The Rick Schwartz Domain Name and Traffic Blog: RicksBlog.com – Home of The Domain King®

Morning Folks!!

Year after year I have been told by many how wrong I am and year after year it is THEM that get proved wrong. But there are many more of THEM. They come from all corners. They get paid to be wrong. It is in their best interest to beat the truth up. But how long before folks wise up?

If you have been following my posts for the last few days and don’t get it NOW…..well you can put yourself in the “Hopeless” category or the “Agenda driven” category. 2+2=4....want to argue about it?

When you mix beef stew and shit you get shit. Pretty damn simple formula. How much shit do you have to put in the stew before it is shit and not stew? I asked that on stage in 2004 at the very first TRAFFIC and I ask it today. If you can’t wrap your head around that…you are hopeless and enjoy eating SHIT for the rest of your life. One turd in the stew and you got shit. PERIOD!

I try and point out the difference between reality and bullshit and hype and all the rest. How long does it take some of you folks to finally wise up? Why do you listen to people with no credentials? No successes? When you do that, you chase YESTERDAY! Or you chase a shadow or a ghost. That's a losing hand.

So the people that eat FOOD have chosen a new path and those that eat other stuff can continue on their path. Those sitting thinking they are helpless are 100% right. So change that! Who do you expect to change it? Me? Your mommy? Your daddy? No, it is YOU and it has always been YOU because YOU have always had the power and YOU have decided not to use it. Or use it in a negative way.

And frankly, it has nothing to do with when you got into domains. That's TOTAL BULLSHIT! It was the decisions you made along the way or the indecision that has paralyzed folks. Does it cost more to play now? Maybe. Maybe not. But if you are on the right path your earnings are increasing over the years and you are able to parlay some of your earnings into better investments. Plus there is more definition now on the net than 10 or 15 years ago. If you look into the future you can do ok. You can't be stuck on yesterday and succeed. That's like a dog chasing it's tail.

The first step is to stop eating the shit you are fed by folks that have a motive to feed you shit. And that is not a knock on them. They are doing their job and doing it well. They made FORTUNES on your back and some domainers are the most gullible followers and parrots I have ever seen. Time to think for yourself.

And at this point……”Frankly my Dear, I don’t give a damn”. But I always want to be on record so there is no confusion.

As a last thought, what would you say about the class of 1998 or 1999 or 2000 or 2001 or 2002 that said THEN what folks say NOW about the availability of great domain names? During those years I would hear 100 times from 100 folks that there were no more great domains. No more type ins. Tell those folks back then that they were all WRONG!!! The smart ones know it. The dumb ones are still in denial. I just proved it beyond a doubt. 2+2=4.

What year would you like to cut the list off??? Since Franky got in the game in 2003 or thereabouts you would have to come to the conclusion that those that believed that were VERY WRONG!! But not to worry, there are dozens of folks that would even argue that point today. That's a losing position and that is why I would call those folks 'Losers' , 'Fools' and 'Morons'. When you spit in the wind, you are gonna lose EVERY time! 2+2=4. What label would YOU put on folks that want to argue the point? How much time of your day would you WASTE with them?

Here is the reality. There is 10000000000% more opportunity TODAY in domains then there was in 1996 if you understand business and know how to think the right way. It may come in a different form or vehicle. What you lose in time you make up with progress, youth, energy, timing, vision, tools and all the rest. Nothing makes me sadder than to listen to folks bellyache about wishing they got in earlier or whatever. The KEY of life is taking the hand you are dealt with and making it the best you can. Not complaining about this and that via jealousies that crowd out the drive and vision you need to succeed.

You have your health?? Then there are NO excuses for folks not to turn things around. But you can give some folks the key to the lock and they won't just put the key in the lock and turn. They will tell you 1000 reasons why THAT KEY won't open THAT lock. I don't know whether to laugh or cry at that point.

Winners remove the negatives and focus on the positives. When you focus on the positives, you have no TIME to focus on the bullshit. When you focus on the bullshit, you have no time to focus on your success. So stop throwing good time after bad by getting over what you don’t have and focusing on what you can achieve. Pretty damn simple and I have invested a lot of time writing these thoughts trying to reach those that still think the wrong way.

What's the wrong way? Go Read Mike Berken's post yesterday. See some folks devised certain ways to play the game and when you play it on that narrow a field you can fail.They have failed. Many bought certain domains for the wrong reasons. To game and spam Google with SEO to get them to a worthless domain on a worthless page that offers very little value if any at all. They had little value then and less value now. But that has no bearing on a true commercial domain that means something and is a business. When you know the difference, you will be on the right path and I have done as much as I can do over these years to get folks I have never even met..... there. So if life is not what you want and you start off thinking I am wrong, you already are on the wrong path. A hopeless path.

There are many ways to climb the domain mountain and have a success. There are just as many or more pitfalls and cliffs along the way that will swallow up you and your money. Some don't believe that. The first thing is to recognize the difference between the two. Like shit and stew. There is a difference for me.....how about you? Some swallow it. Some taste it. Some smell it. Some just recognize it and avoid.

The domain industry has THE lowest entry bar of any business in the WORLD. Think about that. One idea, $8 and there there is NO LIMIT in what you can accomplish from there. Stop, take a deep breath, forget about what you thought you knew and look at it from a new perspective. What would you say to the kid living in a hut that buys a domain TODAY and changes his life? Would you say it can't be done? 2+2=4. Only fools believe otherwise.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

There’s a problem on the way to the wedding of new extensions and reality of profit making business. Branding costs a lot of money. Branding a new extension is harder than branding your product or company. It is a monumental undertaking.

I purposely did not read Sahar’s blog post on the subject until after I wrote this just to see how we each came at it. He has much more facts supporting his position but we are not so far apart at all.

O.com I mean O.co or Overstock.com has done one thing so far, caused confusion and they are likely pissing away a lot of money by not owning O.com which of course is associated with Oprah not Overstock. And right now neither of them has it. It does not resolve.

My point is this is a test. This is a canary in the mines. I don’t know which way it will go. But I do have a hunch it will be more difficult than they expect with a lot of blow back. So far, the winner on this one is the ad exec putting this grand experiment together. There will be a lot to learn here. Some you may want to copy and some you may want to avoid.

Is confusing your customer a good thing? I guess we will find out. The unknown is how many folks will go to O.com to find nothing and then just say what a bunch of idiots never to return. A real risk.

Now on to the other new extensions. They include .xxx , .me, .food and likely hundreds if not thousands of others. This is going to be fun. New ways to print old money. But knowing what we know now is the best way to exploit all the new extensions be investing in them or in an other capacity?

An extension could easily smother themselves with a wrong move. Could lose time thinking their premiums will go up. Probably won’t happen with .mobi. Timing IS everything.

You can’t play the new phase exactly like the past phase and expect to do well. It requires a fresh set of eyes and a fresh look. Forget what you know. Examine it like you never knew what a domain was. You just know what you know. Would you do it the same? Could you do it the same?

.travel has not exactly done well. Why would folks expect other extensions to do all that much better? Last count there were 28 choices of extensions at Direcnic.com. How many do you think the average guy on the street even knows about?? Hey I don’t have the answer. I just have the questions. .travel made some fatal mistakes early on and never recovered. Other have dome even worse.

.co made all the right moves early on and they have a shot. The best shot. But still nothing more than a canary in the mines. We'll know more in a few weeks after the Superbowl. That will determine many things that will happen this year. This is a grand experiment. We’ll see. I will pay attention to that more than anything else in the first 6 weeks of the year. And it may end up meaningless. Just confusion and if that is the grand plan, bring it on, they will always default to what they know. What is familiar. .Com will still rule except the value will be much more as many learn the lessons the hard way. Some will learn and move on and some will die in their tracks with little fanfare.

Will it cause confusion? It would have to do well to even get to the state of confusion. In my eyes, still a long shot. UDRP cases have not been kind to .co. So any .co that has a successful .com counterpart and you can expect to be challenged on that domain name. And be prepared to lose.

Been there, done that. Got the T-Shirt. Enjoy the parade. Participate in it if you like. There are still fortunes to be made in failure. Just make sure it is the others guys failure and not your own and you will do well. A failure here and you can expect the value of .com to rise once again along with skepticism with any and all other new extensions.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

TM

Morning Folks!!

Let me tell you about these PRICKS and then YOU decide! Destiny has brought you here! As you will read, I did not look for this mess. I was just goofing off, minding my own business until I was contacted by these FOOLS that are STILL clueless as they tried to take what was not theirs via the courts and lost. TWICE!!

This site is to make sure there is never a THIRD time by shining light on this practice of what I call 'Reverse Domain Hijacking'. That's when a big company competes with a small guy and loses in the market place of ideas. Then uses financial intimidation by using the court system to try and take what is not theirs. Most small guys can not afford to defend themselves and so they cave. I have spent thousands to defend MY property. My domain name, Goofoff.com. This gives me a platform to alert others. Don't cave! Fight! And if you don't have the $$$ to fight.....fight with whatever you have! Shine a BRIGHT light on whoever and let public opinion weigh in.

Updated 8AM July 27th.....'What Moron is responsible for this mess?'

After not hearing from these GOOFS about one of my domain names (GoofOff.com) for over a decade after they unsuccessfully tried to take it from me in 1999, I got an email on April 13^th of this year stating Goof-Off.com (with the hyphen) would like to 'engage in a discussion' to acquire my domain name GoofOff.com (without the hyphen). My guess is because they know that a domain with a 'hyphen' in it leaks a shit load of traffic to the domain without the 'hyphen' in it. Just like a .NET domain leaks a shit load of traffic to a .COM domain name. Sorry, but if you own a .NET domain name, you have an 'Orphan' extension because the default is .COM. a HUGE percentage of people make the mistake. So do you blame all the owners of the .COM counterpart?? That's just BAD marketing in my book no matter who does it!

So not exactly my problem until they tried to pee on the electric fence. ME! Their 'Tactics' you will read below are horrendous and you may ask yourself how STUPID can a company be?? This must have gone up to the highest levels of whatever company owns and or advertises the product and they decided to try and intimidate me LEGALLY TWICE since 1999. They lost LEGALLY TWICE and That got them THIS!!

THEY initiated contact with me with the following:

'We would like to entertain a discussion about what it would take for both companies to come to an agreement on the Goofoff.com domain name moving to WM Barr as the registrant.'

I responded to the firm I figured was representing Lilly Industries (Tho I don't know who actually now owns the 'Goof Off' cleaner) about what happened in 1999 after originally registering the domain in May 1998 and stated 'For me to respond or even entertain a negotiation, I would have to have your assurance that this will not be used against me in any way, shape or form, EVER. I don't violate trademarks and not looking for a clever way to be entrapped.'

Their response after THEM contacting ME was an NAF case.

So that was a low blow W.M.Barr & Co. and I don't forget things like that. It just fuels me to fight hard and make W.M.Barr & Co. the poster company for Corporate Bullies and companies that engage in Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.

The image below was created for ourpress release in 1999. Feel free to copy. While I can afford to defend my domain name many mom and pop outfits can not. They just lay down and give in and many times unnecessarily. Destroying their family business. It cost me several thousand dollars to defend this domain. Many small businesses and startups would not be able to fight back and would lose something they were actually entitled to. It's bullying in the worst form. INDEFENSIBLE in my book.

Howard and I are now about to go on the offense. Once again they can defend their interference and their cyber bullying in a more public forum and their own customers/stockholders can learn of their heavy handedness. And the tactics they use to “Negotiate”.

This increases the value of the domain as I invest more and more $$ not only protecting me and goofoff.com but displaying to the world the value and the peril of a domain name and corporate cyberbullies that try and take what others rightfully own. As you might imagine, I don't have a very high regard for these folks after this. I won't even talk to them directly in the future. They will have to go thru Howard and he won't even negotiate until I am reimbursed my costs. These folks can take a subliminal message from my last post. A 6 word beauty!

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

July 27, 2010

Welcome to all the folks that typed in GoofOff.com. Now that I have control of my domain again I want to make sure GoofOff.com does not accidentally confuse anyone, contain any objectionable ads, whatsoever. I have decided to make this the new home of GoofOff to avoid any of this in the future.

Updates below as needed......

*Goofoff.com is in no way related to the folks that own, sell, or advertise 'Goof Off Miracle remover'TM

(Removes everything but us) We are here to freely express opinions, have a good time and just GOOFOFF.COM! Now post or SCRAM!W. M. Barr.....Leave me alone, stop interfering with my business or I will be free to tell folks what I REALLY think of you!! There is NO FUCKING CONFUSION HERE! We sell NOTHING. Have owned this domain in excess of 12 YEARS and.......I'll save the rest if and when I EVER hear from your Motherf*ckers again. You can start with an apology!

In 1999 this made news worldwide. Here is the article from theLondon Register from back then where I was quoted as saying 'These 'corporate bullies' intimidate small firms and individuals into relinquishing domains through the threat of litigation despite the fact that they have no legal rights to the domain,' I said. 'The only 'confusion' is in their minds -- just another example of a large company that decided they can force a small business to succumb to their demands,'

'According to Websters [dictionary], a 'Goof off' is a noun that means a person that wastes time or avoids work; a shirker. As such 'Goofoff.com' is being used quite appropriately,'

That was then. Now I think they are nothing but TOE JAM. Want what I OWN that bad that you can't live without it?? It's called CAPITALISM you slimy BASTARDS. If I were you I would fire the MORON that did not have the foresight to register it when it was THERE FOR THE TAKING!! You lived without it for 11 more years and one day what happened?? Figured you would take another bite of the apple?? Think you could become a bully again and everyone would forget? Well I am the prick in charge of reminding them and everyone else. You can explain the rest to whoever.

Did it cost you business by not owning this domain over the past years? Probably. But I would never to be stupid enough to have a product without the matching domain name. The way I view things that comes FIRST. I have devoted my last 15 years of life explaining to businesses about the importance of a domain name and the sense of urgency that it is attached to. I am on record since the days that I was laughed at and thought a fool with more money than brains by investing in domain names and what I could build on them.But to continue to accuse me and that 'I' did something wrong by registering a common term and do it TWO YEARS before their trademark, well, that is BULLSHIT and now everyone knows it!!! Maybe the customers and shareholders will comment below that they agree with my opinion that management just FAILED to do their job and now it is spilling all over the place. Stop blaming me for shortsightedness I had no control over. I guess they were just GOOFING OFF when they should have been focused on marketing. Maybe they just should have left me alone after 11 years cuz they stepped on a hornets nest for wasting my time and money. The value for Goofoff.com was pretty limited back in 1999 when few knew what a domain name meant and the worldwide marketing value was still in debate. Today there is an entire multi-billion dollar domain name industry that was not even born in 1999. Welcome to Manhattan!

I am going to be updating GoofOff.com from time to time after that to let the world know about companies that do what this one is doing. I will be adding a chat board here and let freedom ring when this becomes a stand alone site next month with this content and live interaction. My INK. MY SITE, MY DECISION. For the record, the ONLY direct or indirect contact I have ever had with these folks have been initiated by them. I never even knew they existed before 1999 and thought nothing of them again until I received that BULLSHIT email in April.

In case you missed it or still are confused or just plain stupid........*Goofoff.com is in no way related to the folks that own, sell, or advertise 'Goof Off Miracle remover' TM

Goofoff.com is owned by ME. Goof off the cleaner.......that is the only thing confusing to me. Who the hell actually owns that?? Lilly, Valspar or W.M. Barr?? Maybe they just wanted to keep one of the names out of this?? I sure as hell have no idea. I AM confused! Does Lilly Industries still own and operate and manufacture....the cleaner or does Valspar which was either a name change or acquisition back in 2000 or is it W.M. Barr??? Not that anyone cares, but I find it a bit confusingly interesting. How about you? Maybe after last time they did this and saw the publicity and stir it caused they wanted to keep the big guys name out of this?? I really don't know. Just curious what the real story is? Just questions. What do you think??? I think maybe the company just goofed and handled this horribly. 11 years and they still have not figured it out. Now that is SAD!If I were the CEO running their company I would be asking two or three questions....'What MORON is responsible for THIS MESS?? Which department allowed this to spin out of control??? And how the hell are we going to fix it now????!

TM