Tweet Illustrates Value of New TLD Program

Michael Stevens is a common name in the United States. Judging by his Twitter profiles, I think this particular Michael Stevens is anything but common:

Mr. Stevens identifies himself as a Purple Heart recipient, and in my book that makes him a hero. Because of the fact that so many people have the same name as him, Mr. Stevens couldn’t hand register MichaelStevens.com. He also couldn’t register a variety of other common domain name extensions that were previously registered.

As you can see from the tweet above that was retweeted by .XYZ Registry CEO Daniel Negari, Mr. Stevens registered MichaelStevens.xyz. I think this is illustrative of the value of the new gTLD program. Someone who didn’t want to pay a premium for a previously registered extension could purchase a .xyz domain name for his website. .XYZ is generic in nature and it probably makes more sense than a .net .org or something random (see update comment below).

I don’t think new gTLD registries consider domain investors their target audience. Yes, domain investors help drive a significant amount of revenue, but many domain names owned by domain investors will never be developed. It looks like Mr. Stevens will build out his website, and he will likely promote it to others. One website launch and promotion like MichaelStevens.XYZ could do more good than a domain investor who speculates on a swath of names and doesn’t build them.

I appreciate the service of Mr. Stevens and wish him well with his new domain name and website.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
    • If he is using it for a personal site without an interest in value, why is that so?

      Wouldn’t MichaelStevens.XYZ be better than TheMichaelStevens.com or or something else made up? I think so.

      As an investor, I am still not buying any for investment purposes. As a user, I don’t see how building a brand on that is much different than on something long tail or random in .com.

    • What type of work do you do that you would value a domain extension on a personal website over actual work experience?

      I can’t imagine someone would deny a Purple Heart recipient a job simply due to the domain extension that was chosen.

    • .xyz makes more sense than a .net? is that why you are dumping all your names on namejet, most not even hitting reserves, this blog has become comical.

      • I am almost certainly buying more than I am selling right now, but I am always selling names. Always have and will always continue to sell. If I *needed* to sell as you seem to be implying by saying “dumping,” I wouldn’t have reserves on the auctions. In the last 2 weeks I bought JamaicaPlain.com, Fertilizing.com, MovingAnnouncements.com, BillCollection.com, KitchenMakeover.com and several others. All were .com because they were investments that will be used by someone commercially.

        In this particular case I blogged about, the .net, .org, info, biz, us…etc were all taken. This appears to be for a personal website and I don’t see any problem with using .xyz in this case.

    • BTW, I would take a mulligan on what I wrote here: “.XYZ is generic in nature and it probably makes more sense than a .net or something random”

      I meant to write more sense than .org because that would imply that it was a non-profit. I would choose a .net domain name if it was available.

      When I was finishing the article, I was rushing outside to my daughter who rode a scooter for the first time today and got sloppy.

    • I went and registered michaelwstevens.com just for you, Spencer.

      It’s nice to know what TLD I use for my personal page is more important than anything else I’ve ever done in my life, though. I can think of a few HR departments who would have an absolute field day with that mindset.

      I’m just trying to imagine the situation in another 5-10 years as remaining .com and .net domains are squatted on (like michaelstevens.com has been squatted on for 16 YEARS) or simply taken. Employers dismissing applicants because the applicant’s personal page ends in something they don’t consider “professional” enough is utterly asinine.

      Now if someone wants to link to their MySpace on a resume, feel free to throw a fit. Otherwise, I’m not sure how the narrow-mindedness is beneficial.

    • You don’t have to explain yourself Michael I’m sure you’re a far greater human being than the troll that was trying to bait you and Elliott.

  1. That’s great the guy has a purple heart, however that domain still sucks.

    There are countless better options out there. Saying it “makes more sense” than .NET is absurd. .XYZ “makes more sense” than an extension that has been around for 30 years with global usage, credibility and awareness…Really?

    Brad

  2. Elliott~ as a former~ and always~ US Marine with a purple heart~ thanks for your kind words. The xyz extension is just fine for a personal website.I’m also a partner in a financial fund and we don’t use the. com~ our results speak for themselves.

  3. Also, for the record, I do not own a .XYZ domain name and have no plans to buy one. I do own ElliotSilver.net and ElliotSilver.org though, which I use as a forwarder to Elliot.CO.

  4. Hey, if someone wants to give me the $25,000 for michaelstevens.com (that has been squatted on for *16 YEARS*), by all means, hit me up.

    It’s little more than a personal landing page and a place to jot down thoughts. Not trying to be the next Amazon over here.

    • Owned by Mike Mann he sets his asking price on most of his names, how do you know it has been squatted on for 16 years, you had every chance to register it 16.1 years ago why did you not?

      Original owner owned it for 14 years

      Michael Stevens & Associates
      143 Madison Avenue
      5th Floor
      New York , NY 10016
      (212) 689-5959 (FAX) (212) 689-4741

      Maybe Micheal Mann’s middle name is Stevens for all I know?

      You should do your homework before you go call people squatters, lucky for you nobody cares if you squat on .xyz because it is an absolutely worthless domain for personal, or business purposes.

    • Let’s see.

      16 years ago, I was 10 years old.

      Let me hop in the DeLorean and rectify my grave mistake, o ye domain gods.

      Also, michaelstevens.com has returned parking pages since forever. It has basically never been a developed site. Tell me again the definition of squatting here.

      I love how you folks are blowing gaskets left and right over this, though. Ron, Mike, Spencer — you guys are a hoot.

    • Non use of a domain does not constitute squatting, companies like 3M own 15,000 domains, most they do not even use.

      Do you need .xyz, and michaelwstevens.com also, are you now not a squatter.

      If you were 10 years old, no point in whining because someone beat you to the domain, should they have left it aside for you, the only Micheal Stevens in the world to register when he felt like it.

      It might be entertaining, but the fact of the matter is everyone has stated one common fact, .xyz is a horrible extension, and you maybe having a slow day, but take solace in that single agreeable fact.

      I look forward to seeing the content you provide on your multiple sites, in your avoidance of being labelled a squatter.

    • I actually will be doing something different with both sites.

      Does that make you mad?

      Also, calling .xyz a “horrible extension” is just hilarious. You are an elitist… over DOMAIN NAMES. I thought I had seen it all. Domain extension fanboyism. Just… wow. 😀

      I love how mentioning the fact I was 10 years old when michaelstevens.com was snapped up makes me a “whiner.” No, smart guy, I am relaying a fact to you. Calling me a whiner because I relayed a relevant fact makes you look ridiculous.

    • Well the guy that owns MichaelStevens.com, also owns SEO.com lucky for you……

      You are a whiner, because the guy that owns the underlying .com wants $25K for it, you are lucky it is actually attainable.

      Yes, I believe in the fact if you are going to do something, build, or design, you do it right the first time, and .xyz is not right, but you seem to be the smartest guy in the room so by all means carry on.

      I have provided more facts than you, including your conclusion that your underlying .com name has been squatted on for 16 years, you can see for over a decade a guy with the same name out of NY with a real business owned the domain, you continue to whine. I don’t care if you were 10, and you couldn’t by the .com, many people are in the same boat, only one can own the .com, even though all want it, that is called supply, and demand, and the market sets a price.

      MichaelStevens.xyz is what is what is referred to as a pigeon shit domain, I look forward to the cutting edge content you will be providing on both your domains, but I assume there is a 10 year old Michael W Stevens out there who will never own his name, as you are squatting on 2 of them now.

    • Michael-I just checked MichaelWStevens.io is available. Perhaps that would make you more of an “elitist”to post here whereas it’s becoming a go to for tech companies (Microsoft just bought Doc.io)-and make this guy Ron (whose given me crap here also before by the way about extensions,but we don’t have a block button)happy.For some reason this guy finds issues with most posts here.

    • Let’s run this by you one more time.

      *Relaying relevant factual information is not whining.*

      Stop trying to act hard in the comments section of a domain market blog. I can’t believe the hilarious elitism I’m seeing here. It’s like listening to children talk about which Pokemon card is the kewlest.

      The fact you think “$25,000, at least it’s attainable,” is a reason for the average person designing a simple personal page to drop $25,000 is so ridiculously out-of-touch that I have trouble believing you’re at all serious.

      At no point did I say I was going to provide “cutting edge” content, and in fact have repeatedly said that the domains would be nothing more than glorified about.me pages. But you go ahead and keep putting words in my mouth and manufacturing arguments for this talk. You haven’t got a leg to stand on otherwise, and it’s so incredibly amusing to watch you yell at the clouds.

    • Michael, you have more comments here than any other party, so who is yelling at the clouds.

      You said firstlastname.com has been squatted on for 16 years, you were given evidence you made an incorrect statement, you fail to accept such facts, you just continue to whine, about being 10 years old.

      Let’s see in 5 years if your .xyz page is still updated, or dropped, and expired.

  5. What a bunch of crap, like some guy is going to know who operates a tld, and then tweet out about it. So this guy use @stevensmichaelw for twitter, so what’s wrong with michaelwstevens.com? It is not even registered. This seems like another lame publicity stunt, and you either fell for it or are pals with this xyz guy. .xyz is not better than a dot org either and I could think of at least 10 other gtlds I would choose before xyz.

    • Certainly wouldn’t say I am pals or friends with him.

      I highly doubt this is a publicity stunt. I happened to notice the retweet when I was looking for something to blog about this afternoon.

    • Yep, you caught me, I’m clearly a shill because I spent a couple of days researching gTLDs, looking at the stats, and becoming interested in the space. It took all of 3 seconds to find the XYZ Twitter account with Daniel Negari as a recommended follow. But nah, XYZ must have paid me — a person with 80 followers — to tweet about their gTLD.

      You’d think they’d pay someone with more followers, but no, they thought I’d produce the most bang for their buck. Clearly.

      Grow up.

      Nothing wrong with michaelwstevens.com, except for, you know, the W, which annoys the crap out of me. If I wanted michaelwstevens dot whatever, I’d get michaelwstevens dot whatever. I didn’t want the W. I know I just blew your mind, but stay with me. Ready? Here it comes again: I didn’t want the W.

      Whoa.

    • Sure thats what happened, and now you just so happened onto a domain blog? What a coincidence. So the w bothers you, but using an extension that makes it sound like you are announcing that your zipper is down does not? I guess sometimes I overestimate the amount of common sense out there. To each his own I guess. The thing that is most annoying is that the author of this blog implies to his readers that a .xyz is better than a .net or .org. Personal site or not, that is just not true. Not even close. When someone who has to know better says something like that its hard to take it as anything other than propaganda.

    • “Sure thats what happened, and now you just so happened onto a domain blog? ”

      I replied to his tweet with a link to my article. Isn’t that obvious?

      Back on topic, I think it would be strange for him, me, or most other people (not associated with a non-profit, IMO), to have a personal website on a .org domain name. To me, .org implies an organization or non-profit, and I don’t think that would make sense to use for a personal website. As an investment, a keyword .org would almost certainly be worth more than a .xyz, but that is not what was discussed in the article.

      As I self-corrected, I would most likely use a .net for a personal website before a .xyz. That said, I have been using Elliot.CO as a mini about-me website, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. I bought Elliot.CO a while ago, and I figured I would use it. Without much of any promotion, the site does rank in Google for a search of my full name, so I don’t see what the big deal is. In fact, it ranks above ElliotSilver.com, which is owned by someone else using it for a personal website.

      Again, my investment portfolio has fewer than 10 new gTLD domain names. It’s probably 6, but I can’t confirm that off the top of my head. The vast majority of my investment grade domain names are .com, as you can see here: http://www.topnotchdomains.com/investments.html

      My notable sales have also been .com: http://www.topnotchdomains.com/sales.html

      I think someone buying a new gTLD domain name for a personal website when the other major extensions are taken is illustrative of the reason for the new gTLD program.

    • First, read Elliot’s comment above very closely.

      Second, no one ever said .xyz was worth more in the reseller market than .net or .com or whatever. That wasn’t even close to being implied.

      What was implied, was that the biggest value that comes from these gTLDs like .xyz, is that regular people who aren’t willing to put down $25,000 for a .com can instead put down $10 for an identically named .xyz or other gTLD and get up and running. They can always migrate later on.

      It’s not that difficult of a concept to grasp.

  6. Wow, the comments section of this article is really sad and is full of hate and bigots.

    Michael can use whatever domain he wants for his website. You guys are worse commenters than liberal bay area college students.

  7. “”Wouldn’t MichaelStevens.XYZ be better than TheMichaelStevens.com or or something else made up? I think so.””

    I don’t think so

    i would use “iMichaelStevens.com ” OR “TheMichaelStevens.com” in a heartbeat.

    I wouldn’t touch an .XYZ with a ten foot pole.

  8. Apart from being always informative this blog is exactly what a blog should be-entertaining also. Elliot puts a lot of work into this blog we should all at least try to put something of value in our posts.

  9. .xyz is the most ugly looking extension., not a handsome looking words…..MichaelStevens.xyz sounds like an ugly looking man….

    I never buy any .xyz extention……no way, not even free one……

    I would rather buy MichaelStevens.Club than MichaelStevens.xyz

    • A lot of what is being said in these comments section doesn’t make sense.

      Most of these people are talking strictly about resell value rather than intrinsic savings associated with registering an available gTLD for $10 over an unavailable, perennially squatted TLD going for $25,000. The personal value — for the average person — associated with such monumental cost differences cannot be overstated.

      Again, a lot of shortsightedness in regards to the domain landscape 5-10 years from now and narrow-mindedness in regards to the tunnel vision associated with chasing value from flipping domains.

      You can see it both ways, Elliot, and that’s a valuable versatility factor. But some of these folks… Not so much. =)

    • .nyc .london .sydney extension can be used for personal website as well…. why not?

      If MichaelStevens.club doesn’t make sense, why not use geo specific site such as MichaelStevens.NYC MichaelStevens.London MichaelStevens.Sydney rather than MichaelStevens.xyz ?

    • It’s true that it all comes down to personal preference.

      If Michael Stevens is a professional scientist, he can have personal contents about himself, his family, personal hobby or interest in general.

      He will most likely to add some contents related to his science career, science society, science club, science news/blog associate with his science knowledge, as he is a professional scientist.

      So using MichaelStevens.Science as a personal website is more meaningful than using MichaelStevens.xyz

    • Because I’m not from any of those places, have zero interest in representing those places, and .me is unavailable.

      *Wow*

    • Good thing that’s not even remotely relevant to what my domains are going to be used for. Utterly irrelevant to the intent of the domain extension.

      I’m sure if you throw enough crap at the wall, something will stick eventually, Ray-Ray.

  10. By the way, an extremely popular YouTube personality, Vsauce, shares the same name as me — Michael Stevens.

    So when it comes to SEO, I’ve already got a *ridiculous* amount of work cut out for me, and I wasn’t exactly intending to try and out-SEO the guy and rank higher in a Google search when *my site was going to be just a glorified about.me page*.

    Sheesh.

  11. True Story : I once worked with a guy named Michael Stevens. His dad was Michael Stevens as well.
    None of the above mentioned Michael Stevens had purple hearts or their names in .com. They were both kind of dickheads actually so it’s obvious that no purple hearts and dickheads means they didn’t deserve the .com by any means. . Oh yea, I also know a William Stevens. He’s a plumber and a pretty decent guy but some damn singer is squatting on HIS domain name. I bet he’s not even good at singing.

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