Just relaxing today, trying not to do much work. Just some football, the gym, and some good food. I am a bit envious of my friends and colleagues who are out in Vegas right now. Seems like a very good weekend to be there.
I’m excited about the rumors of a Verizon iPhone, supposedly being announced this Tuesday just a few blocks from me in Lincoln Center. It’s amazing that I was a pc user just a few years ago, but now I’ve got a Macbook, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, and soon an iPhone.
Here are a couple business updates:
– I decided not to attend DomainFest this year. I am going to go skiing out west instead, and taking two trips across the country in less than a month isn’t desirable to me. I am sure it’s going to be a good show, and I will probably regret not going, but there are going to be plenty of others this year.
– This is common sense, but if you wait until the last second to snipe a domain name at NameJet, you should be mindful of potential slow loading pages (or slow hands). I wanted to bid on BandForum.com last night, and since there weren’t bidders, I waited until the last second so nobody would see me bid. The page didn’t load fast enough, and I didn’t end up getting my bid in time, so another person was able to buy it for $69. Good buy, IMO.
– If you rely on one web developer or designer for a majority of your work, it’s always good to have a back up just in case. People get sick, take vacations, or have other projects that take precedent over yours so your work may be on hold if something comes up. Having a back-up developer or two is important.
Agree on the developer part but sometimes it’s difficult to have two developers work on the same project or for one of them to take over while the other one is gone.
I have been waiting on my developer to fix a small glitch on my site for a while now. I understand that he is busy and it wouldn’t make sense for me to hire someone new to fix the glitch cause it would take him a long time to go through the code just to make a small change.
But it always depends on the urgency and the size of a project.
Regarding the last moment Namejet backorders, I have had a few instances where I got distracted for one reason or another or my computer locked up, etc. Another time we were over at a friend’s house and I was trying to politely excuse myself – though I still thought there was enough time to get back – missed by just a few minutes. So I suppose in some cases placing an early order might make sense though generally you don’t want to draw attention any earlier than necessary. Another caution about ENOM drops is that the buyer can still renew even after your backorder so don’t publicize too widely any name you have captured. I once had one taken back three weeks after acquiring it at Namejet.
Elliot,
Sorry to hear you are not going. what is Ron Jeromy to do without you?
I’ll make sure to give him your regards.
I’m flying in together with Tony K and Kev Brown, but nothing will top last years flight I bet. http://twitpic.com/10wp3v
Happy New Year.
@ Leonard, I had that happen to me a few days ago, I was waiting for the last minute and got distracted by a phone call and almost didn’t make it, and I really wanted this domain name but luckily i got in the last few seconds and today i win the auction. 🙂
$129 NamesBroker.com
When project managing, I’ve found it’s better to spread your work across a range of development talent than to put all your eggs in one basket with one operation (or, one person)
In addition to people getting sick, needing vacation time. etc, there are other factors- contending with “irreplaceable man syndrome” being a big one.
If you only deal with small projects and need to contract on a piecemeal basis, do so with a few different coders, rather than just one. Favor one over another if you prefer, but try to keep a few on the tit.
The biggest reason for this is that business and working relationships between coder and project manager can and do change, sometimes, suddenly and in bad ways. If you’re project managing but not a coder yourself, you’re at the total mercy of your help and should things go south, bad things may happen to all the work you’ve done thusfar and you will be totally clueless until Rome is already burning. I’ve seen this innumerable times…
Working with multiple (and unaffiliated) independent coders allows for an additional layer of redundancy, as far as laying an extra set of eyeballs on the work the other guy is doing. Being the guy who signs the paycheck, there’s incentive for them to report back any holes the other guy may have left, or more critically, anything ticking bombs that may exist in the code framework.
It’s just good practice. Coders who insist on absolute project exclusivity should be a huge red flag. Whenever you encounter this, you can safely assume you’re either dealing with a prima donna ego case will eventually become an intolerable working partner, an incompetent who doesn’t want his lack of still to become known via vetting by another, more talented coder, or someone who intends to shaft you bad by building exploits into your project.
Assuming your developers use an open platform (like WordPress), you should have no problem with having multiple developers involved in a site, because they should be able to easily pick up what the other developer(s) did and were working on.
And as much as everyone else is looking for developers, I do site development work myself (mainly WordPress), and I’d be happy to speak to anyone looking for a developer (and keeping tabs on the domain market and being into domains myself certainly helps with the development)…
My site for online work (I hope Elliot doesn’t mind my posting the info) is at http://tec.co (yes, the site needs some work and yes, normally have other designers work with ;).
Sorry, that last sentence should say (posting from my phone):
My site for online work (I hope Elliot doesn’ t mind my posting the info) is at http://tec.co (yes, the site needs some work and yes, I normally have other designers I work with) ;).
No Domainfest, skiing, really? Owen Frager says its because youre protesting lol
” Sunday, January 09, 2011
Elliot Silver Says No To DomainFest As Other Domainers Rebuke Company After Privacy Invasions and Ethics Questions”
Ok so he is implying but really wouldnt allow my name within 10 ft of this guy.
@ Josh
My not going to DomainFest is not a protest of any sort against Oversee nor is it any sort of statement or “rebuke.” I have not talked to Frager about this, nor would I even consider talking to him about it or any business decision.
That is what I thought, it sickened me this morning as I ate breakfast to see someone use your name in a headline to catch people and then imply something totally untrue. Shock value is shock value but using others good name is not acceptable.
Id be talking to him nowthat’s for sure.
Totally agree with Josh. I would be incensed if someone used my name like that to deceive readers.
@ Thomas
I agree with Josh, too.
I have wondered about how the Playboy Mansion fits into the domainer gathering. They have alienated many people.
I never was one to attend anything that had a setup were it was simply a pay to enter sales presentation.
2 cents worth
@ Steve
I think the Playboy Mansion is a very good venue for a male-dominated industry. I think it’s a great event.
Patriots Fan Elliot Silver misses 1st Quarter of Pats – Jets Game in Rebuke to Tom Brady’s Bieber Like Hair
@ Gordon
LOL 🙂
If Tom continues playing like he has, he can dye his hair purple for all I care 🙂
Wow, 16 comments without a .TV hype or .CO bash post
Great way to start off the week
I read the Frager Blogspot this evening. It’s one thing to go for shock value to get hits on your site, that’s nothing new. But fabricating the truth about someone else in the same industry as you is not going to do wonders for your credibility!