Morning Folks!!

Failure is easy to spot. They have signs and fingerprints as does success.

If you don't ask the right questions you are going to be surprised many times in life. Usually those surprises are expensive.

And the hard questions are usually missed or ignored. The ones with murky or even no answers. You can't be afraid of questions and many are. Most are. They have silly answers to key concerns.

I have been involved in many businesses and it's a minefield no matter how sophisticated you are. That is why 8 out of 10 fail. There are always so many unknowns and lousy answers for some of the knowns.

But an unknown is not the same as not knowing or being unaware. Sometimes you don't have the answer just yet, but you are aware of  the question and that protects you from disaster which can occur from being surprised or unprepared for a question. Splitting hairs? Yes, perhaps, but don't ignore that the difference between winning and losing or success or failure many times comes down to that split hair.

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks!!

What are the first things that come to mind when you talk about .Net?

For me it reminds me of the early days. It also reminds me of techies. It reminds me it is not .com and is the consolation prize.

It also says something about longevity as it is old and established. So .net sounds foundational and institutional while .biz sounds like a fly by night. Just saying'.

So with .Whatever that further defines and accentuates more established extensions intended or not. It does not mean that .mobi will be revived. It does mean that .net could emerge with a clearer identity than it has had before. I see it competing with .web perhaps. Of course I am sure .web wants to compete with .com.

But what I believe will happen is all the current extensions will get a second look. Some will look better than others and so while everyone is looking in one direction, don't be surprised if something flashes from a direction that could be surprising.

What happens to business when 700 gTLD's come out and the one that adds the most registrations next to .com is .net and at an accelerated pace? What happens when you add up the increases for the current extensions and their growth is bigger and faster than the growth driving it?

All I am saying is expect the unexpected. And when you expect the unexpected you don't just throw yourself into something. You observe. Kinda like the stock market. You can get killed between 9:30 and 10AM. Best to let things settle in and then take a fresh look at what things look like.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

According to the 1and1.com pre-reservation system for new gTLD's .web is #1 and that is no surprise. I have written about .web as the best chance of survivability and adoption by the masses. However the big surprise to me is .online at #2. Really?? Of course this is like Fantasy Football as these are not binding and so who really knows.

Pretty long extension .online. 4 extra letters. What is surprising to me is I own many domains what end with "online.com" and over the years ave been under performers. Maybe this dynamic will change things. Like going back to the future. Almost left for dead. Some of my earliest registrations.

We don't know how this may or may not be manipulated. But it is the only barometer out there at this point so a flawed compass is better than no compass as long as the compass is constant but not stuck.

Everyone talks about 1 Million registrations of any extension. So that would total up to 700 million domains. Don't think so. So some are going to hit that million and for each that does there will be 5-10 that can't blow past 10,000 or maybe less.

I don't see how any of us can lose either way. But even a success on the registry/registrar level does not guarantee success for the investor or  end-user. If they reject it, confused by it or even angry about it, game over before it begins. But I truly don't know all the answers. If you pay close attention , they ALWAYS reveal themselves at the proper time.

Let's just call it the great race and the great experiment. Will be fun for all regardless of the outcome. Opportunity is spelled the same way no matter what vehicle or disguise it comes in.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

As investors in domain names there are many parallels to draw on. Those parallels contain answers where there are no answers. Give maps where there are no maps. Provide a compass where there is no True North. A parallel is an express lane to the future. A parallel is how some make fortunes.

What I love about investing in domain names is I have never seen an other item with so many parallels. A 1 oz gold coin is a one ounce gold coin. You can use it in a variety of ways but it is 1 oz. What will fluctuate is the market price of that one ounce.

Real Estate, Oil, Gold, Stocks, exit ramps, malls, Times Square, more etc's than I have time or room to write.

That added up to my initial premise: "Domains would go up faster in value than any other commodity in the history of mankind".

That so paramount to me!  That was the single most clear vision I had and it was based on Consumers and End-Users. It would be the merger of these 2 groups that would be the catalyst for what I saw. I saw empowerment. That's it. Empowerment.

I saw the poorest of poor and the most rural of rural being able to go to a common place and compete. I saw young and old embracing it. I saw the power of something and what it might look like in 20 years. I would then be overwhelmed by the enormity of what I saw. And each day that has passed I have been just a bit more overwhelmed than the day before.

And now, overwhelmed to the point I can no longer put it in words. To enter an era that so closely resembles my very first premises is something I just want to savor and enjoy. And the most overwhelming is that we are just starting this epic journey. It's starts with understanding this medium. But more importantly it is not about us but by how the consumer and the end-user are beginning to understand it. Consumers are sometimes many steps ahead of business. That is the case online and that is why business chases the consumer like a mad dog chasing a car not the other way around.

If the consumer doesn't care, ya lose. What we all do is consumer based and business is our link to that consumer. They have finally reached the point of that understanding and that is why you are seeing so much activity.

Facebook is wonderful. Twitter is Terriffic. Linkedin is mandatory. But all those are filtered by other parties before it reaches business and the end-user. Domains are pure.

The Domain Industry is merely a star in the solar system. We control nothing but some other stars.

We are about to see what happen when theory and reality collide. When folks that think they are in control find out their control is 100% dependant on the actions of others. I always knew there would be great expansion on the Internet. Some of it needed and makes sense. Those are naturally accepted by consumers and end-users. Notice there is a "Dash" with "end-user". Well I think the "Dash" could end up being a big rival to .whatever.

All I can say is this is all a great bonus I never envisioned and am so thankful it is here. Contrast is what helps sell things. Now we are about to have significant contrast and that is good for all. .Whatever is not a threat. It is an opportunity. I just think different opportunities come in different forms and different packages. When a parallel intersects, it is no longer a parallel.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

When I started investing in domains that is exactly what I was doing. Investing! Taking extra funds and instead of buying stocks or saving it I decided to risk it on an investment. But that is not the path that most folks follow today and had I followed that path, I would have failed. Nobody would have given me a dime for what I had. So when you are forced to make a living and you have the steam roller at your heals, you don't have the luxury of time to think and plan and execute.

Now the majority of folks will buy that gTLD investment today and trying to flip it tomorrow. Some will have some success. But many more need to figure out how to bridge those 20 years Frank talks about before they sink with renewal fees. That is why I often talk about building an engine to support those names.

Let's do some math. Let's say you buy 1000 gtld's at $25.00/year. So that is $25,000/year x 20 years = $500k. And you may or may not have something with value.

Or

You could buy a $500k domain name right now and finance it for 20 years and never look back. Probably could pay it off in 10 years because a $500k domain comes with traffic and earnings and that reduces the note considerably. And if you are smart about what you are doing, it won't cost you a DIME out of your pocket because your new business will generate those payments.

So I just described 2 roads. One is unknown and the other could be a no-brainer. You could do it at different levels. Finance a $100k domain. But first and foremost you must know which one to get as there are $500k domains with limited commercial value too.

And so.....I Could Have Just as easily Failed in 1996 by Doing what Some will do in 2013. There are many paths to climb this mountain. Just think before you climb because there are paths with not only less headwinds, but actual tailwinds.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Once Again Folks!!

With each Reverse Domain Name Hijacking decision there is about to be a new price to be paid.

Starting next week, we are going to publish the name of each and every attorney and the law firms they REPRESENT and have the listed permanently on HallofShame.com.

There will be a link to each firm so they KNOW!

Folks, I am out to stop this and I will. Period! Lawyers know better. Now THEY are at risk of not only sinking their own careers but bring down their entire law firm with them. This is not fixable for them. But it can be stopped for us.

They know better! Their firms know better. And now they have to live with the consequences of their actions.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

One more for the hall of shame.

Frank Schilling wins big!!

The Complainant is Jetgo Australia Holdings Pty Limited of Queensland, Australia, represented by Sparke Helmore Lawyers, Australia.

The Respondent is Name Administration Inc. (BVI) of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by John Berryhill, Ph.d. esq., United States of America.

"The Panel considers that the Complaint filed in this case was brought in bad faith, and constitutes an abuse of the administrative proceeding, on the basis that it is seriously misleading. In particular, the Complaint fails to set out fully facts that were fundamental to the Complainant’s case and of which the Complainant had knowledge – namely, the Complainant’s unsolicited initiation and renewal of communications with the Respondent regarding possible purchase of the disputed domain name. By failing to state these facts, the Complaint makes an implied assertion that is false – namely, that the Respondent’s offer to sell the disputed domain name to the Complainant for a substantial sum was unsolicited by the Complainant. This false assertion might have misled the Panel had not the Respondent provided the evidence, readily available to the Complainant, that refuted this implied assertion. To knowingly make a false implied assertion on a material issue is evidence that the Complaint was brought in bad faith. Furthermore, it is simply not fair to require the Respondent to provide evidence establishing that the Complainant’s case on a material issue is without basis when the Complainant must have known this fact.

Having regard to all the circumstances of the filing of this Complaint, the Panel is of the view that the Complaint was brought in bad faith and constitutes an abuse of the administrative proceeding that is provided by the Policy."

http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/text.jsp?case=D2013-1339

This post will be updated. Congrats to John Berryhill and Frank Schilling!!

WE will end this! Reverse Domain Name Hiajcking is going to be at the end of the road! Sparke Helmore Lawyers, Australia, welcome to the club! You have soiled YOUR name too! Hope you are proud. YOUR NAME will appear on Hallofshame.com for the WORLD to see! Your entire legal team infected!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

It's all about swimming upstream and upstream is .com and we just keep finding PURE EVIDENCE.

Today more pure evidence as Housing.co.in figured out what so many other will and that is they need the .com to compete in the major leagues of the world stage. Pure and simple. No nonsense. They are not the first and this will just be a growing trend. Viva gTLDS's baby!! The greatest fuel .com can ever dream to get.

The entire story is here.

World stage or a local yokel? Choose!

And they got a bargain!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Within a year most folks won't know which way is up or down when it comes to domain investing. The voices will be all over the place and eventually you may want to put your hands over your ears and walk away. But walk to where?

Well, my advice in this coming year when confusion sets in is to come right here and read my posts and let me help you untangle the knot of confusion.

To that end you might want a get a current list of all extensions and see how many of each are registered. Then you have to discount each and every defensive domain. They mean nothing to anyone but the registries. They are not really part of the eco system because of their use or non use.

So don't be fooled by misleading this and that. Stuff that has no influence in value or need. Self serving press releases that will basically make a lot of stuff up. So when you do read these releases, read between the lines. There are going to be thousands of them to come. Many thousands. Our minds could not even absorb what is coming and then actually separate what is truly meaningful.

700 rocks. How many are precious and have long-lasting value? That is what we are about to learn.

Every extension has an infinite amount of combinations and names and that is only with trademarks. There is no limit regardless of what you hear. Just look at this story by Berkens. There is an infinite amount of domains in each and every extension. Every lawyer in the world should come to the domain industry because there is an infinite amount of work and billing. So more than anything else, it will likely open up trademarks to more abuse than ever before. Profiting on those trademarks.

It's gonna be fun tho as we all watch this clusterf*ck unfold. Like 700 different soap operas. And everyone reading this should benefit from it no matter how badly this was all thought out. 70o and who will dominate? Who will die on the vine. Consolidation is already in full force. Every domainer that does not have a domain portfolio to support themselves will eventually find jobs in these companies as domain experts. So that is just one of the things that will unfold and will be very visible.

So when you are exhausted and confused, this is the place to come to untangle the mess that is coming. You may or may not agree with my writings. 90% chance you won't agree. Maybe higher. Scares the crap outta me when too many agree. But it will be VERY hard to disagree with the questions I ask, the pitfalls I point out and the numbers that some will try to use to fool.

We each have an opinion about what is to come. If you really want to know, watch what they do don't listen to what they say.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!

As I have stated over and over since June, the recession is over and the boom has begun. I summarized things here just last week. Now what am I seeing that so many others are not? But an even more important question is asked by cnbc.com in a story today.

"What do millionaires know that we don't? Optimism hits high"

"Basically, that means millionaires—those with $1 million or more in investible assets—are poised to move some of their huge piles of cash off the sidelines and into the market. The last time the index hit 23 was when it launched in 2004."

Rick Schwartz