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Username: Facilitator
Date/Time: Fri, October 20, 2000 at 5:50 AM GMT
Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer V5.01 using Windows 98
Score: 5
Subject: General Observations of the Past Few Days

Message: 		 

 
        I'm somewhat surprised that many of the applications still aren't available for public inspection.  This doesn't seem fair to me given that each applicant had to shell out $50K.  How long does it take in this day and age to post applications?  HELLO ICANN, anybody in there?  Next observation.

Too many people against individuals selling domain names.  We live in a country that prides itself on democracy and the invisible hand, yet, if someone decides to enter the business of selling domain names, then that person is labeled evil.  Ever hear of profit incentive?  This country was built on it.  Ever wonder why communism failed?   Didn’t have it.  Now you know why.  The only reason why I can see someone resenting such practices is if that person misses out on the opportunity.  That's not my fault.  Let that be a lesson for those that refuse to stay on top of current events.  Don’t expect me to hold your hand and lead you to the promised land.  It’s simply priorities.  You may choose to sit on your lazy butt in front of the boob tube for 8 to 10 hours watching football on the weekends, while I decide to look for opportunities to legally make money to support my family.  Who are you to call me evil?  Your problem, not mine.  If I miss out on an opportunity, then it's my problem.  I won't go to some bulletin board and whine about it.  That's juvenile and unrealistic.  Furthermore, if all of us had to vent on missed opportunities in life, then this bulletin board would have to be increased exponentially.  That's life people.  Sometimes you win, and sometimes you loose.  Don’t begrudge the people that registered domain names from IOD.  Play semantics all you want.  It’s still the same thing.  Next observation.

We shouldn't call sellers of domain names cybersquatters.  Consider changing the name from cybersquatters to facilitators.  The term cybersquatter implies that no money was paid nor risk incurred.  What do you think these people did to get such names?  Run over to a registrar and steal them?  Nonsense.  Most facilitators, with the exception of a few that skipped on payments, paid hard cash for domain names.  Nothing wrong with that.  And, for every person that made a killing, there were hundreds of thousands that didn't make squat.  All too often you begrudge the facilitator that made a killing.  Yet, are you willing to pull a few dollars out of your wallet and hand it over to the guy that came up empty handed?  No, of course not.  Your response will be "your problem buddy".  How convenient, dammed if you make money, and dammed if you lose it.  At least facilitators showed initiative and guts by putting their money on the line.  What initiative do the whiners demonstrate?  Squat!  Next observation.

Facilitators can serve a useful purpose in buying and selling domain names.  Ever type in a generic domain name that has built-in brand equity only to find something totally different?  If you haven't, then your a novice on the internet.  Happens all the time.  This is a total waste of good generic domain names.  Now, if an individual comes along and buys a few good generic domain names, that person can then market such domain names to prospects that can make better use of them.  Notice I used the word “few”.  Few in my book can be as much as a couple hundred which pales in comparison to the millions floating around today.  Don’t even debate this one with me.  Next observation.

We tend to hear people whining about facilitators receiving excessive sums of money for domain names.  That’s the invisible hand, like it, or not.  How many of your neighbors became instant millionaires over night selling domain names?  I thought so.  None with the exception of 0.00000000001% of you.  How many of you know a facilitator?  Probably quite a few.  Lose any friendships because your facilitator friends came out of the closet?  I doubt it.  But there you are on the bulletin board spouting off.  Do you armchair economist whiners out there realize that there are literally hundreds of thousands of anxious facilitators out there praying that someone will come along and buy just one domain name so they can recoup a small percentage of their investment.  Yeah, you don't pay attention to that side of the story do you.  Again, too convenient.  Go to any auction house and browse around.  There’s tons of cheap domain names out there.  Next observation.

NSI and Register.Com milked the public for millions of their hard earned cash.  Think a lot of those cheap domain names are gonna be renewed?  If so, you're a born sucker.  Visit Register.Com some time and type in a name.  Chances are its taken for now, but Register.Com means to please.  On the bottom, you get all the flavors for the next one hundred thousand years.  Any zillion digit domain name you want, they've got.  These guys are in the business to sell baby, but that's okay.  Let's get and hang the facilitator because he's the root of all evil.  Right?  Wrong!  Next observation.

NSI and Register.Com need to answer to their investors.  Ever wonder what happens to a company's stock when they miss analysts expectations by even $0.01 per share?  Toast baby, you didn't cut it.  You're out of here.  Stock nosedives by 30-50% depending on how generous investors feel.  Ever wonder how investors will react to these guys when those millions of cheap domain names go unrenewed?  They know.  That's why there going for the next cash cow.  There not stupid.  Based on recent attitudes, the product life cycles of the .Com and .Net domain names are probably going to flatten out and turn south real soon.  It's that simple.  NSI and Register.Com need an offset to sustain growth.  The only problem is, they need to pulverize IOD to get it.  Do they care?  What do you think?  Its the law of the jungle.  Hunt, or be hunted.  Next observation.

NSI and Register.Com are street thugs aiming to tear IOD’s head off.  We don’t expect these guys to play fair or be warm and fuzzy.  The other contenders sitting around the camp fire holding hands at camp Afilias are lightweights invited to the big dance only to give the allusion of sharing the wealth, singing peace on Earth, and providing transparency, all of which is a big fat farce.  You see, Afilias and IOD are really on survivor island.  With Ken in the wings, how do you think the critical vote is going to go?  Conspiracy you scream.  No, simply human nature.  Next observation.

Think those generic names with built-in brand equity will be waiting for you once Johnny Appleseed gets done picking the shiny ones off the tree?  If so, then you deserve to be deceived.  No buyer of prime time domain names is going to leave money on the table.  Let me repeat, "No buyer of prime time domain names is going to leave money on the table".  What?  Did I hear you say, "Oh, they can't do that".  Care to bet?  The Sunset Period is just an Easter egg hunt for the multinationals.  They get to hop around cyberspace with their little baskets picking off both trademark domain names and generic domain names.  Nothing wrong with taking your trademark domain name.  Everything wrong with taking a generic domain name, especially when you’ve already hoarded .Com and .Net names that are now permanently out of circulation.  Next observation.

Think BankAmerica will be satisfied with Loans.Com after paying $3.0 million for it?   BankAmerica will be one of the first to try and grab Loans.Web.  Others will try to do the same.  Was this the intent of ICANN, allowing big business to own the same name with multiple domain name extensions?  Will this blatant disregard for the spirit of the process really open up the internet?  No!  And, No!  And don’t think this won’t happen because it will.  Afilias will set aside 500,000+ domain name slots for the big dogs.  IOD only has a paltry 20K+ at the present time.  Sure, complain about those that did their homework and instead, opt for 480,000 less in domains names for the average Joe.  Gotta like the logic on that one.  Next observation.

ICANN is dumb enough and corrupt enough to select the Afilias plan, along with other similar plans, that will accomplish nothing more than the hoarding of several new names with multiple domain name extensions by none other than big business.  These names will be permanently taken out of circulation in order to prevent further competition in cyberspace.  How in hell is this a step forward?  It’s not.  It only allows multinationals to drown out the little guys’ domain names with an armada of their own on the Internet.  Type in a general word in the search engine and XYZ has zillions of domain names to your paltry one, or two.  If your lucky, you’ll be hit number 2.0+ million.  This tactic is no different than what P&G does with toothpaste.  Get one with brightener, one with fluoride, one with mineral additives, and various other combinations thereof.  For P&G, you drive the competition out by adding more products on the shelf.  Well, the Afilias plan will accomplish the same task for multinationals in cyberspace.  New domain names will go into circulation and then come right back out because they will be scooped up by Big Business.  This promotes a contraction on a relative scale in terms of domain name market share, not an expansion.  Not even a moron could justify this approach.  THINK ABOUT THAT ONE!  I repeat, “ New domain names go into circulation and come right back out”.  If you want to maintain the status quo, then Afilias is your game.  I’m for the IOD plan.  I don’t care whether, or not, you agree with my perspective on facilitators, but I do hope you have the intelligence to understand the flaws with the Afilias plan.  It reeks with cronyism.   IOD doesn’t stand for the status quo.  If you’re big business, then you’ve got to like the Afilias plan.  It doesn’t get any better than that.  In essence, Afilias will (and I repeat will) kick off one of the biggest corporate charity balls in human history and you can’t even watch it on pay-per-view.  What a pity.  Like I stated earlier, you win some, and you lose some.  Care to guess which it is?
    
     
     
 

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