I had the great opportunity to participate in the Bloggers Soapbox on the Domain Masters show on WebmasterRadio.FM. Victor Pitts from Moniker filled in for Monte Cahn as the host, and I was interviewed along with Mike Berkens and Michael Gimour.
A transcript of the show has been posted on WebmasterRadio.FM, and I appreciate the opportunity speak tonight.
It’s funny that a documentary created in 2001 about an Internet start-up company can be called “an oldie but a goodie,” but I think this is the case with Startup.com. Startup.com is the story of how fledgling Internet company GovWorks.com went from an idea to start-up to bust during the .com bubble. Everything from choosing the company domain name to fighting for funding from VCs to dealing with their growth is shown in this behind the scenes film.
While it’s intriguing to watch the company’s progress, I also realize how lucky I am that I have found an industry and a niche where I am able to work somewhat alone (albeit with the assistance of freelancers), and I think I might have less stress as a result. Sure, I am typically stressing about something (just ask my wife), but at least I don’t have to worry about paying someone back or building more value for someone else on top of everything.
Having your company be injected with venture capital can be great, owning/presiding over a company with 50+ employees can be prestigious, and founding a company with a $xx million dollar valuation can be exhilarating, but at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself if it’s worth the stress. I think there is plenty of opportunity in our industry to build businesses of our own.
One thing that is still pretty amazing to me is that despite the time the start-up was born and the amount of their funding, they still settled on the name GovWorks.com, which is now a parked page.
I couldn’t find the video in full, but someone cut several parts of it on YouTube. The movie is a couple of hours, but I found it fascinating the first time I watched it several years ago, and I thought it was neat to watch again years later.
I just finished writing up my analysis of the Mystery domain auction that’s been commented upon by just about everyone in the domain space. I didn’t feel like blogging about it, so I just decided to voice my opinion on the domain forum, NamePros. I don’t post there often but visit on occasion and have never had any issues or problems at all.
I wrote out several questions about the mystery auction and then posted some of my own commentary on why I believe it’s going to fail and cause problems for the person who is running this. After returning from walking the dog, I saw that my post was edited by someone named Mark, who removed most of my commentary. Instead of taking out my entire post, he decided to selectively remove my comments.
I am disturbed because I don’t think someone should censor my opinions just because they seem to go against the majority (unless all negative posts were censored and/or removed). In all my time on several domain forums both public and private, I’ve probably had my posts edited once or twice – probably for comments in a sales thread.
I think it’s completely unprofessional to edit someone’s comments on a public forum, especially when it might change the tone or message. I don’t edit what people say here, and I wish the same respect would be held for my comments elsewhere. If someone posts something on my blog that isn’t appropriate, I delete the comment and send the poster a message. I don’t simply edit out the things with which I disagree. Completely un”Pro”fessional in my opinion, and a big reason I will stay away from posting there in the future.
Anyway, the gist of what I said is that people have been comparing this to the Million Dollar homepage project, which raised quite a bit of money. That was a very unique project and received worldwide press, and as a result it raised a considerable amount of money. The domain mystery auction is no revolution and will not receive the same type of buzz. This is a take off on a controversial type of auction with a domain twist.
Additionally, I said that the guy holding the auction should probably have some type of insurance coverage, as any glitch in the bidding could end up in litigation by someone who spent hundreds of dollars on bids but didn’t win.
I also doubt the auction’s mystery domain name is really worth $10,000. Everyone thinks they have a $10,000 domain name, and anyone can post any reserve price for a domain auction, so simply because it had a $10,000 reserve doesn’t mean it’s worth this price. The point of this statement is that if the auction manager is hoping for added buzz when the domain is revealed, that is highly unlikely to happen.
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The moderator just replied to me saying,
“This is the “For Sale / Advertising” section … It is a sales thread …
Legit Questions are always welcome in Sales and Advertising threads. Comments and Conjecture are not.”
Apparently he doesn’t understand the definition of the term “comment” since there are many other comments (positive of course) that were not edited out – including his own.
“Originally Posted by -REECE-
That’s a very neat and creative site you made there John. Has a nice design to go along with it – well done and best of luck!
Originally Posted by drjawed
Fantastic idea and well-designed site. The mechanism is a bit ambiguous (mysterious ) though. It will take some long time to win the confidence of bidders. Wish you good luck.
Originally Posted by Brujah
John is a hardworking clever guy. I think the idea’s great and hope it makes a million.
Originally Posted by Mark
Pretty Innovative ”
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Now it appears that NamePros has closed my account due to my questioning their censoring. No, I am not going to appeal to RJ or whoever else owns the forum. It should just be a lesson for others who post opinions in public domain forums.
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Final update… it seems they have re-activated my account (without a request from me). I will continue to not post there often – unless the thread has some personal involvement.
I am heading down to south Florida tomorrow for a nice and long vacation through the holidays. I am sure there will be a little bit of work, but my plan is to sit in the sun, rest, and relax. I don’t know how this is going to work out with my constant need to work, but hopefully I will fill my days with tennis, swimming, biking, drinking, eating, and celebrating. In the meantime, check out DNJournal, Domain Name Wire, DNN, Mike’s Blog, and Sahar’s Blog for all of your domain needs.
2008 has been one hell of a year, and I hope 2009 is even better. I wish you all happy holidays with your families, good fortune, and of course, good health.
Kevin made a great suggestion to me this morning – that I write a blog post asking my readers for their “Dear Santa” list to see what they would like for Christmas (or Hanukkah . Since I am traveling today, I thought it would be a great time to ask the question. All responses (comments) will be posted once I get back to my laptop later tonight.
Feel free to discuss business wishes as well as your personal Christmas or Hanukkah wish list. No – I won’t be buying you your gifts, but it’s always neat to see what the trends are.
One of the reasons why I am a big supporter of the Chabad movement is because of their welcoming nature. Whenever I have visited a Chabad house, be it in Venice, Italy, Dubrovnik, Croatia, New York, New Hampshire… etc. every Rabbi I have met has been warm and welcoming. My good friend Rabbi Levi Baumgarten runs the Mitzvah Tank on behalf of Chabad, and I enjoy spending holidays with him and his family.
I think the scrolling headline across the homepage of the Chabad of Mumbai website says a lot about Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg who were killed in the recent terror attacks:
“Open Hut Sukkah! All welcome!! We look forward to welcoming you for Maariv followed by Kiddush at the Sukkah and Hakafot October 20 at 8:00 pm at the Chabad House for more information call 022-2283-1770.”
I have a heavy heart today, and my condolences go out to their families and friends. I also learned that Chabad established a fund to aid relief efforts in Mumbai, and people interested in making a contribution are encouraged to visit ChabadIndia.org.
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