General Domain Information

I want to share a press release I saw today that appears to show a great decision made by a portfolio platform website. According to the press release, “4ormat, an online portfolio platform used by tens thousands of creatives in over 125 countries worldwide, announced today that it will now be known as Format (format.com) following the closing of a three year long acquisition of the much sought after domain name.

When I initially saw the title of the press release, I was hopeful that the company was changing its branding to make it more intuitive. Indeed, that is what happened. 4ormat was probably created to sound like “format,” but when you actually annunciate it, the brand sounds like forormat (in my opinion). With this rebranding, the company seems to have abandoned the “4ormat” branding altogether, and the website now shows that he company is called Format.

I did some research, and I

I noticed a Whois change on Do.com recently, and it looks like the domain name may have changed hands. On July 2 and prior to that, Do.com was registered to Salesforce.com, and it was registered at Network Solutions. At the present time, Do.com is registered under privacy protection, and it is registered at Tucows. Because of the privacy guard, I can not see the name of the current registrant.

A change of registrar with privacy protection wouldn’t necessarily indicate an ownership change, but there is a new landing page on Do.com  that  says “beta” next to the Do.com logo. The website’s privacy policy and footer makes references to a website called DoMeetings.com and a company called ReDo, Inc. DoMeetings.com now forwards to Do.com.

According to the

I went on a long bike ride the other day, and I saw a sign for a tree service that used a .Pro domain name for its website. After riding by the sign, I thought about how few .Pro domain names I’ve ever seen. I can’t even recall one website that uses a .Pro domain name aside from the tree service.

Last week, 2014 #1 NBA draft pick Andrew Wiggins announced via Twitter that his official website can be found at  AndrewWiggins.Pro. Wiggins hails from Toronto, Canada, attended college at the University of Kansas, and he was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the first pick.

Check out the official website http://t.co/5zyySBC8nx for exclusive contests and win free gear from Andrew and Wiggins Enterprise

— andrew wiggins (@22wiggins) July 3, 2014

According to  RegistrarStats.com, there are

Alexander Taub, founder of SocialRank published an article on Medium.com today discussing how the startup was able to get the SocialRank.com domain name from the former owner who had his own plans for the domain name. The startup had initially used the SocialRank.CO domain name for its website, and they later decided that they needed the .com domain name.

I think people

For all the in-fighting that takes place within the domain industry, I think we should consider what some people outside of the domain space think about people who buy and sell domain names. Yesterday evening (or maybe early this AM), someone left the following comment on my blog:

“You are scum, domain hoarder. fuck you”

I don’t think anyone has ever said anything like this to my face before, but I am sure there have been plenty of people who share this sentiment about domain name owners. I have no idea where the anger comes from, but it seems that many people who want our domain names don’t think too fondly of people who own portfolios of domain names.

There’s nothing all that surprising with respect to this particular comment, but it’s something domain owners need to realize when pitching domain names for sale. Some people just don’t seem to like people who own domain portfolios.

If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you have likely seen comments from a person who uses the nickname “Raider.” The comments are sometimes critical of me or companies in this business, and they are occasionally biting, but I appreciate the fact that Raider posts her opinions. Most importantly though, I respect what she has to say, and I don’t believe she is trying to be hurtful when she comments.

It should go without saying, but I sincerely appreciate it when you share your insight and feedback related to articles that I publish. I learn from what you share just as much as people learn from what I share. I don’t think this blog would be as interesting as it is without the comments that readers leave and share, and I want to make sure you understand that.

I don’t always respond to comments in a friendly manner, especially when they are condescending, rude, or downright unprofessional. Even when feedback isn’t positive, I appreciate the people who take the time to share their feedback. I also don’t generally censor comments that are made (unless there are mitigating reasons that are at my discretion).

Although Raider and I don’t always agree (and we often disagree), I appreciate that she feels that it is okay to disagree with the publisher without fear of banishment, personal attacks, or comment deletion. I hope you feel the same way.

Thank you to those of you who participate in discussions on DomainInvesting.com.