Acro.net – Technology Rants & Raves by Acroplex®

When I met the Parked.com crew during TRAFFIC 2008 in Orlando, I had the opportunity to engage with some of the best people in the domain monetization business.

It was clear that Parked rocked during those times and the company did remarkably well; the people that worked for Parked were top notch and experienced professionals.

With Parked.com apparently gone from service, I’m left with sadness about the demise of a company that later on declined in performance, due to its use of Yahoo feeds that imposed the dreaded TQ domain rating.

As far as I know, the now former Parked employees are either at Domain Apps that acquired the Parked.com brand and infrastructure, or working at other companies.

It was great knowing you guys, I wish I had kept my Parked.com t-shirt but I donated it along with other clothing before Christmas.

Let me start by stating the Parked.com guys are stellar and that their platform, including the customizable templates are superb.

It’s just that their advertising channels suck right now and I’m not willing to stick it out until the situation improves.

It all started with the notorious rating that Yahoo imposed, which they then expanded to categorize domains – and often block them from Yahoo.

Yahoo actively tags domains in the following categories:

Banned

Trademark

Quality Block (all TLDs that are not com/net/org)

Controversial

Restricted

Adult

Alcohol

I have to point out that the 4-5 banned domains that Yahoo inexplicably tagged as such, Parked wasn’t able to have them reinstated; the same domains exist in Google without any problems whatsoever. As for the so-called trademarks, both my Parthenon.info and Topolowa.com are geo-domains. The “Controversial” rating was earned by domains such as ViolentSports.com and ClonedMan.com which effectively displays the type of censorship and pseudo-ethics that define Yahoo’s policies.

So the bottom line is that Yahoo’s policies are what they are – in my opinion, fascistic and outright ridiculous; if Tavern.org is an “alcohol” domain that receives lower PPC from Yahoo then I’d rather keep it at Sedo until the Yahoo masterminds stop drinking cool-aid.

TGIF! Here we go with the 2nd cartoonized photo in the “Friday Funnies” series. This time, it’s about food at domain conferences. For the price of the ticket, it’d better be good! And it is – no complaints. But some vendors or attendants should watch their diet – or poke a couple of extra notches to their belts!

Original image from DNJournal.