I sense that we are on the verge of a surge forward. Lots of news is brewing and percolating. Some of it good, some bad. This week’s premium domains post will be a mixture of news and observations. To get started …
1. Wikipedia Fails Integrity Check – I have been a fan of Wikipedia, and have visited the site often for general info over the years. One will of course occasionally find misstatements of fact. I was extremely disappointed, and actually quite angry, to find that an admin there has taken it upon himself to redirect searches for ”Domaining” and “Domainers” to the ”Cybersquatting” page on the Wikipedia site.
Adding insult to injury, the admin resisted my request to stop this malicious, and obviously inaccurate, redirect. And he referred me to some convoluted process required for “overturning” their content decision. He alluded to some requirement that I provide reliable sources and verifiability checks before they would consider removing this moronic & offensive redirect. The conclusion is that personal bias and ego are in control at Wikipedia. A real step down in credibility for this once valuable resource.
Ironically, this admin is requiring standards (reliability, verifiability) that they themselves apparently did not use when deciding to misdefine all domaining and all domainers. I think of the many friends and associates I have in this industry who have worked so hard, invested so much, and produced so much good as legitimate business entrepreneurs … only to have some jerk at Wikipedia equate their collective effort with trademark infringers. What a shame. Please add your voice & comments at this link.
2. Dow Jones closes above 9100 – I surely do not want to overstate my case. We are seeing some stabilization occur even among a struggling economy. It is indeed a complex machine. Always poised to fly or crash on a moments notice. Since my last writing, we have had more good news of residential home sales setting short-term records as home buyers come back into the market. Some jobs are beginning to be added, depending on the geographical area, while other cities continue to see job losses.
The general sentiment is still “wait and see”. But, the Dow rising over 9000 suggests that investment capital is starting to be released, and business is warming up again with its sights set on opportunities ahead.
3. .BIZ Lives! – Still well in excess of 2 million registrations worldwide. I just passed by a work van in Greensboro, North Carolina and saw “HBTech.biz” on the side. Visited the website to find a company called Hoffman Building Technologies who design and install critical airflow systems. This is the base of the .biz web address -> real companies, real websites across America & other countries of the world.
4. WoodPellets.com sold for $115,000 – I did a mild double take at first. Seemed extraordinarily high … until I researched what wood pellets are. They are a burgeoning alternative fuel with dedicated products and a growing consumer base. I learn something new everyday. The sale was closed at Sedo.com, a nice online aftermarket site where I have bought and sold a number of domain properties over the years.
5. Criminalization of False Domain Name Registration – Private and shielded whois has been controversial for many years now. Who is that hiding behind anonymity? Personally, I can understand the need for privacy, and do not have a problem with private whois as long as the domain registrar is responsible for performing some type of whois accuracy check. That being said, I do not use private whois and provide full disclosure on all my domain registrations.
Internet Business Law Services recently posted an article on their site about proposed legislation (actually from 2004) which would make it a criminal offense to intentionally provide false or misleading whois information when registering an internet domain name. The writer was revisiting the need for full & accurate whois disclosure. This topic seems to have a continuing life since anonymity provides internet criminals with ongoing protection from prosecution. At this point, I wonder if full whois disclosure might be the best alternative.
Internet Domains
After discovering that a Wikipedia search of “Domaining” was being redirected to cybersquatting, I tried to overcome my initial anger and get constructive. I have uploaded a Domaining primer to the Wikipedia sandbox which appears to be a kind of holding area where Wikipedia admins review what has been submitted.
