First, I am little upset
that JeffMarsh proclaimed jefsey as having the most fallacious arguments on this
thread. I thought I held this distinction. Clearly, this is something
I'll need to pursue a trademark on.While I do believe that some registrars will
get hammered on day one, I doubt that the rather extreme and absurd scenario Jefesy
writes of where there is a TOTAL AWARENESS by EVERYBODY of the domain lottery is
something that will really occur. Generally, invaluable opportunities like those
available in our domain system tend to come from a different angle that most people
are expecting or comes from a contender that isn't fully appreciated before it is
painfully obvious ( and late) .
There are indications already that the Generic
TLD's that have the most appeal have already been "mined" of a modest proportion
of the 6 figure names. (Not that I like to place domains' value in monetary
terms)
#1 Whether IOD has a trademark/service mark or not on .WEB, their argument
for handling the registry functions for that TLD are pretty darn compelling. Despite,
ICANN's history, I have a difficult time seeing them just disregarding IOD's claims
and their very substantial history of handling .web registrations for people in 75
countries. Especially, given the attention .WEB is receiving and the negative press
ICANN will surely receive if the brazenly disregard a net pioneer like IOD.
I will wager that IOD will end up with primary responsibilities for .WEB, and I would
also bet hundreds (or thousands ) of pre-registered domains will stand. Although
there are HUNDREDS of thousands of great names left, people will run quick checks
on the registry and see that the top 500 domains or so are probably gone. So, there
may still be a rush, but it won't be quite the same with business.web, travel.web
and other dreamy domains not available.
#2 The .TV domain is undoubtably
the sneaky "under the radar" newcomer that net veterans like many on this board probably
scorn because of its pricing, the registration agreement, and its ccTLD origin.
However, it makes for a great name, and it has GREAT backers, and the biggee: the
market appears to be currently ACCEPTING it. So, the .TV TLD, which could come to
represent the "RICH MEDIA" Internet (like DOT TV says) may become much bigger than
most people expect. Especially for media driven web sites. And the landgrab
is happening right NOW there
In my view this leaves GTLD's like .BIZ. .SHOP,
and maybe .LTD??? .BIZ is pretty darn good and has potential. .SHOP is overrated
(comes more across as a NOUN than a VERB) and .LTD which.. SUCKS (from a marketing
perspective .. way too dry and corporate)
Great TLD's are SHORT,(FYI) something
that even Mr. Ambler of IOD didn't seem to understand which I will gladly explain
later.
Anyway, this leaves a whole slew of (oft-long) category specific TLD's
like .Travel, .Museum, . that only will yield 20-100 really great names. For .TRAVEL,
for example, I can see:
usa.travel
vacations.travel (hmm pretty long)
cheap.travel
air.travel
my.travel
caribbean.travel
overseas.travel
and
a bunch more for frequently traveled
cities and countries. That's about it. Not
thousands of
great names, just a hundred or so.
Obviously, this is conjecture,
but in NO WAY improbable. I stand by
my statements since day one that .WEB is
far and away the best TLD choice and .TV has substantial potential and is currently
sneaking up behind this process which (judging by the TOTAL lack of consensus on
this thread) could be prolonged past November. This will only give .TV more time
to establish itself.
Jestiny