“Snoopy,” a longtime domain industry participant, posted a poll on Twitter asking people what they think “has been the biggest domain industry change this decade?” Snoopy provided four options from which to choose and invited people to comment if they have another suggestion beyond the four he chose.
I would be interested in seeing what others believe to be the biggest industry change this decade either in Snoopy’s poll or in a comment:
Decade Wrap: What has been the biggest domain industry change this decade? (comment if you have another)
— snoopy (@wwwsnoopy1683) December 28, 2019
In my opinion, one of the biggest drivers was the rise of cryptocurrency domain name sales, including the $30 million sale of Voice.com. Many of the cryptocurrency domain name sales would also qualify as one word .com sales already mentioned by Snoopy, but there are other sales that aren’t one word domain names. For instance, the $1 million BTC.com sale in 2014.
Another option might be the rise in popularity of ccTLD domain names being used as generic TLDs. There have been quite a few startups using domain extensions like .CO, .TV, .IO, and even .LY. Prior to this decade, ccTLDs were almost exclusively used in local markets.
Vote in Snoopy’s poll and/or comment here or on Twitter.
The value of bitcoin has dropped like rotten apples.
The only TLD is dot com and the rest are SLD….sheeet Level domain.
New Gs definitely a big deal but perhaps more expected or inevitable than the pending selloff of .org. Surely the .org situation should have made the poll.
That’s more of a TBD status I think.
Yep definitely TBD. If it’s reverted, .org has still been forever affected and weakened.
Maybe .com is strengthened if the .org deal doesn’t go through (.com may feel a little more protected) but if the .org deal does go through I think .com becomes vulnerable.
It makes it more possible price caps will be removed from .com.
Biggest industry change? The downfall of ICANN. In this decade ICANN went from being a respected organisation with government oversight to a corrupt outfit of greedy and crony capitalists. First they allowed registrars to auction off domain names of their own clients instead of letting these names go through the deletion cycle (as it is laid out in the ICANN Expired Domain Deletion Policy), essentially wiping out an entire class of domainers that were competing against each other for deleted names. Resulting in hundreds of millions in windfall profits for registrars that lobbied ICANN hard for these changes. Profits that were directly taken away from domainers and given to large corporations.
Then they came up with another great idea aka the new gTLD program. By taking in $200 millions in fees, ICANN allowed corporations to launch over a thousand new generic TLD’s without price caps, price restrictions and even allowed predatory strings like .suck that were priced at shake down levels and run by ex-ICANN staff.
We all saw this joke of a program unfold during the last 5 years, like a train wreck in slow motion but the domain industry will likely take another decade to recover from it.
The latest chapter, of course, is the .org travesty. Allowing to remove price caps on a legacy TLD that is mostly used by non profits, then allowing a sale of that TLD to private equity run by ex-ICANN staff. You can’t make this stuff up. The next decade will likely see a direct attack on .com. Price caps, premium pricing, get ready for it. And of course a second “new gTLD program”. Maybe even a third. Happy New Year everyone! 🙂
I agree with Richard here. In summery, the biggest story is the blatant and ever-present level of fraud / corruption being embraced.
I can’t get over what has happened to namepros tbh. It’s now literally a propaganda machine for epik, being sold out for “free” (suspicious).
Threads are now started with titles like the most recent “best free whois registrar”. OP states “heard dynadot had superior UI”, basically making clear they’ve never used the registrars in question. Next, some shill comments go back and forth, pumping up namesilo (who i believe sold namepro for ‘nothing’) and of course, epik.
However, later in the thread, after the pump, OP goes on to say…”oh I am transferring away from dynadot now!”..right after creating the thread asking how dynadot is, and “hearing about a nice UI”…RIGHTTT.
Samer, who posts on these blogs sometimes, and I have suspected of being a shill too also gave his adamant support of epik in the thread, going on to say “that he is biased…” Of course, because epik pays him, IMO.
This SHILL will RUIN our industry, shill bidding, shill posting. They push agenda on establish platforms to deceive us into things like “forever reg for $399” – we know that won’t work, prices will rise. It SHOULD be against icann rules to offer such a thing. The 10 year limit is FOR A REASON.
ALL this fancy stuff is going to come around and screw the domainers. ESPECIALLY the FIRST YEAR PROMO. The $1 domain first year though REGISTRY is designed to ABSOLUTELY destroy domaining, and put the domains in the hands of those who own most registrars, by constantly dropping and re-registering at $1 while everyone else pays who knows what…maybe $50+ to renew = bye bye domaining.
In summery = all types of corruption and ‘games’ that is embraced by the high-mid level players.
Epik nTLD domains increased ~40% in the last few days. ALL .top domains – at a cost of $45.00 each. That’s 25k .top domains, registered for $1m USD. Weird, since other PREMIUM / LEGIT registrars sell it for $1-2 each. What EXACTLY is going on? Back-door deals ALL over – RIGHT in OUR FACES – That’s the news!
Check my site for more.
@lifesavings.online: Anyone seriously interested in investing in new Gs should take a look at domaincostclub.com – 99% of the time they are the cheapest, selling at wholesale prices for an annual fee.
I know this sounds like an ad, but they have saved me thousands. Plus even without being a member, you can use their domain search tool to find the registry price of domains including base premium price – so you can see how much other registrars are marking them up.
There’s a story in there somewhere Elliot (markups of premium Gs, using DCC as a tool to explore) if you wanted to write about it, or I may put an article together in future.
Okay, I’ll look into and write, sure. I am getting ready to suggest people reg somewhere OTHER than porkbun at first (dynadot just as cheap from what I know), then TRANSFER to porkbun after 1 year, because they offer cheapest transfers.
I love Porkbun and I’m using Dynadot for the first time this month (at both places .nyc domains are $5.98/$5.99 respectively, but usually $22-45 elsewhere) .
This is the 1% of the time that DCC isn’t the cheapest.
You may know of https://tld-list.com/ to check for prices, but always check DCC for new Gs including premium and especially transfer prices.
There are chinese connections here, epik is in on it, I’m sure greasing palms to promote chinese ambitions: https://twitter.com/ShitFadiSays/status/1197532116289867776 Take a look there, fadi (the guy behind .org debacle) admits, the chinese are behind the .org SALE – RIGHT IN YOUR FACES. Does no one see?
Uncle Trump is right all along, China is raping us right in front of our eyes!!
Everyone lies on the internet!!
That’s obviously a fake account and not the real Fadi 😂 (@shitfadisays)
Fadi‘s real twitter account is handle: fchehade
I just looked yea…Still, whoever that is know a lot about what’s going on with though.
I opened Snoopy’s twitter, read all the replies and then clicked on a button “show additional replies that may contain offensive content”, but there were no additional replies with offensive content! Disappointing 🙁
My own view is the collapse of parking is the biggest, new tlds have been a bit of a disaster and haven’t changed the status quo. For .org this is recent news but it isn’t going to move the needle much either because very few people have large % in .org. Still the extension is now a basket case in my view.
I don’t think price caps will ever be removed from .com because .com pricing is regulated by the US govt and there is too much at stake. The US government have shown before that they will intervene on any .com proposal but will throw other extensions under the bus.
.Com is in a very clear monopoly position, it has grown via the “network effect” with no real promotion by the registry. The bigger it gets the better the extension works because it is now assumed that a company will be on it. If they use something else they have a major branding problem. There isn’t even a clear 2nd choice anymore.
Collapse of domain parking was the biggest change in the domain Industry.
Non-coms (nTLD’s) were just a distraction and a money grab.
Chinese domain market was hedge funds pumping and dumping.
.COM was and still is the King of Kings.
Yes, it has had huge repercussion. Many people “went back to to their day jobs”, many had companies fail-some had borrowed money to buy parking portfolios. None of which gets reported, those people just disappear.
Most parking co’s gone over the decade swell, Domainsponsor/Oversee, Rook, Hitfarm, Namedrive, Fabulous, Parked, Dotzup, TrafficZ. The only big parking co to survive the whole decade that I know of is Sedo, the rest like Uniregistry and Godaddy are new.
The number of companies using new TLDs has been increasing. For example, Samsung will be launching its new artificial intelligence product “Neon” on Neon.life.
Although I would not describe new TLDs’ impact in this decade as a change, I believe they will create a game-changing impact in the next decade.
I agree Ethan. The effects of new Gs haven’t reached a peak or close yet.
Parking collapse has been the biggest shift in the Domain economy. I’m amazed that there are still portfolios that are out there still raking in big bucks on parking though (mostly the old TM stuff) . . . . meanwhile all the generics are DOA for parking. It definitely changed the landscape the most.
Which ones are raking big bucks?
Parking is still going strong. Not as “easy money” as before, but yes there are many domainers making good revenue via parking and zero click. And no, these people are not in forums and blogs bragging about how much they make.
I agree with the above. Icann corruption and protection for the regietries to be monopolists is the story headliner.. Icann enables those with large pockets, whom pay icann for protection, to do their bidding. It is a racket and icann is the godfather of this online mafia. ICANN get paid, screw the rest of the world whom are not in their inner circle and can pony up too. .org is just the latest and greatest example of this insane corruption at the core of the Internet.
Snoop poop there it is.
.commies support of monopoly.
New G rise will change that and should.
The new gen market doesnt support monopolistic mindset.
The biggest change.
Happy New Decade for all Domains
Cheers
Of course I support .com, and yes it is a monopoly. Maybe you can advertise on DuckDuckGo and listen to some new beats on your MS Zune, would go down a treat while you reg those New G’s.
Good luck supporting products nobody wants to use.
Snoop- 🤣 I appreciate the compliments to a gen I don’t subscribe to.
.coms are like fords. They will always hold a legacy title.
Today- They are ranked 5th in the world and only 14% of the US market.
The top 3 globally are foreign.
Nothing wrong with being a diehard fan of a monopoly mindset.
I can appreciate the comfort derived from chewing on an old bone.
Investing suggests a future outcome.
Requires a mindset of future buyers.
Aged is not in the mindset of the future global market.
That’s the biggest change.
Cheers
You must have been smoking something very strong this NYE.
I predict that the Domain Name King will rebrand to http://www.kind.domains 😉
The domain market is in decline, but the price of domain names has been rising. 😂