Morning Folks!!
First of all, I have no idea how I got in the middle of a firestorm that has nothing to do with me. But here we are. Folks will use my selected words to bend things one way or another and sometimes not bend at all. It's almost comical. Almost all my blog posts are opinion based. Very few are news based.
But putting that aside.....
I had a near 2 hour phone call late yesterday with Daniel Negari. He gave a heartfelt apology to some words he regrets he wrote to/about me. I was surprised at the words given Daniel was on my chatboard years ago (he was a teenager at the time) and we never had any issues so I accepted his apology.
Daniel Negari has been under fire for days for a host of issues from his remarks to me on TheDomains.com, his arrogant selling technique and and the firestorm over the domain giveaway by Network Solutions. TheDomains.com, OnlineDomain.com, DomainIncite, and blogs everywhere includng DNJournal have many of the details and commentary. Most of these folks have multiple stories on the issue from a variety of sources and the comments and speculation only add more fuel. Some justified, some not. I think you will find all those links in these stories so just follow the bouncing ball if you need to get up to speed.
True passion by Negari is just getting ahead of reality. imo
So what happened with the Network Solutions giveaway of some 30,000 .xyz as a freebie? Who did what? My conversation was designed to answer those questions and sort out the events. You, the readers will be the judge. As always, answers may spawn new questions and I hope Daniel will come here and address them if they do. Here is the interview:
Q1 .XYZ was in the news this week when an email offer was discovered going to customers of one Registrar offering their customers a free .XYZ domain? Were you behind it?
First, I think it is important for everyone to understand the difference between a Registry and a Registrar, and the roles that each play.
A Domain Registry, like .xyz, .com, or .org is responsible for the operation of a particular domain extension. Think of it as manufacturer of a product.
A Domain Registrar is an organization that enables Registrants to register domain names. It is like a store where you go to buy a product - in this case its domain names.
The Registry Operator like .xyz, .com, or .org sets a fixed wholesale price for all Registrars.
Each Registrar (or store) then makes its own decision on the retail price it wants to charge for the different domain names (products) it offers.
We have over 200 registrars from all around the word in all languages offering .xyz domain names. I do not know the details of every promotion or marketing campaign that they are doing every day.
Here is what I do know:
Regardless of whether a registrar charges $100, $5, or gives the domains away for free, I get paid the ENTIRE wholesale price, which is the same price that every registrar pays.
Q2. Did you as a registry give away free domains?
No. The Registry Operator is unable to “give away” free domain names. I never even saw the email that the registrar sent to its customers until I discovered it on the blogs. As a Registry, I can only suggest an MSRP for a Registrar to display. However, a Registrar does not have to use that price.
Just like the price of .com, it is up to each Registrar to set the retail price of any domain registration.
Q3. Do you set the price that the registrar charges for a domain extension?
No, I do not set the price that a Registrar charges for a domain extension. That pricing is determined by the Registrar only.
Q4. Do you know the retail price that each of your registrars is charging for a .xyz registration?
No, I do not know the exact price that every Registrar is charging.
On all of our Registrar outreach materials we have suggested $9.99 retail pricing for .xyz domains, however, it is the up to the Registrar to determine the retail price that they offer to registrants ($14.99, $50, $9.99, etc…).
Q5. So what you’re saying is that a registry is like a manufacturer of a product. Let’s use Coke for example. So if Coke sells a 2 liter bottle to stores for a wholesale price of $.50, it is up to the store to set the price that they want?
That’s correct.
So if a store purchased a bottle of Coke for $.50 they can charge $1 or $5, $50 or sell it on a buy it get one free basis or give a bottle away for free.
As the registry of .XYZ like the manufacturer of Coke, I am paid my full wholesale price regardless of what the store or retailer sells it for
Here is another example. A gas station may purchase a bottle of Coke for the $.50 wholesale cost. Then when a customer fills up a full tank of gas, the gas station will give the customer the bottle of Coke for free. The maker of the bottle of Coke cannot control how the gas station owner prices the bottle of Coke. Again, in this example, xyz is like the manufacturer of the bottle of Coke.
Q6. In your first blog, you mention that .xyz is your “Gift to the World”. To many domainers this came off as arrogant. What were your intentions with this phrase?
I admit I am not the best writer, and sometimes I am not able to express my feelings on paper. By no means was I trying to sound arrogant, and I understand how some readers may have read into this. My goal with .xyz was to allow anyone, around the world, to purchase an affordable and generic domain name for any purpose. By opening up the .xyz namespace with no restrictions, no variable pricing, and a small amount of reserved domains (about 1,000-2,000), I feel that .xyz is the first new gTLD to allow for mass appeal and a worldwide audience.
That is what I mean by our “Gift to the World”.
End--------------------
You can draw your own conclusions as it is not for me to say one way or the other. These were the questions posed and his answers. Nothing more, nothing less.
Rick Schwartz
William
I’m glad to hear that Daniel reached out to you to apologize. His answer about the Network Solutions giveaway makes sense. At the end of the day I would prefer a company be led by an aggressive, passionate person who goes a little overboard every now and again than someone who is passive. Props to Daniel for stepping up and making things right.
Joe Parvin
The questions I would ask are “Did Network Solutions receive any consideration, in cash, securities, service, or obligation or promise regarding the future, that was not offered to all other registrars dealing in .xyz? If so, what was it?” And also, “What are all, if any, of your business relations with Network Solutions, beyond operating a registry whose product, .xyz, they sell?”
Sukhjin
Lol @ BS
Daniel now go ahead feature this post
Sam
He still avoided answering.
Daniel, did you influence Network Solutions at all, in any way whatsoever, to encourage more .XYZ regs?
Until he answers this he has said nothing, IMO>
Todd
Rick, first of all apology by Negari must be to the domainer community.second, I don’t buy any of this.as the registry xyz knows where the registrations came from in real time, they could see network slolutions regging thousands of names.so he acts now surprised of the promo that he only found out on blogs? this does not compute Rick you are a smart guy and this is as kosher as bacon. IMO.
Patrick Hipskind
Was there any intent on the part of XYZ to manipulate the zone files to make it appear that more domains were registered than actually were? I’ll give Daniel the benefit of the doubt and say no. I think going forward they have learned a big lesson to dot their i’s and cross their t’s.
Soon we will see that there is only one competitor to .com, and that is .xyz - Page 3 - IDN Forums - Internationalized Domain Names
[…] Re: Soon we will see that there is only one competitor to .com, and that is .xyz Ricks and Daniels convo over the phone… http://www.ricksblog.com/2014/06/int…/#.U5IxuigbteI […]
BullS
Next time ask Michael from DomainShepard to video tape the “interrogation” and have 2 attorneys present.
Answer all questions under oath.
Bill Kara
If NS wants to run a promotion what is he going to do? Go around telling every registrar how to market and bundle their products?
Im sure the registrars as part of their agreements to sell and promote new gTLDs reserve ALOT of rights in regards how to market and sell them. You think NS is going to email every gTLD operator if they want to include free email or free hosting with every domain they sell?
Breath, relax, dot com is not coming to an end because .xyz said so.
Konstantinos Zournas
Negari never even mentions Network Solutions. I guess his lawyers have instructed him good.
Not a single reply in this interview.
Q1: Absolutely no reply. Copy/paste from the .xyz FAQ.
Q2: Joe Parvin said it well above. Does the registry or Negari or any other entity associated with the above have any deals with Netsol? Yes or No?
You are right Bulls: “Answer all questions under oath.”
The other questions are not quite relevant.
And some food for thought:
Why do you think a registrar chose the General Availability day to register thousands of free domains. Everybody knows that on that day the most registrations happen so they could only assume that at least a few paid registrations were bound to happen on that day.
Why not wait a week or a month to run such a promotion? The only explanation is that it was done on that day so that the .xyz numbers were inflated.
Michael
If I had a product an one of the stores(registrar) started giving it away below wholesale prices crushing the other stores, I would be mad! I wouldn’t let them sell my product anymore, I would also tell them to sell it at 9.99 and that they can’t sell it for 50. or I would take it from them too.
And why didn’t I get a FREE .xyz name :p
Joe Parvin
I can speculate what’s going on vis a vis .xyz, but I can’t understand the motivation behind Bill’s comment. To Bill: “What is the relevance of your remarks to the issue Rick was addressing? Or, if they’re not relevant, why did you make them?” Until I get in on the social dynamics, I will possibly mistake a signal for static.
Bill Kara
@Joe…
My comment was a reply to Todd. I used the Reply button which I thought would dump my comment under his.
Reading my comment without that makes it make, very little sense. Thanks for pointing that out.
Rick fix threading on this blog I barley make sense as it is!
Daniel Dryzek
Good questions.
Daniel Dryzek
I thought my comment will appear under Joe’s Parvin comment but it didn’t. So just to be clear: Joe’s Parvin questions are really interesting to ask.
NEIL
Negari is the luckiest arrogant on this planet.
He probably was born lucky.
To have the exclusive monopoly on com.de, is like owning all Caribbean Islands…
xyz is nothing or almost…
Just my opinion.
Neil
Xavier Lemay
Even with 0 registrations I would place .xyz on top.
Its short familiar and not confusing.
I like the fact that you can brand your company and without the tld! I don’t want people to name my company dataDotCenter… DataCenter sounds better!
The price is right and .xyz is now in my top 10.
.com .xyz .co .tv .me .ws .ca .net .cc .info
Brad Mugford
Latest .XYZ stats –
78,659 total registrations.
64,693 forced freebies (82%+) @ Netsol that no one asked for, but got because they did not opt-out.
When you remove the registry reserved domains, the total number of registrations is 12,816. That means just over 16% of all registrations are ones people actually requested.
With that said, of course Daniel is taking credit for the higher number even though it is complete BS.
Brad
Adam7
A recent article from Negari blog. It seems hi is taking credit and treating apology to RS as a tool to reach what he wants.
“.xyz officially has more registrations than any other new domain extension — all in well under one week. Thank you to the entire XYZ team, including all of the 200+ innovative registrars in our distribution network.
Our success has been unreal. So much so that I am HAPPY to announce our acquisition of Yahoo’s former office in Santa Monica, California.”
video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4L8iFVKyww
Elena
Even though I’m pretty sure Daniel is not lying when he says he got paid for those 50,000+ freebie registrations at Netsol I guess it’s safe to say that Netsol didn’t just decide one day “oh hey, let’s spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of our own money by giving away free .xyz domains to netsol users for the likelihood that around 0.1% of those will be renewed the year after”. Even ignoring the potential legal repercussions with that opt-out promotion it would make no sense whatsoever to do this. Netsol is in the business to make money, not to throw money down the drain.
Quote of Daniel “I do not know the details of every promotion or marketing campaign”
Funny how he avoided the only relevant question here. The question was if he had anything to do with this freebie promotion. He could have simple said “no”. Instead he chose to say he doesn’t know the details of all marketing campaigns. Yeah ok…
The ONLY question I would like to know (preferably under oath) if netsol was contacted by XYZ, prior to the General availabilty and was offered a lucrative deal in return for a guarantee there would be lots of .XYZ registrations.
Joseph Peterson
Evidently Mr. Negari is on unswerving autopilot. In the video above, he proudly announces to his team (but mainly to the camera), “We are now the number 1 new TLD in the market place!” And, after several enthusiastic cheers from his hangers on, he ends the video with, “I really look forward to hitting a million names.”
Not one shadow of a scruple nor any concession to reality. Posted June 6th, long after he would have been fully aware of the backlash against him. By that time — even if he were somehow innocent of rigging the numbers — he would have learned about the irregularities being publicly condemned. So he would have known that the counts he brags about are nonsense. Yet he continues according to plan.
This .XYZ CEO has here patronizingly explained to us the ABCs of our own industry — “registry”, “registrar”, “registrant”. For the benefit of us domain resellers, he has expounded on the difference between wholesale and retail. And he has emphasized (as before) a technicality — namely, that his company has arranged to be “paid the ENTIRE wholesale price” from Network Solutions.
Does he deny orchestrating or approving the forced freebies? No. With a slippery sleight of hand, he distracts us with irrelevancies. He didn’t see the email itself beforehand. He doesn’t know all the prices or all promotions at all registrars. So what? He knows what he’s accused of. It seems odd for an innocent person not to deny the actual accusations.
Although he goes through the motions of apologizing for our perception of his arrogance, he won’t deign to apologize for his actions or admit that the numbers he continues to boast about are ludicrously false. And that’s as arrogant as ever.
If Daniel Negari really didn’t know that the inflated numbers were coming, wouldn’t he be curious what had happened? Wouldn’t he spend some time investigating the secrets of his own company’s remarkable success? Wouldn’t he have spoken with Network Solutions and bring us a fuller account of what went on?
On the other hand, if Daniel Negari planned for the dubious numbers and has since been coached by his lawyers on how to evade admissions of culpability, wouldn’t he answer next to nothing at all? Having arranged for the cemetary to get up and vote for .XYZ, wouldn’t Mr. Negari confidently predict a record turnout? And wouldn’t he continue to count all votes from the walking dead — even after the zombies were detected by us — all the way to his million registrations?
He doesn’t seem bothered at all that his registrants are mostly zombies. Not even a lifted eyebrow.
Daniel Negari is charmingly boyish. But don’t let that distract you from what he has done and continues to do. In point of fact, he is asking thousands of people — mostly people who aren’t as wealthy as himself — to invest in his company and his self-absorbed vision of an .XYZ future. And he’s selling them his “gift to the world” primarily by pointing to registration numbers that he definitely knows to be deceptive and which he probably arranged in order to deceive. Where is his apology for this?
He predicted massive registrations. And he seems to have cheated his customers in order to create the illusion of success.
Strange that his “gift to the world” turned out to be a freebie … purely by coincidence and without his knowledge.
Patrick Curio
That’s putting it lightly!
anon
Netsol will be getting a nice big “marketing rebate” check from Negari next month lol. And the amount will just happen to match the XYZ invoice for this month.
Warren Royal
Daniel has asked us to think of his registry as the manufacturer of a product, and to think of the 200 registrars as authorized resellers of that product. Well, as the founder of an actual product manufacturing company with almost 1,000 authorized resellers, I have some perspective on this that I would like to share.
It is not true that a manufacturer has no control over the prices that their resellers charge at retail. It is a common practice among premium-tier manufacturers to establish Minimum Advertise Pricing (MAP) policies to prevent resellers from dumping their products online at very low or zero markup, and thereby cheapening the brand. We have MAP policies and we enforce them rigorously, and many other top premium-level manufacturers do the same.
That’s why you will generally not see products from reputable companies such as Apple and Gucci sold in discount outlets at lower prices. These companies want to protect their brand from being cheapened in the eye of the consumer by these discount prices. They want to compete on quality, not strictly on price. Resellers at marketplaces like Amazon.com have automated pricing engines and algorithms that will automatically decrease the price of a product by some small amount – say $.05 – whenever a competitor beats the current low price offered. When you have several companies doing this you will see a “race to the bottom” automated death spiral that only ends when the product is being sold at, or near, the wholesale cost. The result is a devaluation of the perceived value to the consumer for that particular product.
For example: why would anybody want to pay $10 for a product, when 10 companies on Amazon or eBay are selling it for $5? The new “value” and “street price” of the product becomes generally established at $5. So then it is almost impossible for other resellers to make any money on it – so they generally stop carrying it altogether – it’s not worth the trouble. This is bad for the manufacturer, and becomes a death spiral – because if resellers drop out and stop selling the product, the manufacturer has lost their distribution, and so therefore they can’t survive.
So as a product manufacturer, .XYZ has made the determination not to have such a policy and to allow resellers not only sell at zero margins, but to give their product away for free. In my opinion and experience all this will do is drive down the perceived value of the product. Why would I want to buy a certain .XYZ domain from my favorite registrar if I can get it from Network Solutions for free? The new value in my mind would be zero.
If that is the path that the .XYZ registry is going to take – allowing large registrars to give away their product for free – which will lower their perceived value to the consumer in the process – then I just don’t see how that strategy can be successful in the long run.
But regardless, I would like to clear up the misconception that manufacturing companies have no control over the pricing of their products. I can’t speak to registries, but I can speak to product manufacturing companies, which is the analogy that .XYZ has chosen to use.
Ron Jackson
I think the answer to two simple questions would tell people all they need to know (some previous comments were on this track but I think the questions can be further simplified.
1) Did .XYZ pay Network Solutions for anything? (that means ANYTHING – marketing, shelf space, detailing the CEO’s car – doesn’t matter what the payment might have been attributed to).
2) If so, was the amount .XYZ paid Network Solutions more than the amount NetworkSolutions paid for the .XYZ domains?
If answered truthfully, there is a good chance the answer to both of those questions would be Yes. Otherwise you have to believe the execs were sitting around at NetworkSolutions one day and one said something like, “Hey’ I’ve got this great idea. Let’s buy 70,000 .XYZ domains and give them away! It will only cost us $350,000 and the best part is, we could stick them in our client’s accounts without asking them – that way we get NO BENEFIT WHATSOEVER!…And, as an added bonus, we make a big portion of our loyal client base mad as hell at us for meddling in their accounts without asking! Not only that, there is a pretty good chance this will put us in violation of our RAA agreement with ICANN! PLUS…wait for it ….we put the company in the middle of a massive sh*tstorm of negative publicity!!” The CEO then exclaims, “Genius!!! How quickly can we get this done??!!”
You would have to have the mental acuity of a gnat to believe NetSol did this – not only for nothing – but at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars to THEMSELVES (I personally think it was a BAD idea for them to do it no matter what they got in return – it makes them look contemptuous of their own customers).
It is my understanding that .CLUB spent a lot of money at Go Daddy to get the premier positioning and support they got for their launch. Last time I looked NetSol was not a charitable organization so I would have to guess the same thing was true there with .XYZ. As the only saying goes, “I was born, but not yesterday.”
If the answers to the two questions at the top are both Yes, that doesn’t mean mean anyone did anything illegal or perhaps even anything outside business norms – you buy a product or service from me and I buy one from you when I need it – mutually beneficial. However, what you can’t do and get away with it – as the massive negative publicity has shown – is then PRETEND that all of these registrations that you know for a fact no one asked for in the first place are really active buyers and users of the TLD. EVERYONE can see the bogus registrations so acting as if they are real in spite of that makes it look like you think everyone else is stupid (or worse – that you are inherently dishonest). Once a business loses trust it is extremely hard to get it back again – and if you don’t get it back, you are toast.
We’ve all made mistakes and most of us learn from them. I’ve always believed people deserve second chances. The real test is how they react and make amends when they have had some time to reflect on obvious mistakes. The latest video that continues the “we’re #1” charade, in spite of what we all know, is very disappointing. As Abraham Lincoln famously said, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” A business based on thinking otherwise has a rough road ahead of them and it is hard to imagine it ending in a good place.
Harry L Shields
Ron, you nailed it, here and on your own site! I believe there’s a very short window of opportunity for net/sol and Daniel to come clean and tell the truth. Forgiveness is a great virtue, truth will set you free.
pinkybrand
Well stated Ron. Negari states he received the ENTIRE wholesale payment, but what he does NOT say is whether or not a rebate was paid to Network Solutions, or there was other consideration. Those of us who have been in the TLD registry business for many years know this is a common practice. One reason he may not have commented is because registry-registrar marketing agreements may contain language stating the terms of the agreement are confidential.
I am amazed that Network Solutions (a company that I sold my own company to years ago) and now being part of Web.com, A PUBLIC COMPANY, would engage in a default opt-in strategy causing a customer to enter into a new domain name registration contract without material knowledge and consent.
Perhaps they think the risk is low that they’ll be sued, or that damages can be limited to a point that is worth the risk to them vs some other consideration? Perhaps they know all of the registrants are “friendly” parties? Perhaps since they are a public company there is extreme pressure to make quarterly numbers, and some lower level person allowed something to happen so they can get their bonus next quarter, but the senior folks were not aware of the details, just like Negari says he was not aware of the details on his end? Maybe lawyers are already involved and everyone has been told to shut up until they can sort this cluster**** out.
Perhaps they are going a route that I believe others have taken in the past. Give away domains for little or no cost so that you have added 2,000,000 names to management after one year. Then, if only 10% renew you’ve got 200,000 paying customers moving forward at $8 per name year. A nice little business whether or not anyone is actually benefitting from the domains or not. The logic may be “better to have 10% of 2,000,000 renew their names (200,000 in the zone) than 70% of 50,000 (35,000).”
Reminds me of free magazine giveaways I used to receive via snail mail—get your magazine for free for 6 months and then *if you don’t cancel* we’ll automatically bill you for another year’s subscription. I’m sure the strategy must work because I used to get these types of offers all the time. The difference is that it is in opt-in, not opt-out.
I’m speculating wildly with the above, but such speculation starts happening when the actors don’t speak to their audience of influencers and possible paying customers when they start asking questions. We may never know the details unless something bad happens that causes someone to sue.
The larger concern to me and to possibly other new gTLD operators is all this controversy puts a stink on the program. I fear it gives the industry a “used car salesman” type of reputation.
There’s always room for innovation and surprises, and that’s fine for me. However I must say I have an uneasy feeling because of the silence from the involved parties. Relationships and trust are so key in this business.
The Real Todd
All Negari is is a bullshit artist. He thinks XYZ is the next super tech company. Grafitti on the walls, riding the skateboard, moving to silicon valley. I believe he will reach 1 million registrations because he’s going to give them all away for free. All of those that are supporting Negari and his bullshit are fools.
Jon
This whole thing is stupid. Plain stupid. Including THE DUMB EXTENSTION.
xyz myass. It is almost to where nowadays people think that if they market something heavy enough — reguardless of how stupid it seems, some idiot
will eventually come along and buy it.
I really dont even own any good .com names, but I am so tired of these new
gtld’s already.
Sam
You know, the whole video above reminds me of one of those late 90’s companies like WebVan with a little too much money, arrogance, pie-in-the-sky projections, ignorance, and offices that are out of touch with a serious working environment. I smell a crash and burn scenario oozing from that company.
Hate to say it but Daniel Negari is the poster boy for the New TLD Bubble. He’s got the smile for it.
Steve Mugavero
Warren Royal is spot on… most companies, that plan on building an established brand. That they believe has the capacity to be a major player will set:
Minimum Advertise Pricing (MAP) policies.
They like to call it “Product Integrity”
Giving away a domain as a loss leader (or any product for that matter) with another one, devalues the said product..
Try to find a major brand that will let you give away (or loss lead) their major brand product with an over priced high margin private label product that you make.
Bottom line: .XYZ has about 12K real registrations.. minus any other of its 200+ registrars giving domains away at a smaller level…
“When anything is attempted to be supported by lying, it is presumptive evidence that the thing so supported is also a lie. The stock on which a lie can be grafted must be the same species as the graft.” TP
Andrea Paladini
Quod erat demonstrandum … as I said before, lies don’t have legs … :D
nobody
no common sense, thus utter BS
Xavier Lemay
Lol .xyz rocks! Hate it all my friends loves it! The more we talk the more it gains popularity.
I love .xyz even more than .net.
Adam S
Good work Ron. I like this version of Ron Jackson. . . asking hard questions. :)
And obviously Pinky has a good deal of knowledge in the space about rebates from registry providers. Thanks for weighing in too Pinky.
Jon
wow, man you said it and I couldnt agree more.
Domains Names
Is .xyz on the rocks already, or have I missed something?
Andrea Paladini
talk is cheap … and your games are pathetic mr/ms nobody …
Ted
For all we know, Negari could be using his own money or another company he owns to pay off Netsol and even register many other XYZ domains. Fluffing numbers now but a lot of pain as he tries to fund his journey to a million registrations…LOL
Joseph Peterson
At any point, Mr. Negari can step forward, explain what really happened, and apologize fully to his employees, his customers, and his industry.
That will take guts and humility. And he’d still face a rocky road with .XYZ even afterward, which is inevitable and only fair. He’s wealthy enough that he can break any confidentiality agreements and pay the penalty — as he ought to do.
He’d earn my respect for that — for admitting wrongdoing and accepting the consequences. Whenever he’s ready, he can “take it like a man”. (Apologies to all women for that phrase!)
Sometimes people succeed too early in life. Failure is so much more important. Frankly, it’s the beginning of adulthood.
Those kids, grand kids, and great grand kids who are supposed to use .XYZ? It’s more important that they see a standard set for honesty. Forget about your extension for a moment, Daniel. Even if it flops, you can leave your mark on this world in other areas. If you get off the skateboard, there’s a lot of philanthropic work out there better done on foot.
nobody
pathetic or not, but i don’t give a crap about Negari or his success but his attempt to make a fool of me, adn otherpeople should not go unnoticed.
as .com owner i do not need some worthless domains shoven down my throat.
The Real Todd
Morgan Linton wrote a post called “An Apology to my Readers and Sponsors” which is about Daniel Negari and supporting him and XYZ where he went on to say “I wanted to apologize to both my readers and sponsors for supporting anything that would hurt them, our industry or any of the hard working visionaries that I look-up to like Jeff, Colin, Frank, Dan, or Paul and many others.
In Morgan’s first post “An Idustry Divided” I wrote, “Some bloggers write because they believe what they write. Other bloggers write for the traffic. You write for the traffic.”
In the post “An Apology to my Readers and Sponsors” I wrote in the comments “your apology means nothing. The only reason you apologized is because those higher up the domain food chain twisted your arm”
5 minutes after posting my comment I get a personal email from Morgan Linton stating that I am BANNED from his blog and any emails I send him will go directly to his lawyer and he will happily get a restraining order against me.
The reason I am making this comment here is because the whole domain industry is out of whack over this guy Negari and if we can’t make open comments on domain industry blogs then why should these blogs exist.
I don’t think I said anything to get BANNED from a blog. Personally as a blogger in any industry you should have thicker skin. I am more and more liking Rick Schwartz because he not only tells it like it is but can take the harsher comments without kicking people out of his house. Rick actually has balls and not only can start the fire but take the fire.
Thank you for that Rick and maybe these other bloggers can learn something from you.
Xavier Lemay
.xyz is not a joke. It is real.
Would you get a .ninja or a .lol? I’d go with .xyz even before .ws wich will gain popularity when the .WebSite .WebS and .WebSites will be launched.
Andrea Paladini
If you read my comments here, on TheDomains and on DomainPicks, you will see that I was saying from the beginning that .xyz is a joke … and that Negari is playing a dirty game.
Andrea Paladini
Nobody, I thought you were calling the things I was saying as BS, that’s why that answer from me. Maybe there was a little misunderstanding. :)
Andrea Paladini
I was saying the same also on OnlineDomain.com
Rick, sorry for the multiple comments, I was a bit distracted. :)
How NetSol opts you in to cybersquatted .xyz names | DomainIncite - Domain Name News & Opinion
[…] clear how much, if any, support NetSol has received from the registry, XYZ.com. CEO Daniel Negari told Rick Schwartz, in a coy interview last […]
Joe Parvin
So, from the earliest comments on Rick’s interview, it has become pellucidly clear , if it wasn’t already obvious, that the .xyz hype has been deceitful. A number people here, but not all, have expressed their distaste for the extension. But our opinions of the extension shouldn’t be overly clouded by our inside-game domainer reaction to noxious business practices. The take-away should a reaffirmation of a belief in the benefits of scepticism and the need for ‘caveat emptor’. Those are two of the attitudes that draw me to Rick’s Blog. Thank you, Mr. Schwartz.
How NetSol opts you in to cybersquatted .xyz names - Redomains
[…] clear how much, if any, support NetSol has received from the registry, XYZ.com. CEO Daniel Negari told Rick Schwartz, in a coy interview last […]
UFO
Making an extension a universal domain is basically pile them high sell them cheap. However isnt this the same model as .co? and ultimately likely to end up on the same patch as someone like Google who may well give them away for free?
The only angle I can see on the pile them high and sell them cheap would be using numerics as a gtld, like .123 for better connection to foreign keyboard use. but I am not sure whether ICANN allowed this, presume it would have given punny codes etc.
Rick Schwartz
My research department at TheDomains.com is reporting this morning:
“NSI is responsible for over 80,000 of the 96,246 registrations. If you netted out the NSI registrations .XYZ would have somewhere around 16,000 registrations which would have placed it around number 12 on the list.”
onlinedomain
Rick, this number includes a lot of registry reserved domains.
2014 – The Year Of Dishonesty | OnlineDomain.com
[…] Friday, Rick Schwartz featured an Interview with Daniel Negari that was supposed to address the free .xyz registrations that Network Solutions has been giving to […]
Domenclature
@Schwartz,
This boy wrote on twitter that he “popped your cherry”, we are waiting to see what you’re going to do about it. I hope you don’t expect us to ignore that disrespectful comment, and let him say such things with impunity; at least make him apologize. Popped your cherry? What da…??
Sam Bogart
Good points both Ron and Pinkard. The reality is, we need only wait for the Q2 numbers for web.com to be reported to get a better idea of how the numbers fall out – don’t forget – it’s a public company. Ron – you’re our guy on the street, you need to be on the Q2 conference call asking those questions about the .xyz numbers and make sure they answer what they paid and what the got in return from the registry to push the product.
Jeff Schneider
Extension Manipulation
jeff schneider Independent Marketing Analyst/Strategist at UseBiz.com / (.COM ) URL Centric Marketing Top Contributor
Search Engines continue to tamper with Direct Navigation , We all need to know why ? From the .Com-Plex holders?
Rebellion is coming soon, those who wish unfiltered access need to unite ? Your online business integrity is being manipulated for control.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Domain