Ethics of Domain Drop Auctions: TDNAM and NameJet called out Yesterday: Today We call out Tucows
Yesterday domainnamewire.com reported that employees of TDNAM.com and NameJet.com were allowed to bid on domains that were in their own company’s dropping auction service.
In the article, domainnamewire.com sited some discussions on NamePros about GoDaddy employees, including Adam Dicker, who runs Godaddy aftermarket service, bidding on and winning auctions from their own system.
Troubling for sure.
Today we are calling out Tucows.
Although Tucows in-house domain drop auction ended this week, some disturbing conduct of Tucows came to light.
We have participated in the Tucows in-House auction for over 2 years spending in the six figures each year.
On Thursday we received notice from Tucows that 23 domains that we had won at their auction had been redeemed by their owner. Under the Tucows auction, domains were auctioned after they expired but the registrant was given 70 days to redeem the domains back. In the event the domain owner did redeem the domain back then winner of the auction was refunded his bid and the domain went back to the domain owner. But 23 names all in one day. We were suspicious.
Upon further investigation we learned that all 23 names that got take back from us, were owned by Tucows itself.
So it seems that Tucows ran the domain drop auction and the domains in this case were Tucows owned domains.
Again a major conflict of interest
Troubling.
A registry with its own auction platform has a fiduciary relationship to the domain holders and to the bidders.
Going back to my law school days it was instilled in me that not only could I not engage in any unethical or illegal activity, but that I must at all times avoid the “appearance of impropriety”.
Why?
Because once you place yourself in a situation where your motivations and actions can be questioned, they can and will be.
The motives of TDNAM employees were questioned yesterday in the NamePro’s forum.
Do these employee’s have insider information? Do they pay full price or do they receive an employee discount which would enable them to receive the domain for less than you or I. Are the employees of the domain drop auction company’s responsible for increasing the amount of the bids by bidding?
All are fair questions.
Did Tucows make a mistake and release domain into an auction that they owned and let expire?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
In a letter we wrote to Tucows on Thursday, we pointed out that when someone owns a domain and the auction platform it is sold on, there are certain abuses the domain/auction owner could engage in.
For example the domain/auction owner could proxy bid the domain up. The worst thing that can happen is the domain/auction owner winds up with the domain back. They could keep the domain or let it drop the following year back into the auction platform knowing what bid the domain bought the previous year. The best thing that could happen is that the price of the auction gets driven up and the domain is sold for much more than it would have.
Another, stronger possibility is that a domain gets placed in the drop auction by the domain/auction owner. If the domain sells for a price the domain/auction owner is satisfied with, the domain sale is allowed to go through, if the price is not sufficient, the domain/auction owner reclaims it. Once again it’s a no-lose situation for the domain/auction owner.
Of course we are not saying this is what Tucows did. We cannot know their motives.
That is the problem.
That is where the appearance of impropriety comes into play.
Just like none of us can say for sure what effect permitting employees of an auction house to bid on domains in their auction actually has, when put yourself in a situation where these questions can be asked, it places the credibility of the whole auction system in doubt.
We have no idea of how many other domain auction sales were reversed by Tucows, when they redeemed their own domains, but it would be silly to think that we were the only victim of this situation.
We would urge anyone who participated in the Tucows drop auction who had a domain taken back in the last week or two to see who now owns the domain, and if it’s Tucows we would love to hear about it.
We suggested to Tucows, even if they made an honest mistake and placed their own names in auction they should honor the sales to keep the integrity of the auction platform intact.
In response to our concerns, Tucows basically answered that they, as the domain owner had the right to redeem their domains, like any other domain owner.
Of course this is not a satisfactory resolution.
They are not like any other domain owner.
Matter of fact they are like no other domain owner, they own the auction.
However in all fairness to make up for the issue they did offer to buy me a drink at the next show.
Well, I can buy my own fucking drinks.
I don’t need a domain drop auction house to buy me a drink.
I do need them to run an auction is a fair manner and above reproach.
So here we are.
Left questioning the ethics of domain drop auction houses that we all spend a ton of money at.
What can be done?
Well as domainers we can vote with our wallets.
If they are going to play games, they can play with themselves (Pun Intended)
I for one will never bid on a Tucow expired domain again. (now moved to Afternic)
I will keep my money in my pocket.
The six figures we spent a year is history.
Not only will they miss our winning bids but our participation.
By participating in these auction we all increase the final sales price. Without our participation over the years, hundreds of thousands more dollars were generated on domains we bid on, but were outbid on.
If we as a group stopped bidding for just one week at these domain auctions these guys would have to listen to us, rather than ignore us.
After all we are their customers and their revenue source.
If we all just took a little time off, they wouldn’t get away with it.
Ask yourself this question, if all the loss of our business meant to them was the price of a drink, what is your business worth to them?
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That’s not right. Should sell their stock too.
Something related I found.
http://namebio.com/NameBioBlog/2008/04/17/tucows-admits-to-warehousing-domains/
Good investigative reporting. Problems like this need to be exposed and not tolerated. Good job. Many of us already avoid eBay and the like because of shill bidding and shenanigans. But it’s a problem when ‘our’ trusted auction sites also engage in such activities.
Thanks for the info. I won’t spend another penny on these bastards. Just reading about this pisses me off.
Mike,
Tucows and NetSol are the greediest registrars on the planet.
Where will you redirect the 6-figures/yr now?
Mike, I think you have the wrong Adam. Want to double check.
Reminds me of that dot mobi fiasco with Sedo. That mobi co. was not happy with the bid amounts so they yanked the names and it became a big mess and destroyed their credibility…
John
http://unplain.com
Mike, I would appreciate a correction and an apology.
What a coincidence…. I won a domain through Tucows (owned by an end user) and just this past week, any and all reference to it disappeared from my account. No email notification, no “won but redeemed”, no anything. A whois of the domain shows Tucows privacy (not the original owner). An email from several days ago has yet to be answered.
I can feel the anger.
“I can buy my own fucking drinks”
Beautiful.
No point keeping it in. Let it all out.
Tony
Unless I can find private deals or good value domains, i’m going to redirect the six figures+ into my bank account. There is no need to spend money just to spend it.
Jody
We all know that Tucows has been taking the cream from the top off their registry deletion list.
The problem here is deeper.
I included this in my e-mail to them. Yhey had the chance not to put their own dropping domain into the auction, like they do for many domains, they want to keep. But once they put the domain into the drop auction and it is sold to the highest bidder it is unethical for them to then “redeem” the domain as a domain owner.
The change for abuse is just to great.
However they choose not to take the high road and do the right thing.
Disappointing
Adam
I have double checked and I do owe you an apology as you were not mentioned in the domainnamewire.com story.
It was an error completely on my part, and I inserted your name instead of Adam Dicker name into the post.
My sincere apologies
The post has been corrected..
I will also be sending you a private e-mail in this regard.
Michael
Mike, while you are on a roll, how about calling out PIR for taking 2 letter names (nh.org, pt.org, ar.org, etc). Seems those expired and PIR now holds them under a sweatheart arrangement with ICANN presumably to be auctioned at significant profit later. Not sure how that could be in the “Public Interest”.
jblack
I don’t know anything about this.
If you want you can send me any info you have including any links to any stories about it, by hitting the submit a post link on the top left of the page.
“EMPLOYEES” of an AUCTION HOUSE should not be bidding on their names period! Are you kidding me, it’s so unethical I can’t even put into words.
The Domainnamewire.com story did say that SnapNames.com does NOT allow their employees or any employee of oversee.net to bid or participate in their auctions.
Again everyone can vote with our wallet.
Support the auctions that have ethically policies and take the high road and avoid those that do not.
They will get the message.
Terrell
All of Tucows owned names have the privacy on their registrations.
If the servers on the domains are the following then its a Tucows owned domain that they pulled back from you:
PARKING2.MDNSSERVICE.COM
PARKING1.MDNSSERVICE.COM
Great post – what is ICANN doing (having their hands up their butt – the Management sitting in their office collecting $1000+ of $$ and not doing their JOB) this kind of RUBBISH done by Company’s like TDNAM.com, NameJet.com and many others (were allowed to bid on domains that were in their own company’s dropping auction service) should be CLOSED DOWN and Management and staff (which take part in it) BLACKLISTED for ETHERNITY (lifetime is to short).
This is a TYPICAL example of GREED combined with Stupidity.
Damir
Just to be clear, there are 2 different situations going on here.
The domainnamewire.com report cited employees of TDNAM.com who they knew for a fact had bidded on and won domains at their auction.
Domainnamewire.com contacted NameJet.com and they said employees were permitted to bid on domains but we don’t know if any in fact has.
Tucows is may or may not be bidding on their names. I have no idea what their policy is. however I do know they took domains away from people who won them at auction.
The domains Tucows took away are domains they owned, and took back after the auction ended.
All are policies which should not be tolerated but they are different situations
Though I rarely buy drops, Mike, your inexcusable experience is enough for me to never buy any originating via/from Tucows.
Would be great if others match your decision.
Thanks for the warning.
I would encourage everyone not to purchase any “DROP” names from “ANY” COMPANY which their employees can bid on the “dropped’ names. This practice is outrageous and should not be tolerated period.
“If the servers on the domains are the following then its a Tucows owned domain that they pulled back from you:
PARKING2.MDNSSERVICE.COM
PARKING1.MDNSSERVICE.COM”
Yes, those are the name servers listed. Still haven’t heard a response from them on what’s going on. The documentation is sparse and contact info even sparser. Just as well they are throwing the towel in.
Hi Michael,
Like I said in my email reply to you yesterday, this was an unfortunate, one-time mistake that happened while Tucows was transitioning from our old auction platform to Afternic.com.
Some of our names got listed in our old auction by accident. So we pulled them out as per our old auction’s rules.
I am sorry that you don’t believe it was a mistake.
We realize this doesn’t look good, but you have my word that it wasn’t anything nefarious.
This was a one-off situation that will never be repeated, and we are no longer running our own in-house auction.
Finally, in regards to the other issue, we do NOT allow our staff to bid on any names put into auction by Tucows.
Regards,
Bill Sweetman
General Manager, Domain Portfolio
Tucows
I did want to add to this story, as I was a former employee of Godaddy and DID actively bid on domain names at TDNAM. I would like to state the following facts:
1. I did not have or recieve any “insider” information like traffic stats or other bidders info
2. I did not recieve any discount, besides coupon codes which were available to all others who bothered to search for them online.
3. I did not bid for Godaddy (shill bidding), I bid on domain names that I personally wanted to own.
Although I was a Godaddy employee, I was also a customer and quite frankly acted the same way I did when I left Godaddy and continued to bid on domain names at TDNAM.
I would like to say that I never worked for TDNAM or Godaddys Aftermarket division, specifically I worked on the Sales and Support floor and then finished my tour of duty in their Billing department.
Justin
Hey Bill, why don’t you do yourself and your company a BIG favor, and own up to YOUR mistake. What you are essentially doing is making the customer pay for YOUR mistake. Mistakes have consequences, and your business is committing PR suicide here. I’m sure thousands will read this blog, and you’ll pay dearly on the bottom line. Do yourself the favor of being honorable.
Justin Allen – good insight. From my own discussions with my account rep at GoDaddy as well, his information sounds dead on. They can bid, but have access to the exact same tools as we all do, not more. And from what I gather, the employees like the Closeouts – which if true, is already past where we acquire – though many good names still make it there.
NOT sure it makes it right, but I do know we get Affiliate Deals from CJ, Linkshare, Performics, etc and if not still today there was a time when all internal employees ran the best offers. Huge conflict there, but when they cut the practice, it lead to exodus.
Reality of business is the entrepreneur will exploit opportunity whether within or external to an organization. If the field is level, it seems right. It is when private data is utilized that all hell breaks loose.
The domainnamewire article states it well…
“Although it’s easy to find fault in GoDaddy and NameJet’s policies, there’s a deeper challenge that domain name companies face. They want to hire talented employees, and that often means finding skilled domainers. These domainers won’t abandon their domain “businesses” for the job. How can they hire qualified employees while not creating conflicts-of-interest?”
The real conflict is whether they can see behind the scenes or not. I think at GoDaddy it is level. Maybe you guys will change my mind.
Bill
Did you read this post today
http://www.dotweekly.com/2008/06/21/tucowsafternic-simply-dropped-the-ball/
On dotweekly.com??
According to the author, about 40 domains that Tucows placed into the auction at Afternic which were on his watch list have either disappeared or been withdrawn.
Looks like more than a one time deal to me
Updated
According to domainnamenews.com they quoted Enom Sr. VP Taryn Naidu that is not the practice at Namejet.com to allow employee;s ti bid on domains at its auction.
Ms. Naidu is quoted by domainnamenews.com as saying:
“”"I have no idea how anyone got the ‘information’ that Namejet allows employees to bid but I can tell you that it not the case. We definitely do NOT let employees compete in auctions. Even if controlled, that practice has bad news written all over it. We have both report monitoring of account purchases and also IP monitoring of backorders and bids.”"
The domainamewire.com reported on friday that they had contact woth Namejet and such bidding was allowed.
As we said previously we have no personal knoweldge as to whether employees of NameJet bidded on their own auction.
Hi Michael,
Not only did I read the post on Dotweekly, I posted a public reply to it within a few minutes.
Here is what I wrote:
- – - – -
“Hi Jamie,
I am sorry to hear that you’ve experienced some frustrations attempting to bid on some Tucows expired names on Afternic … especially after you blogged so enthusiastically about about our new collaboration with Afternic.
Here’s what happened: during the transition from the old Tucows Auction to the new Afternic relationship, over 100,000 expired domain names were loaded into the Afternic marketplace. Unfortunately, there was a technical error that led to some names (a small percentage of the original set) being listed in the Afternic marketplace that should not have been listed. These names were later removed from the marketplace, and the error that caused them to be listed in the first place has been corrected.
Normally, however, names would only be removed from the marketplace if the original registrant renewed them.
I do hope this experience will not stop you from participating in the auction in the future. And feel free to email me anytime with your feedback on the auction. (I will send you my contact info in a moment.)”
- – - – -
Michael, just so there’s no confusion, NONE of the domains that were listed on Afternic.com by mistake and then withdrawn were sold. In fact, they weren’t even in the Live Auction stage yet.
It is important to note that the situation that Jamie at Dotweekly blogged about is a different situation (on a different auction platform) than the one you experienced.
In addition, Afternic emailed the customers who had put PreOrders on the domains that were withdrawn and explained to them what happened.
As I wrote in my reply to the Dotweekly post, the error that caused the names to be listed on Afternic.com by mistake has been corrected.
Regards,
Bill Sweetman
General Manager, Domain Portfolio
Tucows
Mike,
In regards to GD/TDNAM: What pisses me off most about this is the unbelievable stupidity of many of our fellow domainers NOT understanding the huge “potential for abuse” of an employee bidding on their co’s auctions. You don’t even need to know specifics of abuse happening. Just the fact that there are different levels of employees within these co’s with access to varying levels of information. They are all human and where there are grey areas left open to abuse you can believe that it IS happening to some degree. The greed factor cannot be underestimated!
The question isn’t “is abuse happening” , but when and by whom.
Just because Justin Allen states that he didn’t have access (and for the record I do believe you Justin) to any privileged information, doesn’t mean that is the case with other employees. You can bet that there are some who bid that DO have access to privileged information and use it to their advantage.
I for one am in agreement with you, Mike, we all need to vote and make ourselves heard by closing up our wallets.
You won’t see me bidding on TDNAM!
Koz
Hi Bill Sweetman,
We have never met. After reading what happened to Mike in regards to 23 domains won at auction I can’t believe your stance on the matter.
You don’t have to be a lawyer to see the impropiety of the actions taken. A mistake was made on the part of TUCOWS. Michael Berkens was not at fault, yet he was penalized. Acting in good faith he bid on the names and won them. I’m sure payment would have been made in good faith. TUCOWS failed to deliver the names in good faith.
You bring up a totally different situation with Jamie@Dotweekly and names that had NOT been auctioned off. I can understand this mistake and removal of the names before the auction occurred.
This, to me, was a mistake caught in time.
After names have been auctioned off and won, this is a mistake NOT caught in time.
To claim a mistake whether real or imagined after the fact just “looks improper” . The right thing to do in this instance is for TUCOWS to “eat” this mistake and allow Mike to have the names.
Save face and DO THE RIGHT THING!
Koz
Koz
Just to be clear we in fact had already paid for some of these names that were taken back.
This is the notice I got:
“”"The domain you have purchased in auction has been withdrawn. We have now processed your refund. Please note: wire transfer refund may take up to 2 weeks to be processed.”"”"
Koz
Your response to Bill was exactly the argument I made to him privately.
He rejected it.
He wants it both ways.
To have all the rights of a normal registrant (with rights to redeem) while at the same time owning the auction and getting all the proceeds of the sale of an expired domain at auction.
The whole issue is much bigger than my 23 names.
It goes to the ethics of a corporation.
In this case a public corporation.
How they treat their best customers.
Because if they treat their best customers in such a fashion how do they treat the other 99%?
Also again to be clear the 23 names that got take from us were not the only names take from other bidders.
I know there were similar names that were auctioned off the same day that we either passed on or got outbid on. So there are definitely other domainers that are similar situated as us, who did not realize that there name was taken back by Tucows for their own account or have no forum to voice their outrage.
Mike and Scott,
We followed the *same* publicly stated rules for domain reinstatement that applied to any Original Registrant who had an expired domain in our old auction and then renews it. The domain can be returned to Original Registrant up to 60 days after auction ends. And Mike has, or will be, refunded.
Regards,
Bill Sweetman
General Manager, Domain Portfolio
Tucows
Koz
Regarding your comments related to TDNAM, I agree with you
Just because this individual who was an employee at Godaddy did not have any insider information or special advantage from any outside bidder that is not to say that another employee say Mr. Dicker who runs the aftermarket does not have any such information or special advantage.
More importantly and to the point of my post, improper conduct is one issue however just putting yourself in a position where the integrity of the auction can be questioned.
The appearance of impropriety is the test that all the auctions must pass
Bill
For the last time
You cannot be the registrant and the auctioneer, and use rule applicable to each when they suit you.
It’s that simple
In Vegas employees cannot play in the casino they work.
Professional referee’s as not allowed to gamble on the sports they officate. (not just the games they are working).
An attorney is not allowed to represent both client involved in a lawsuit.
There are countless number of instances where double dealing, insider dealing, conflicts of interests are strictly prohibited.
Why?
Because they all have the potential for abuse.
There is no getting around it.
You cannot have it both ways.
It is no surprise that you have the “legal” right to do what you did. Anyone owning the game and participating in the same game will always be in that position.
That why this conduct it is not permitted by ethical constraints.
This is why lawyers have the cannon of ethics which speaks to these conflict of interests.
You action here are within all terms of your auction agreement but ethically flawed and improper.
There is no answer to this.
You have our position.
We have ours.
We are voting to take our money and spend it elsewhere.
Other domainers can make their own conclusions and determine which auction platforms and which company’s they want to support
Its astounding a public corporation’s spokesperson refuses to publicly make up for its own mistake especially for a former valued customer . “technical error”? Blame is placed on a software program? I thought people were responsible for actions. Do software programs run the company staff meetings too? If programs, not people are responsible, the credibility of the corporation is called into question. Afterall, who knows what new “technical error” might cause new damage all by itself. At the end of the day what customers want to know is what the company is going to do about its own error. How is the company going to treat its valued customers? If this is the answer–nothing, then customers will do nothing for the company in return. And desert it in droves. If this issue indicative of how this company thinks and is led, its quite serious. There is still an opportunity for redemption here, its best that opportunity be taken advantage of. Clearly, its in the company’s best interest to do so.
Post No. 37 says it in a nutshell. No “EMPLOYEE” should be bidding on their own names if they work and/or are affiliated with that particular AUCTION HOUSE and/or DOMAIN COMPANY. Folks, do not bid on any domains where you see unethical behavior; pass along this message to all interested parties around the world!
Mike,
Any chance of seeing some of the 23 domains as well as the winning bids? Either yours or others you know of directly related to this. I think it would be a fascinating look at the entire situation.
Greg
Many of them were adult so I would not publish them here but here are 5
aluminiumgates.com
frontoftheline.com
economysize.com
bulkgrains.com
fertilitytips.com
For the record, Bido.com on its site states that:
“Founders and employees of Bido.com and their relatives are not allowed to bid or participate in auctions.”
http://bido.com/Info/House+Rules
Every Domain Company and Auction House should follow Bido.com House Rules; I applaud Bido.com for having its House Rules published on its site! FOUNDERS, EMPLOYEES and RELATIVES are not allowed to bid or participate in auctions-now that’s the way this industry should be operating with full disclosure and integrity.
I was watching taxiblog.com at afternic then the auction was pulled. I exchanged emails with tucows domain channel manager then the told me the taxiblog.com auction was back on. I immediately entered a $150 big. Two days later I got an email saying the auction had been pulled along with the other name I had bid on.
I’m watching another tucows drop that is in pending delete and it’s not even available at afternic.
I’m sure it’s just growing pains and I’m not sure who’s to blame but so far the tucows/afternic deal gets an F from me.
I just wonder the value of those domains in relation to the firestorm this has created and the business it will cost? If this is not resolved, I can’t imagine the unfortunate fallout to come. This is a big deal and I hope both parties come to common ground before more damage is done. Fallout is an unpredictable storm that no company should want to flirt with.
Domainers are getting squeezed from all sides and it has been going on for years. Why? Because they can and domainers have no balls to fight back or stand up for themselves.
Just look at PPC. Domainer margins have shrunk a LOT while our “Partners” have not. Google makes more and the PPC companies only care about maintaining THEIR margins at the expense of OUR margins and domainers just sit back and PARTY! Party, while WE pay for that party.. But domainers have been out to lunch on every facet of this business when it comes time to standing up for themselves, their rights and their fair share. But don’t worry folks, it will only get worse. Worse because domainers have decided to be powerless.
Some of this conversation is years too late. The ethics line was crossed the day registrars of domains were allowed to profit from them. Take the traffic from them, etc. etc. etc. Domainers allowed them to abuse things from day one so a little late to complain about things now. Just like folks complaining about rising registration fees. The battle for that was in 2004. Domainers did not take the fight seriously. Combined that decision will cost domain owners some $10-$20 MILLION a YEAR more. More because they would not organize and pony up a few hundred or a few grand to have their voices heard and fight. Now you hear folks squealing and I just shake my head and ask where the hell were they at when it actually counted and could have made a difference??
The next storm is in full bloom and if this community does not learn their lesson from history and take a stand and join the fight , they will eventually lose some of their prized domains or be labeled a criminal by some law passed in the dead of night when nobody was looking. Laugh to your hearts content, but NEVER say you were surprised or did not see it coming. Just tell your families that you CHOSE to do nothing because you thought folks like me were exaggerating the threat.
Rick,
I wasn’t around in the past to help join in the fight. But, that doesn’t make me or other (newer) domainers ignorant of the problems, abuses and double dealings.
THANK YOU, RICK SCHWARTZ!!!
Because of you and your blog your insight and tenacity, I understand the problems at hand.
I’m sure Bill Sweetman and Adam Dicker are nice guys that alot of the big name domainers have had business dealings with and socialized with at events such as your own T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference.
Bill Sweetman, Adam Dicker and other domainers in management positions at co’s such as TUCOWS, GoDaddy and others….THESE GUYS ARE THE PROBLEM!!!
They either make the rules or enforce the rules at these co’s and it’s bullshit that these guys are loved and embraced by the very constituency that they are fucking over.
It’s good that this is coming out and it’s even better that a firestorm has been ignited. We have to ferret these guys out and choose sides. We can’t have it both ways and remain “friends and have drinks” with these guys. Otherwise we are no better than them!
Rick, I disagree, and hope this little issue over 23 names becomes the biggest issue of our time and doesn’t get resolved until there is REAL progress and change.
So, Mike don’t fall for any crappy compromise that Bill and/or TUCOWS sends your way. Because soon they will realize they need damage control. We don’t want or need this swept under the rug.
We need this controversy! We domainers, established and newbies alike need to wake the hell up!!!
Established domainers are going to be the hardest to get on board to fight, as they always have. They know there are problems, but when you’re on the inside it’s very difficult to distinguish friend from enemy.
We need to find all the other double dealing domainers in this industry. We need to continue ferreting these guys out. We need this firestorm to grow bigger NOT to be extinguished. This is going to be painful, but it’s the only way we can change.
We can fight these “big” public and private co’s from many angles. The first of which is to keep this in the publics (domain) eye. We need to vote with our wallets and hurt them financially. We need to squeeze them until they either institute REAL change or collapse from the fallout.
I for one am pissed off and somehow going to make a difference in this industry.
Mike Berkens, it starts with you…
You are NOT ALONE!!!
It starts with me …
Koz
Koz
Thanks for your support
Rick
For those of you who have not been on Rick;s board over the past years, I can tell you that Rick has been warning people that all of the problems would be coming, unless domainers got organized and fought back.
Rick long predicted that this year would be a difficult one for domainers and boy was he right.
The Snowe bill, Parking companies cutting revenue, questionable business practices from domain dropping companies auctions, and now the possible elimination of 1 of the 2 companies that monetize domains.
At this point all we can do is try to support the ICA financially, demand accountability and change. We must try to get congress to halt the Google-Yahoo deal.
Google has way too much power and will have god like power if that deal is allowed to move forward.
Just today is was announced that Google canceled the contract of Domain Embarking with no notice and no reason. This is one of the possibilities I mentioned 2 weeks ago in the post about why the Yahoo-Google deal must be opposed.
CADNA will not go away.
The Snowe bill was the first try.
There will be a second and a third and continue until some stronger bill gets passed.
PPC companies will try to get away with whatever they can. They have the power, we gave them the money that gave them the power.
Domainers are just pawns in the system right now.
We need to stand up, stand firm, support those who will fight for us, like the ICA and vote with our wallets.
If not, as Rick said we are doomed
Mike,
What I said, I know, is going to ruffle some feathers, but someone needs to. We can’t keep moving forward without choosing a side.
For me the path to choosing a side is a clear, simple and a easy one. Find the people with ethics and you can never go wrong. Right now my short list includes you (Mike Berkens) and Rick Schwartz.
As I continue my journey and communicate with others in this industry I’m sure hoping this list will grow.
What I need to do is make this industry aware of the unethical people that are amongst us. This I can’t tolerate.
Apparently, Rick wants to pass the torch on to someone else to fight the powers that want to steal our property away from us. By ending his blog and weekly communications to the general domaining public he has signaled his disgust with the apathy of his peers.
With this chapter closing on the domain industry we must move forward. Mike you opened a new chapter whether you realized it or not. You’re at the forefront and all domainers who have any balls need to rally around you and speak up.
We need to find out who cares. We need to build a society where liked minded peers can feel confident that we are all playing on the same team.
United to fight for common goals.
ICA is a great start.
But, we need more. We need to form an association where every member is held accountable to a code of ethics.
The only way to stop those amongst us that are unethical is to call them out. Let their peers judge them.
Maybe, we need to create a public list of who these people are, who they work for and what it is that they have done.
If these same people lived in a small community and operated untehtically, they eventually would be called out and their bad reputations would make it hard for them to continue business operations in that community.
Even though the domain industry is a small community these unethical people can still continue their business operations at the present time because of the internet being such an uncohesive community.
If we could bring this domaining community together and make it more cohesive we could make it much harder for these same unethical domainers to continue. Either they see the error of their ways and change or they succumb to the pressure of the community.
You may not drive them completely out of business, but they could certainly be ostracized. Which in turn would effect them financially. Money and greed being the factor why these people operate unethically, this would obviously come full circle to put pressure on them.
I maybe relatively new to this industry, but that doesn’t mean I’m ignorant of all that is going on within it.
I hope to facilitate change, but to do that I need to gain trust from my peers in this community.
I also need to form relationships with like minded domainers that want to take the torch from Rick Schwartz and continue what he started.
For a start I need to get on Rick’s board. However or whenever that is accomplished will be a step toward unifying us all.
This industry is so very young. There is much to be accomplished.
I’ve taken note of what is going on in the Geodomain community and how it’s coming together.
This is great! But, geo’s are only a small part of the overall community. We need to do the same thing for the whole domain community.
We need to unite and fight together. I don’t agree that it’s to late.
The apathy that Rick hates is in large part there because of this lack of cohesiveness in the domaining community.
Unify it and we can accomplish great things, together.
Koz
Thanks for sharing the names. Though I agree high quality and good orders, Tucows should just sell them for your bid. Definitely not worth the firestorm IMO.