Domain investors aren’t well liked. Beyond typical social situations, the only time someone may meet a domain investor is when they want to purchase a domain name that is owned by an investor. The vitriol aimed towards domain investors can be quite alarming. Case in point, this “domain hoarder” comment I received a while ago.
Over the weekend, Mike Carson wrote about his Friendster.com acquisition in a blog post that was widely shared on Hacker News. At one point, it was the top post of the day garnering hundreds of comments. The comment that rose to the top had little to do with Friendster and a great deal to do with Mike’s background in the domain investment space:
“Apart from this app, I’m confused how proudly this guy presents his sleazy domain-squatting shenanigans. It seems to me, setting this friendster site apart, these people are the parasites of the internet. This whole domain name business is a corrupt stinking pile of crap. Why are we tolerating this? For this friendster app, I think we can be certain, if it has any success, it will become the same crap we already have, given where this dude stands.”
Many people see domain investors as middlemen who got in the way of a business owner or founder getting the exact domain name they wanted. Domain investors, many people believe, are a nuisance. Not withstanding the fact that if a domain investor didn’t own a particular name, it would be owned by someone else and possibly already built into a brand, some people believe domain investors have something they have a right to own instead.
Unfortunately, the animosity goes beyond just words online. It can impact negotiations. It can impact someone’s reputation. Fair or not, this is part of the environment in which we operate.
No kidding. I recently reached out to a company with a geo – ai .com domain name. I have the geo .ai domain name, an obvious upgrade. They told me to do something better with my life than squatting on domains.
yeah — a company with a valuation over 50 billion reached out to me last month and offered low xxxxx for a single word .com I purchased in 2010, and said, “why not let us put it to market rather just sit there undeveloped”?
I’d be happy to accommodate if they made a reasonable offer.
I understand company budgets, etc, but this would have been a tremendous upgrade over its long 2 word .com
But that’s fine. It will just grow in value. All good. And I don’t care if people think we’re “hoarders”. What about the private equity groups that buy up thousands of properties?
Their hate only makes us stronger 🙂
Someone offered me 20 usd for .ai domain. They operate on keyword-ai.vercel.app ( something like dat ). I told them one cannot even hand register .ai for 20 usd. They told me i should thanks them for these 20 usd and that they are not filing police complaint against me for taking their domain. Lol.
Here’s the real problem: most people only see THEIR point of view, even despite thinking they are reasonable and understanding. It’s usually a “one way street” (from that person’s POV, buyer or seller). But it’s always two way street.
The truth overall is somewhere in the middle, and it varies with each domain/buyer/seller combo. There are infinite examples of domain owners wanting unreasonable amounts, and the domain maybe never selling and even being dropped eventually. And there are infinite examples of tire-kicker offers wanting to rob domain owners. Any example of one extreme situation does not invalidate the other extreme.
Very interesting
It’s those land investors who squat on empty residential lots or tracts of raw land that I cannot stand. Curse them!
Oh wait…
At least all domainers, domain investors and industry experts … likes each other .. 😊 😁
At least Verisign loves us…
Thank you for bringing this up, I think it’s an issue we domain investors should confront head on, possibly with a trade organization which explains the ways in which domain investing benefits society and is something of a celebration of freedom of commerce.
The **** I care if holier-than-thou idiots who support or engage in war crimes, oligarchy or dishonest advertising look down on me for buying and trying to sell domain names for as much as possible. They (to quote Alice Cooper) can go to Hell!
Telemarketers and politicians have higher favorability ratings than we do. Even lawyers and IRS employees beat us…
Oh my God! tonight I won’t be able to sleep…