dynamic web sites utilize multiple sources of information, databases and feeds to keep the content fresh; both for the visitors and for ranking purposes in search engines.

Now, there is a category that combines all of these elements and yet does not fall in any distinct category: the perpetually under construction, pseudo-developed collection of pages that hints of development. Its purpose and existence is simple: it’s there in order to avoid the delivery of the much-dreaded UDRP, particularly when the domain is extremely valuable.

This method of hybrid domain existence seems to work for the most part, as it often fools both those that could have a legitimate interest in challenging ownership in a domain, and those that deliver judgement over its status. It works beautifully even with domainers that are otherwise experienced, and yet fall prey to tagging such an abomination as “developed”.

On the subject of Vanity.com which Mike scooped from the newly opened cases at the WIPO, I’d be interested to read the case and the argument of the complainant and the respondent; the latter appears to be a company that is not registered in the state of California, unlike what the WHOIS shows.

It was a great opportunity to clear out some misconceptions about domains and web development, and I’m looking forward to doing the same in person at TRAFFIC 2012 in Ft. Lauderdale.

Fridays are the best days of the week to stretch and ponder about recent events and arguments. They are also probably the worst days to take things seriously; with the weekend ahead of us, domain investors can afford to squeeze some humor into serious matters about domains.

The ‘cybersquatter‘ references in the seemingly light-hearted discussion between the .CO CEO and the LeWeb CEO, reminded me how much I miss Chef Patrick’s couch videos, with buxom Model Mayhem cuties. The domain industry has been taking itself far too seriously and that’s why at some point I started writing for DomainGang.com

Of course, nobody wants to be called a cybersquatter, when they aren’t. But those that do perform the cybersquatting pirouette on a daily basis, have little reason to scream ‘murder‘. In other words, the term ‘cybersquatter’ still applies to those that do just that, whether they admit it or not. That’s why domain investing still carries a stigma in online dictionaries and Wikipedia.

But fret not.

The compound word, after all, contains the beautifully crafted ‘cyber‘ part that author William Gibson brought to millions of his fans through cyberpunk novels.

Domain investors can thus benefit a lot from reading science fiction stories, and that’s yet another reference to Patrick Ruddell.

TGIF!

Unlike gold, oil and precious metals, domain names don’t have a unit price associated with them. And yet, domain names are commodities that can be traded freely, can be sold and bought.

When it comes down to tagging a price to a domain name, my evaluation method as a buyer and as the seller follows similar principles.

The idea, is to evaluate domains with the intention to either develop them or to sell them to end-users. Flipping domains to other domain investors is like trading stamps, coins or sports cards; domain investment is not a hobby, it’s a profession.

In the same manner, when evaluating a domain for others, keep in mind that only the end-user potential matters.

Evaluating a domain for a purpose and function other than that of a “final destination” does not make sense to savvy domain investors that usually position themselves long term.

When an offer comes through at Sedo with a comment that wasn’t populated from the drop down menu, that comment is held for review by Sedo staff.

There are two ways to deal with such comments, and my response depends on the offer itself.

In the past, I explained why listing my domains with a fixed price on Sedo or other venues does not work for me.

If an offer with a custom comment is detrimental to the domain negotiation game, I usually call Sedo for them to review and potentially release the comment, in order for me to see what the buyer is attempting to convey.

Usually, Sedo does that within minutes and the process has helped me speed up the negotiation process. The method works in a similar fashion if I wanted one of my own custom responses to be relayed to the buyer without much of a full day’s delay.

Now, if the offer that comes with a pending comment is not of interest, I never wait for the comment to be released, but I simply cancel the negotiation on the spot. I don’t have time to waste and this way the lowballing buyer thinks twice before making an offer again in the future.

Backorderzone.com – I ‘hate’ these guys.

Actually, I don’t hate them, but I’m amazed that they beat both SnapNames and Pool for a domain I had backordered.

While SnapNames sent me the usual “apology” for trying and failing to capture the domain, not a pip was heard from Pool.

Upon checking the WHOIS via DomainTools, I noticed that Backorderzone.com is the new holder of the domain.

The Colorado Springs company both captures and auctions domains and it’s free to join. It is not yet clear to me if Backorderzone also holds domains for themselves or only catches them for clients.

So far I haven’t signed up, but I might do so, if the domain I wanted is somehow sent to auction.

Good job, Backorderzone…