On Friday, a blog post I would describe as inflammatory was published on the Verisign corporate blog. One line was particularly bothersome to me, especially given that Verisign has advertised here on DomainInvesting.com and Verisign has sponsored domain investor conferences like NamesCon and today’s NameSummit conference in New York. Here’s what was written:
“Flipping domain names or warehousing them to create scarcity adds nothing to the industry and merely allows those engaged in this questionable practice to enrich themselves at the expense of consumers and businesses.”
Andrew Allemann wrote about Verisign’s blog post, as did Rick Schwartz. There is a thread on NamePros, and a whole lot of comments on Twitter. Domain investors are reacting strongly to it.
I don’t really know what to think. I’ve always thought Verisign was supportive of domain investors. The employees I have met, both via email and in person, have always been helpful and friendly. After reading the blog post, it feels like Verisign is positioning itself to become an adversary to domain investors. I don’t really understand why.
It seems that people are angered and disappointed by the tone and content of the blog post, and I want to know if investors are concerned by it:
What V/Sign actually mean is that they don’t have an effective secondary market or drop-catch service, and so despite significant growth, their lack of those strings mean billions of $ per year relating to .com domains end uo in other pockets.
Yeah, not shareholders pockets.
Verisign acts like they created the .Com domain extension and own it, but they did not create .Com nor do they own it.
Verisign just won the contract to administer .Com domains and they should be grateful they are still able to do so!
Well said. This should be going out to tender, the price would fall to $1.
Makes me angry.
Donuts Inc. should purch a .com Registry 😉
Why doesn’t Verisign simply acquire Turn Commerce and share in the profits that they frown upon so much? Verisign shareholders like us would love to participate in the true market value upside made available through an acquisition like Turn Commerce. It’s not like Verisign doesn’t have the financial wherewithall to buy Turn many times over!
Most Registries, an attitude of ICT people, have this vitriol undertone.
I think it is just disingenuous. They don’t really believe it, but think saying it makes them seem more ethical.
“I’ve always thought Verisign was supportive of domain investors. ”
Really?? Non of these guys are unless it directly creates revenue for them. Verisign’s Sitefinder from years ago showed us that they will say and do whatever is best for their bottom line. Domainers are currently in the way of their monopoly pricing ambitions because nobody else is watching.