Afternic domain name sellers received an email today telling them that any names they have listed that promote “hate, sex, obscenity or self-destructive behavior, such as substance abuse, violence and gambling” will be delisted.

Well, that’s about a quarter of the domain names. LOL!

Hey, that means my new IHateRobots.com won’t even be able to be listed any longer. RoboPhobia? Crap. Robot hate crimes? I’m in trouble.

I’ve already had too much wine at the Los Olivos Cafe (you know, that movie called Sideways where the actors got drunk) so I want to be careful to not say too much tonight. I should really wait until the morning. But, I’ve got a big mouth so I can’t wait.

Seriously though, I can say that I certainly respect the rights of any private business to do as they please; I’m a conservative thinker (no not a religious conservative)–so do what you want with your business. I don’t think it’s a smart decision, if it helps them sleep better at night, then it’s the right decision for them. It’s just too bad that the only real hope of competition to get Sedo to improve their impossibly frustrating user interface is going to quickly fade away. Sedo NEEDS competition.

Anyway, Afternic’s got the religion, but nothing is going to change in the domain world. They’ll lose not only the “bad” domain names, but the rest of the names in peoples’ portfolio’s that have those domain names in them. People don’t want to start having to keep track of subsets of their portfolio at one of the sales sites; it’s enough work as it is to keep track of thousands of domains and where they are listed.

Hey, I was just wondering…I’ve got this cool name called Pleasurama.com. I suppose you guys with dirty minds think it’s about something sexual, but listen up Afternic, it’s not. Please don’t delist it. It’s about chocolate. Yeah, that’s it. Chocolate. It’s not naughty. Okay? The pleasure of chocolate.

Here’s the letter. What’s your opinion?

Note: Do you guys think you could digg the article so the subject gets some attention? if you will, please go here for the Digg page.

Dear Members, Domainers and Friends:

We want to share with you a recent decision that we believe will put Afternic in an even better position to serve the small business, SOHO community and greater domain industry.

After extensive consideration, we have decided to no longer accept domain names that promote hate, sex, obscenity or self-destructive behavior, such as substance abuse, violence and gambling. The sole rationale behind our decision is to make Afternic a more comfortable site for mainstream domain name shoppers, especially small business owners. We recognize that taking a leadership role on this issue may have a negative financial impact on our business in the near term. Nonetheless, we believe strongly that it’s the right thing long-term decision for our industry and Afternic.

In the next few days, we will de-list these kinds of domain names currently posted on our site. Members who own such names will receive a letter from us informing them which names will no longer be listed. We hope that they, and others, will understand that we have no interest in censorship and that we fully support First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and expression. And, there is certainly no lack of other Internet sites where such names are welcomed.

The Internet, much like the early days of television, is still a new frontier. We believe it is up to the industry leaders-and we include Afternic here-to step up and determine what constitutes professional standards and practices. We take this action in the interest of socially responsible corporate behavior and hope that it leads to further healthy industry dialog and discussion on the topic.

We greatly appreciate your business and support of Afternic, and will continue to endeavor to earn your confidence and trust.

Very best regards,
Roger Collins
President of Afternic, Inc.

Technorati Tags: domain, domain name, afternic, sedo, sex, gambling, drugs

Some domain buyers have to be insane. Or children. Or just plain stupid. On tdnam.com the other day I saw the following names for sale, each for an asking price of $39,999.

4-c-a-m-e-r-a.com
50-c-e-n-t-s.com
c-e-l-i-n-e.com
c-e-l-e-b-r-i-t-i-t-y.com
c-h-a-r-i-t-y.com
c-h-a-n-c-e.com
c-e-r-t-i-f-i-c-a-t-e.com
c-e-r-t-i-f-i-c-a-t-i-o-n.com
c-h-e-c-k-i-n-g.com
d-e-n-t-i-st.com
d-e-n-t-i-s-t-s.com

….and a bunch more!

I think he forgot one he should have kept himself:

f-r-i-c-k-i-n-g-i-d-i-o-t.com

I peruse the domain name listings from various sources each day. I came across one today that I just had to let you all know about! It’s AllTheBeerYouCanDrink.com and it’s only one million dollars. Quick! Check your account to see if you have the spare change, and then click on the link and get your bid in before it’s gone! The seller is so sure of the brandability of this name that he hasn’t even bothered to park it for PPC income. Who needs that when he can turn a $10 registration into $1,000,000? Think of all the type-in traffic he’s not capitalizing on–there must be thousands of people typing that six word domain name in daily.

LOL!

Technorati Tags: internet, domain, domain name, beer

I came across a press release today entitled Domain Name Sale Offers Chance in Guinness Book of World Records and had to share it with you. What a crack up!

I don’t know if Andres Kello is delusional, is just having fun, or if he’s just not too bright and thinks he’s going to actually pull off his plan. He’s selling his domain name, TheRecordBreakingDomain.com, for $7,500,000.01, one penny more than the current record. What is the value of this 23-letter domain name with no keyword value? Nearly priceless, apparently! Why? Because if you agree to pay him that much you will then own the most expensive domain name ever sold. You then be famous! You’ll be in the Guinness Book of World Records and the world will beat a path to the TheRecordBreakingDomain.com web site! Right.

But hey, if you have an extra seven and a half million laying around, or can convince your banker that this is a great investment, give Andres a call at 310-928-3100.

If you’d like to be more certain to make the record books, pay me a penny more at $7,500,000.02 and I’ll sell you TheWorldsBiggestDomainInvestingIdiot.com.

But, he’s really not so selfish. He’s going to give $400,000 to charity and $2,000,000 to his “supporters.” What a guy.

Domain Name Sale Offers Chance in Guinness Book of World Records

TheRecordBreakingDomain.com is selling its domain name for a new Guinness Book of World Records record to create potential publicity for the future owner.

Boston, MA (PRWEB) November 15, 2005 — A domain name buyer has the opportunity to make headlines across the globe and secure a potential spot in the world’s all-time best selling book, the Guinness Book of World Records.

TheRecordBreakingDomain.com is selling its domain name for $7,500,001, a new world record. The current record-holder, business.com, has received a staggering amount of free publicity and continues to get exposure simply because it holds the world-record. The media hype created from the sale could well be worth the millions paid for it.

A Purdue University study found that adopting domain names increases the stock price of firms. “This dot-com effect produces cumulative abnormal returns … of 125 percent,” the study reported.

One of the reasons for the value of domain names is that even without advertising or marketing, they attract visitors. Furthermore, they are extremely easy for potential customers to remember, increasing the probability that they become repeat customers or regular visitors.

One of the most basic ways to appear more professional online and to establish trust is to purchase a domain name. This produces a website’s own online brand and can create credibility and the right image for the company.

By attaining the record in the Guinness Book of World Records, TheRecordBreakingDomain.com will become one of the most recognized and easily-remembered names on the Internet.

“The fact of the matter is big ideas with self-fulfilling publicity generate a lot of traffic on the internet,” said Andres Kello, owner of TheRecordBreakingDomain.com. “There is no ad catchier than a record-breaking one.”

About TheRecordBreakingDomain.com (www.TheRecordBreakingDomain.com)
TheRecordBreakingDomain.com is a site aimed at breaking a world record. Andres Kello, a 25-year-old entrepreneur, is also offering a massive $2 million giveaway to get people from all walks of life and across the globe to support the record attempt and give the TheRecordBreakingDomain.com the traffic and publicity it needs to attract an interested buyer who can eventually break the Guinness Book of World Records record for most expensive domain name.

Contact:
Andres Kello
www.TheRecordBreakingDomain.com
310-928-3100

Technorati Tags: internet, domain, domain name, charity

I saw the following interesting post at Slashdot.com here. A series of great comments followed it; page down on the page to read them.

“Slashdot has covered stories where big mean companies threw poor little people off of web sites with names too close to that of the company. But what about when you are the company and the cybersquatter isn’t even using the name? I have a small (ok, basically just me) company. The web site that exactly matches my company name has been registered since 2001, which is before I legally registered my company name but after I started doing business. Despite being registered for 4 years, the site is still nothing but a pile of banner ads - not even a hint as to why they want that particular name for their site. I contacted the owner, but they are not interested in selling (at any price, they said). If I read the ICANN guidelines correctly, domain name owners who have ‘no legitimate claim for the name’ can be evicted by people who do, so I think I should be able to demand they hand the name over. Has anybody ever tried this, or heard of a case where somebody with very limited funds (ie, not enough money to hire a lawyer) has been able to evict a squatter? Or do you always have to hire a lawyer and pay thousands in court fees to make this happen?”

Of all the comments, I love this one the best:

This is a great idea! I’ll find some web site which has nothing but banner ads. Then I’ll start a business with the same name. After I do that, I’ll go to court and sue, demanding that the owners of that domain turn it over to me.

Maybe the current domain owners are holding on to the domain in the hopes of one day starting a business in their state/country with that name. Maybe they are ranked well enough search engines that the banner ads are profitable. Whatever the case may be, it’s their domain and I don’t understand why you think that your business interests should trump theirs.

Face it: You screwed up. You started a business without registering the domain(s) appropriate for that name.

By they way, I found this story by reading the Google Feed I set up in the sidebar on the right. All those feeds are really useful, but I see hardly anyone ever clicks on them. You’re really missing out.

Technorati Tags: domain, domain name, ICANN, internet, cyberquatter, business

What is it with domain buyers and the word “nano?” Talk about people unclear on the concept! Nanotechnology is simply the science of developing materials at the atomic and molecular level in order to imbue them with special electrical and chemical properties. With nanotechnology, we will have new and improved products in nearly every area. But, we aren’t going to be looking for “nano” items; we’ll still just look for the items in regular terms.

For example, nanotechnology is helping clothing manufacturers make wrinkle-free pants. But, you’re still going to shop for “wrinkle-free pants”, or just “pants” when they are eventually all wrinkle-free. I can just see someone walking into their favorite clothing store and asking, “Can you show me your nanopants?”

Aside from the science of nanotechnology, the shortened word “nano” is also being used as an adjective in describing something as very small, just as we have used the terms “micro” and “mini.”

Understanding this, let’s take a look at some of the names I pulled out of a deleted domains list last week. Mind you, this was a list of names deleting only on that day and only from GoDaddy.com (on TDNAM.com). And, I looked only at names beginning with “nano” in the .com suffix. I got 99 of them! Chances are one poor sucker bought most of these all by himself since they were all expiring on the same day from the same registrar. It just goes to show you people will register just about anything if there is a trendy word involved. Following are just a sampling of the names.

Nanoauctioneer.com: Either a very, very small person performing an auction, or an auction for buyers of nanos.

NanoCarnival.com: I’ve seen carnivals with the “little people” in shows, but is this for carnivals dedicated to that?

NanoAutoParts.com: I hope the nonowrenches come with them.

Nanochef.com: I like to get a little more on the plate.

Nanoclippers.com: For petite toes?

Nanocranium.com: Describing his own brain for registering this?

Nanocuffs.com: Ouch! Too tight, too kinky.

NanoDriveway.com: Is this to go with the new fuel-efficient, smaller cars?

NanoHotTub.com: Okay….

NanoInfant.com: Now that’s a tiny toddler.

NanoJoker.com: HaHa, that’s funny. Not.

NanoNinja.com: “Didn’t see him coming…”

NanoMassage.com: Oohhh, that felt…like nothing.

NanoMusical.com: Let the little voices be heard!

NanoWine.com: Just gets you a little tipsy.

NanoVacations.com: There is nothing like a weekend escape to the nano factory.

NanoWrinkles.com: I wish they were nano-sized.

Following is the complete list I found that day.

Technorati Tags: domain, domain name, internet, nano, nanotechnology, GoDaddy, expired domain

(Read on …)

Speaking of misspellings (my last article), while reviewing a list of recently deleted names, I came across something interesting. Now, I know that domain investors purposefully buy domain names that are common misspellings of a popular, active domain name in the hopes that a significant minority of people misspell the domain name and wind up on their parked page. But, last week I saw an example of taking a good idea to way too far!

Within the list of deleted domains, I saw 78 misspelled variations of KOACampGround.com. Yes, that was 78. I think this “investor” must have obviously learned his or her lesson on that one, and just let them all expire. Geez, it not like he was doing misspellings of a popular domain name like Google.com or something. KOA Campgrounds? Come on!

Compounding the problems for our fellow domainer–and I can only assume these must be his too, since they expired on the same day–was his other, equally disastrous attempt. There were also 95 domains that were misspellings of FactoryDirectFurniture.com! How many people are actually keying in FactoryDirectFurniture.com with the correct spelling? LOL!

Technorati Tags: domain, domain name, internet, camping

Welcome to all who have been sent here to this specific, extemely popular page by all the other sites that are linking to it! Before you leave, make sure to my home page and take a look at the rest of the articles.

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What do you check before you buy a domain name. Spelling of course. Trademarks. What else?

Sometimes a domain name phrase is intended to be pronounced in one way, but if you look at it differently, it can be pronounced in a another, often hilarious, way. The classic example that is often mentioned on the internet is a site called Experts Exchange, where techies gather to answer each others’ questions. The founder of the site picked out what seemed like the very nice domain name of ExpertsExchange.com, and it became very popular. But, early on, he found out that some were reading the the domain name differently, mispronuncing it as ExpertSexChange.com. LOL! He’s since changed his site name to Experts-Exchange.com to make sure everyone understands he is not in the business of performing sex change operations. I was surprised to see that he did not hang on to the original domain though, pointing it to their new domain name. It now sits parked for click revenue.

There are other classic mispronounced domain names. One is the site WhoRepresents.com, with the unfortunate alternate enunciation of WhorePresents.com. But, since it’s in the performing artist arena, maybe it’s not just a misnomer. Another is TherapistFinder.com, for those looking for California marriage and family therapists. Unfortunately, the wrong clientele might stumble upon the site as TheRapistFinder.com. And then there is PenIsland.net, where you can buy custom pens. However, someone could mistake their site name for something else if they pronounce it PenisLand.net. Adding to the hilarity–and maybe it’s just me and my sick mind–is this quote: “Whether you’re looking for a long and skinny pen, a thick pen, a fountain pen that squirts ink, or even a black pen, we have just the one for you.” Is it just me? I’m on the floor laughing my ass off! They had to have written that fully knowing what they were saying.

If after reading all this, and I’ve offended you because you are, in fact, a candidate for a sex change if you only had the money, I apologize and I’ve got good news for you. You can head over to DollarSexChange.com. Oh sorry, that was DollarsExchange.com.

Here are some other active sites with interesting names:

ChooseSpain.com is also ChoosesPain.com

GraphicArtsExchange.com is also GraphicArtSexChange.com

GoTahoe.com is also GotAHoe.com. Not sure if “hoe” is an alternate spelling for “ho,” but Yahoo Images thinks so.

ScaTissue.com is also ScatIssue.com. At least they sell napkins there in case you come across some scat.

I used Whois.sc’s Domain Explorer function to find all registered names that ended in “sexechange.com”. There were dozens that were obviously meant to have meanings other sex change. But, the owners must have figured out the problems with them because about all are not in use. These are names like:

• Comics Exchange.com (ComicSexChange.com)
• VeteransExchange.com (VeteranSexChange.com)
• MusiciansExchange.com (MusicianSexChange.com)
• ActorsExchange.com (ActorSexChange.com)
• ExoticsExchange.com (ExoticSexChange.com)
• GraphicsExchange.com (GraphicSexChange.com)
• HomesExchange.com (HomeSexChange.com)
• KidsExchange.com (KidSexChange.com)
• MomsExchange.com (MomSexChange.com)
• PlayersExchange (PlayerSexChange.com)
• WomensExchange.com (WomenSexChange.com)
• StudentsExchange.com (StudentSexChange.com)

I understand names with dashes in them are less valuable than those without. While I’ve heard that search engines will possibly index a name with a dash separating multiple keywords better than the same name without dashes, the issue of verbally saying a name with dashes in it is too cumbersome. And , even after it’s said, its too easy for the user to forget to key in the dashes.

But, in case such as those I’ve listed here, I it would be wise to pick up two versions of a name, one without the dashes and one with. You could host the domain name with the dashes, and have the one without the dashes redirect to that site. This way, you could advertise your site with the dash in it, for easy recognition of the site’s purpose. Those who forget the dash when keying in the name will be sent the site.

I’d like to hear of more mispronounced domain names. If you know any, please post them here in a comment.

Technorati Tags: domain, domain name, humor, internet, spelling