Sex.com on Who Wants Be a Millionaire

Elliot Silver
-
13

Sold in 2010 for $13 million, what URL is considered by the Domain Name Journal to be the most expensive domain name of all time?

I bet you can answer this question that appeared this afternoon on the television gameshow,  Who Wants Be a Millionaire? Of course the correct answer is Sex.com (after a very long saga), and the contestent answered the question correctly.

It’s neat to see domain names get attention like this in the mainstream, and it’s even better to see Ron Jackson’s  DN Journal get credit for providing the information.

Thanks to John Ferber, founder of Domain Holdings, for the tip and screengrab. The real question is what is John doing watching Who Wants to be a Millionaire in the middle of the day in the middle of the week? 🙂

Sorry, I Won’t Give Out That Email Address

Elliot Silver
-
24

There are a few people I have written about over the years who don’t really have much in terms of public contact information. When people are trying to get in touch with someone personally, they often find an article I wrote and try to get their email address.

Take for example, domain investor Gregg Ostrick. Gregg doesn’t seem to have a Facebook or LinkedIn profile, and contacting him directly is apparently difficult. Every month or so, I receive an email from someone asking me to send his email address so they can buy a domain name. Same thing happens from time to time with Frank Schilling and Lonnie Borck. I guess it’s hard to find their personal contact information.

Unfortunately, if you’ve emailed me asking for a colleague’s email address, you are out of luck. I don’t think it is appropriate to give out someone’s contact information. If they wanted to be contacted, I am sure they would make it easier to be in touch.  Depending on the circumstance, I might forward an email along to someone, but I won’t necessarily do that either.

One thing I’ve given up a bit of with my blog is privacy. However, I am not going to give out someone’s email address or phone number, even if I know you. I don’t think it’s the nice thing to do.

NameJet Retiring Classic Design

Elliot Silver
-
13

Late last year, NameJet launched a complete website redesign, although the domain name auction house chose to allow visitors to use the previous iteration in “Classic” mode.

According to a message on the website that was posted over the weekend, NameJet will retire the Classic view, and all users will be required to use the primary design. NameJet Classic will be discontinued on Wednesday, September 12, 2012.

In January, I posted a poll asking how many blog readers continued to use NameJet Classic, and I was surprised that almost 40% of those who responded opted to use the Classic design. The 75 votes probably didn’t produce a statistically significant result, and I would venture a guess that a poll like that had a greater response rate from people who felt strongly about the Classic look.

If you have a major issue with the active website design, I would think now is the time to let NameJet and Enom management know about it because in a few weeks, it will be discontinued.

Twitter Co-Founders Using Medium.com For New Venture

Elliot Silver
-
4

In an article that was published on ComputerWeek today, it was revealed that a new web publishing platform will soon be launched on the descriptive domain name, Medium.com.  It appears that the founders of Twitter have acquired Medium.com from DigiMedia for this new startup.

According to Juan Carlos Perez of ComputerWeek, “Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone, who were also leaders at Blogger, have unveiled a preview of Medium, which they describe as a new Web publishing platform.”

A  Whois search reveals that the domain name was part of DigiMedia’s holdings until April of this year, when it changed hands. The domain name went under privacy in April, and it now shows WhoisGuard, a Whois privacy service, as its current registrant.

You may recall that when Twitter first launched, the domain name that was used was Twttr.com. The company paid $7,500 for the better Twitter.com domain name, which is also an interesting story. Perhaps they learned the importance of using the ideal domain name first rather than trying to purchase it after launching a startup.

I reached out to Scott and Jay from DigiMedia for comment about this possible sale, and I will update the article when I hear back from either of them.

Thanks to  George Kirikos  for the tip.

Want to Boycott Chick-Fil-A? Visit BoycottChickFilA.com

Elliot Silver
-
4

Yesterday, I posted an article about Warren Royal’s Bobbleheads.com being the producer of Chick-Fil-A bobblehead dolls (which were commissioned prior to the controversy). In the comment section, someone suggested that my post indicated that I was “backing chick-fil-a and encouraging others to do so as well.” That isn’t true (nor was it my intent), and today, I want to share something of interest on the other side of this debate.

If you are looking for information about boycotting the fast food chain restaurant, you need to look no further than BoycottChickFilA.com. The website on the domain name has become a resource for information about the boycott of Chick-Fil-A restaurants. There are articles dating back to September of 2011.

Similar to the Bobbleheads.com product, BoycottChickFilA.com was created prior to this particular controversy (although the first article does note that the reason for the site is basically the same reason as the current controversy: “Chick-Fil-A donates money to extremist, anti-gay, hate groups”...etc.  A Whois search shows that the domain name was registered in January of 2011.

Again, I dislike political and religious discussion, but for the record, I like chicken, support gay marriage, and dislike discrimination and fast food restaurants.

How Much Do You Need to Earn to Be a Full Time Domain Investor?

Elliot Silver
-
21

I have to admit that I thought the percentage of full time domain investors vs. part time domain investors would have been much lower. According to the poll I ran asking people who read my blog if they are full time domain investors, 40% of the almost 200 responders indicated that they invest in domain names as their full time profession.

I had anticipated closer to 25% of the people who responded would be full timers, although there may have been a bit of confusion about what it means, as some people work for themselves and are in the domain business but their involvement in domain investing is more peripheral.

I am curious what amount of income (NET, not gross) it would take for you to become a full time domain investor, assuming your goal was to quit your day job and work for yourself. Of course, many people love their job and love investing in domain names as a hobby, so I guess this wouldn’t really be a good poll if that’s the case.

To put a bit of perspective on things, according to the US Census Bureau, from 2006-2010, the median household income in the US was $51,914.

So, how much annual net revenue would it take for you to turn your domain investing business into a full time profession (or what did it take in case you’re already doing it)? Vote in the poll below!

Read More
1...125126127...156Page 126 of 156