The domain industry as a whole may seem fairly small, but in reality, there are quite a number of people working within it. Not all of these people actually work with domain names, but the industry employs a significant number of people.
At domain registrars, there are account managers, programmers/technicians, designers, executives, and other positions. At domain brokerages, there are brokers, marketing managers, financial managers, and more. Parking companies have account mangers, programmers, technicians, and other employees. There are independent domain brokers and consultants as well, and I am sure I am missing some jobs as well.
Even domain forums have employees. In my opinion, the worst possible job in the domain business has to be a forum moderator. These people probably don’t get paid much, but they have to deal with annoying, whining, screaming (well, written screaming), and general nastiness that goes their way. Some likely have to be on the forum more than they ever would want if they weren’t a moderator. I can’t imagine the pay is good either.
If you are an active participant on a domain forum, you should do your best to be nice to these people. They don’t get much compensation for doing a job that most people would despise, and they can be helpful to you if need something (like a sales thread deleted).
Perfectly agree. I have always thought that I wouldn’t want to be a moderator, not only of a domain related forum, but of any forum that deals with a considerably high number of members. What makes the difference is just that, the size of the community.
Some of the moderators are ham-fisted power trippers though. Just as I respect the police for the job they do, some of them are d|€ks.
Well there is always the 9-5 for them. Everyone I know who makes a living off of domain names pends thousands of hours at no pay. It’s the love of the game, not the $$$ reward.
“Everyone I know who makes a living off of domain names pends thousands of hours at no pay.”
@ Bruce
How does someone make a living off of domain names if they spend thousands of hours without getting paid? If they aren’t earning an income, they certainly aren’t making a living.
Domaining income and to maybe a lesser extent development income can be a bit rollercoasterlike. So over the year its probably true that you do many hours ‘unpaid’ but then will earn $5k in a couple of minutes phone call.
@ LindaM
Precisely. Some days I earn absolutely nothing, but other days I do pretty ok. It all evens out to a very nice living.
Nooo you get no nil days now! because your well into dev. Having that kind of cushion is what keeps my show on the road on the days that would otherwise have been fail.
Just to set the record straight – the entire NamePros Team is ‘volunteer’ based, there is no ‘pay’. Which is what makes the ‘do your job’ kind of comments totally irritating.
Most of the people do it to try and help newcomers to the business to learn as well as to contribute to the community in general.
I was a mod and then a team leader at NamePros for a couple of years, but had to quit when my own work became too time consuming to continue helping out there.
@ Samit
I am sorry you are totally irritated by my comments. IMO, it’s still a job whether you’re getting paid or not, similar to how people consider an unpaid internship a job. It’s even less desirable, IMO, because there isn’t pay.
However, it’s still clearly an important job, and I respect those who take the time to do it because it’s likely a thankless job. Nobody ever seems to appreciate moderators on public forums because the only interaction is usually for infractions.