A .org domain name came across my email this morning that caught my attention. RhodeIsland.org is listed as one of the most active pending delete backorders on NameJet. At the present time, there are 24 bids with a high bid of $101 on NameJet alone. Since most of the major drop catching platforms will likely try to catch this domain name, I presume there are many other bidders standing by ready to place bids on this domain name.



After seeing RhodeIsland.org on the most active pending delete list, l did a Historical Whois Search at DomainTools to see who previously owned the domain name before it went into the pending delete status. According to DomainTools, RhodeIsland.org was registered to Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation as recently as September 6, 2017. The Whois registrant email listed an @riedc.com email address. Very strangely, the registry expiry date is listed as June 24, 2018, so it doesn't look expired despite its "pending Delete" status.

I looked at Archive.org, and it does not look like → Read More

According to the Malibu Times (found at MalibuTimes.com), the Malibu.com domain name was listed for sale by its owner. This can be confirmed by visiting Malibu.com, where the domain name owner has set up a "for sale" landing page with information about submitting an offer.

I don't believe this is the first time Malibu.com has been offered for sale. According to an article in DomainGang.com, the domain name was listed for sale via Ryan Colby's Outcome Brokerage in 2014.

Since the domain name was likely listed for sale before, the most interesting aspect  of the Malibu Times' report (in my opinion) is how much a Councilman for the City of Malibu is trying to get the council to approve to make an offer to buy Malibu.com. From the news report  mentioning that Malibu.com is for sale: (more…) → Read More

It's not every day that you see a company bragging about its domain name portfolio in a mainstream publication like Saunders & Associates did in today's  New York Post:



As you can see, Saunders is sharing that it owns over 2,000 street name domain names focused on the Hamptons. The paid advertisement was found on the inside cover of today's (Saturday) New York Post, one of the largest newspapers by circulation in the US. I am unsure if this advertisement was found in all editions of the NY Post or the local edition. The NYPost has a circulation of over 720,000.

I visited several of the domain names listed in the advertisement, and it looks like they (more…) → Read More

According to a tweet posted last night by Josh Metnick,  Chicago.com  was sold again. As you may recall, Josh Metnick is the former owner of the Chicago.com domain name. Based on the registrant email address, the owner of the domain name is The The Chicago Community Trust.  The current registrant of the domain name is listed as Chicago.com LLC.

https://t.co/tAlqjse1mp just f*cked 1,000's of users. This is an ethical & legal abomination. @gapersblock @Chicagoist @DNAinfoCHI #chicago pic.twitter.com/oTuLRffa3J

— Josh Metnick (@JoshMetnick) January 6, 2017

I have a great deal of respect for Jessica Bookstaff Doppelt, who is the owner of PigeonForge.com. Jessica has been an active member of the small geodomain name community, and she was always been happy to offer tips and feedback when I began working on my own geographic domain name websites.

As you may know, her area of Tennessee was hit with devastating wildfires recently. Most of the damage was done in a city called Gatlinburg, but the entire Great Smoky Mountains area is feeling the effects of the wildfires. There have been a few deaths, many injuries, and hundreds of  people may have lost their residences and businesses due to the fires.

This afternoon, Jessica sent her PigeonForge.com newsletter subscribers an update about the fires. Importantly, she shared some action items people can do to help those in need. I want to share Jessica's newsletter with you. I know there are people in the domain name community who live in the area or love the Smoky Mountains, and here's how we can all help them: (more…) → Read More

I was on a flight when I came across a .Vegas domain name "in the wild." The Clark County School District (CCSD) is using the Teach.Vegas domain name in its marketing materials to recruit new teachers into the school district.

Have a look at the full page advertisement that I saw:



When you navigate to Teach.Vegas, visitors are redirected to the jobs/career subdomain within the Clark County School District website. The school district uses CCSD.net for its primary domain name, and the TeachVegas.CCSD.net subdomain for its recruiting url. In my opinion, the Teach.Vegas domain name is easier to remember than the longer url, so it makes sense for them to use it in their marketing materials.

As you can see in the advertisement, (more…) → Read More