.US Outrage

[jazzpetals]

Life is not fair either, I also think it is not fair to let registrars scoop up domain names and put them up for auction, they should all be allowed to drop as was done in the past, and let the general public attempt to register them, instead of all the good names going to those with deep pockets.

But, this is Corporate America, and greed is greed.

Whomever was lucky enough to hand register those domain names, I wish them the best, that's the way all domains should be handled imo.

So are you saying America.us dropped randomly. It seems there should have been a public notice on the drop time.

Also, assuming Blueberry Hill may be hired for a larger job like that but as you said they would still need to know specific drop times and dates so how could they have monitored 24X7 from Dec 15 thru Dec 22? This all seems quite odd to say the least.

Another issue is why so many other great names dropped at odd dates, both early and late? It seems since these were held in the public trust the registry is responsible for public awareness and issuing notice of dates and strictly adhering to the schedues.

Basically 3 domainers (possibly 4) have become overnight millionaires over this.





Does not sound too fair when there was little public notice, the drop dates were impossible to find when I looked during several visits to the site on and before Dec 15, and to make matters worse the top names all appear to have dropped both early and later than the hard to find schedule page indicated, as much as one month early to 7 days late!

What could be more unfair than all of that?

[StockDoctor]

Oh for crying out loud hiOsilver. Why the heck don't you just write me a pm and ask how it went before crying foul. You're active in the drop game and should know that the spoils go to the victor. No sneaky anything going on here.

Here's a little info for you (just in good spirit)

Neustar (the registry) had a schedule in place to release those names after 1 year from the opening registration period. The DoC refused to approve the release and instead delayed their response time and again while the registry continued to roll the anticipated release back month after month and then 1/4 after 1/4. Some of us continued to watch and wait and check and call. Some others got lolled to sleep.

Finally, the DoC ok'd the release of the city names and the release date was posted on the main site for about 3 months. Only those that kept checking and loading names to follow and purchasing $thousands in backorders were on top of this thing. The cities were released and I picked up quite a few as did a few others who were also watching. Iholdings picked up a few thousand for 1 company, but nothing fishy there and no inside info. America.us was dropped and picked up by one person even though I had 3 backorders at Pool, GD and Bluehill. That was evidently sold to Zou. Congrats.

The States were picked up by 2 people who were awake. I sold some of my drop slots to a couple others for their development and have plans for the development for a number of my other pickups. Not that it's anyones biz-ness. Some of the names you mention were part of a deal to Yak that I've held for years.

There is NO private firm or special treatment. ANYBODY who was on their toes could have jumped on this. Just ask fundraiser. He beat me to 4 States with either an enom script, or manual regging. You heard that right. There is NO violation of the public trust by the registry and was plenty of notice.

I do take issue with the insinuations. I'm one of the old hands here. I started the DNF$ symbol, the DNF$ Exchange and the Bank. I've had thousands of domain sales and purchases with a very large number of members here. Next time please just ask before dragging me into some nasty accusations.

Any more questions while I'm in a good mood?
Doc

[Domagon]

Looking at the timeline posted, the .US registrations by and large appear legit.

I was under the impression the "reserved" .US domains remained reserved indefinitely, but like most others, I never researched the issue further; I have virtually zero interest in .US domains and basically no interest for other ccTLDs either.

With that said, I remember back when most all "dirty" .com/.net/.org domains became registerable again back in July-1999 (there was no explicit notice that was going to happen; one had to read between the lines so to speak) ... I got in there before everyone else and grabbed a bunch - and it wasn't pure luck, but rather staying current on policies (as far back as '97 I had a good hunch as to how they'd likely be allowed again someday), actively tracking the possible affected domains, and being ready to move quickly ...

Opportunities are still out there for folks with the time and patience to do the research and are ready with cash, etc when the right time comes ... and some luck never hurts

Ron

[JuniperPark]

post retracted - situation has been handled appropriately by mods

[hiOsilver]

Oh for crying out loud hiOsilver. Why the heck don't you just write me a pm and ask how it went before crying foul. You're active in the drop game and should know that the spoils go to the victor. No sneaky anything going on here.

Here's a little info for you (just in good spirit)

Neustar (the registry) had a schedule in place to release those names after 1 year from the opening registration period. The DoC refused to approve the release and instead delayed their response time and again while the registry continued to roll the anticipated release back month after month and then 1/4 after 1/4. Some of us continued to watch and wait and check and call. Some others got lolled to sleep.

Finally, the DoC ok'd the release of the city names and the release date was posted on the main site for about 3 months. Only those that kept checking and loading names to follow and purchasing $thousands in backorders were on top of this thing. The cities were released and I picked up quite a few as did a few others who were also watching. Iholdings picked up a few thousand for 1 company, but nothing fishy there and no inside info. America.us was dropped and picked up by one person even though I had 3 backorders at Pool, GD and Bluehill. That was evidently sold to Zou. Congrats.

The States were picked up by 2 people who were awake. I sold some of my drop slots to a couple others for their development and have plans for the development for a number of my other pickups. Not that it's anyones biz-ness. Some of the names you mention were part of a deal to Yak that I've held for years.

There is NO private firm or special treatment. ANYBODY who was on their toes could have jumped on this. Just ask fundraiser. He beat me to 4 States with either an enom script, or manual regging. You heard that right. There is NO violation of the public trust by the registry and was plenty of notice.

I do take issue with the insinuations. I'm one of the old hands here. I started the DNF$ symbol, the DNF$ Exchange and the Bank. I've had thousands of domain sales and purchases with a very large number of members here. Next time please just ask before dragging me into some nasty accusations.

Any more questions while I'm in a good mood?
Doc

Doc,

I never made any insinuations about you. I have posted that Neustar's handling of this is entirely inappropriate, and nothing anyone has posted so far has convinced me otherwise. I cannot imagine why the DofC allowed the State domains to be released, in particular. The reservation for the State domains should have been in perpetuity, especially when one looks at some of the domain cases that have arisen, such as the one over NewZealand.com.

Posting on an obscure webpage does not constitute public notice. The whole deal stinks.

Thanks for helping to clarify what transpired.

[David G]

....posting on an obscure webpage does not constitute public notice. The whole deal stinks.....

Like I said before, about Dec 1 thru Dec 15 I visited the neustar site several times and spent a long time online trying without success to find that page someone else found on Google with drop dates. That seems real odd and makes me wonder if that page was even there at all during that time frame.

The issue of the drop schedule saying Dec 15 but the names being reg'd Dec 22 has still not been addressed by anyone for some odd reason. Did that mysterious private firm somehow manage to grab them on Dec 15 and resell them to these guys on Dec 22? Also, how did Zouzas know the date or time America.us dropped on Nov 16?

Plus whoever first reg'd them, why not post them for sale to others and get a much better price rather than a small private sale involving only a few buyers? I woud guess the retail value of the hundreds (perhaps thousands, I was not counting) of great names I found which these 3 or 4 got to be many millions of $ so the small private sale is real odd.

Another strange issue is why the seller sold all those fabulous names for only $25000 to Blink, which was almost a give-away and fire sale price vs their high value. Hawaii.us alone was worth more than that. I know I would have paid more than $25000 for the package myself so why sell them so cheap without a sales thread or auction?

[izopod]

Hey, you never know www.Hawaii.us.com may still be available....

Joking aside, I'm glad that Neulevel did what they did. They announced the release on their website (as they should have) and didn't make it big deal out of it. That way some average joes (no offense doc) could make a play for them.

My personal feeling is that although these are some "brandable" names, they would take a lot of money to make them well known enough to really make some money. I think most american domainers realize ".us" is a niche domain...It's not going to overtake .com. It's just a reality.

...So $25K is about right for the lot... Don't get so bent out of shape already!

[Acro]

So why Illinois.us got released but Florida.us and Texas.us didn't?

[StockDoctor]

So why Illinois.us got released but Florida.us and Texas.us didn't?

Texas was regged long ago by:

Registrant Organization: State of Texas
Registrant Address1: Dept. of Information Resources
Registrant Address2: PO Box 13564
Registrant City: Austin
Registrant State/Province: TX

Same with Florida:

Registrant Name: State of Florida
Registrant Organization: StateTechnology Office

There were 13 States that dropped after more than 3 years of notices, deadlines and reservations for the State organizations. They simply choose NOT to reg the names.

The DoC was obviously more concerned with the Federal names and put a large number of them into permanent reserve, and released ones they didn't care so much about evidently. You want to argue with them -- Good luck!

To Trader's questions:
Not only could anyone who looked at the Registry site find both the notices and the lists of names to be released, for months in advance, you could also find them by doing a Google search. Then there is that odd thing called a telephone where you could call the phone number listed on the site with the Federal reserved names and ask when they would be releasing the names.

The actual release (drop schedule) was a few days after the posted date as the registry got it's chit together and the names all went to pending delete status and were even listed on the pending delete list on the site as well.

I believe Zouzas bot the name from the original catcher of America.us (not me) and that catcher just lucked out as I got the Domain Alert notice (several companies provide those ya know) from GoDaddy that the name was available before the catcher picked it up. ANYONE who was just a bit quicker and running the list of reserved names thru the whois regularly could have also picked that one up.

On the sale to Yak. The deal for the $25k included diff. names. (Some of which I've held for years and some not) It was a private sale and the clarification of what was actually paid or bot or why, is between the parties to the transaction and nobody else. As many know here, I pull hundreds of names each month from development schedules when I can "improve" my portfolio with other purchases, and sell them at super prices to my good friends on the forums. I don't want to explain these sales and the buyers don't either.
Doc

[clemzonguy]

I'm extremely jealous also but I know Stoc & Yakov and they seem to be on top of things with both their eyes and wallet. If anything having these names in the public domain will help boost the value of the .US namespace or even draw attention to it.

[Acro]

Too bad Yakov's use of profanities caused yet another termination of his account.

[David G]

......and sell them at super prices to my good friends on the forums. I don't want to explain these sales and the buyers don't either.
Doc

If that is so then why did Blink announce the sale, list all the names you sold him and the price :huh:

Also, since I am one of your old customers too why did you not offer the names to me (or anounce the sale on the forums for more exposure and more $ I am sure), I already said I would have paid more than $25K. Just wondering.

P.S. One reason I mention this is because I am a developer (not a seller or speculator) and 100% of my names are working resolving to my own websites and I also have a large portfolio of US names which all resolve to my own websites. If I had that portfolio for that low price of 25K it would have added a lot more to the US namespace and recognition vs selling it to a reseller like Blink for example.

[zouzas]

its funny how folks thought .us as worthless and now because of a few names .us are worth millions????? anyone who saw value in .US closely monitored neustar sight for the past 2 years ,,i did,, but fell sleep on the 15 when they did'nt drop and figured it be another 6months or year,,,i didn;t catch any but what i wanted i bought from the company who caught them,,,if you want a name its simple buy it.

[Wot]

Too bad Yakov's use of profanities caused yet another termination of his account.

Bet he is back within the week! Friends in high places :-D


Incidentally, good luck to all the guys who picked up some great .us , I do not mind admitting to being jealous. Ignorance was my downfall

[Mr Webname]

Bet he is back within the week! Friends in high places :-D

Not this time!

[Wot]

Not this time!

Can I quote that?

Oops I just did :-D

[izopod]

I'm getting tired of our black and white world. I happen to like colorful people like Yakov. A little swearing never hurt anyone. At least it doesn't me.

izopodian rule-of-thumb: If someone swears at you, swear at them back, but at the end of the day shake hands.

[David G]

.....but what i wanted i bought from the company who caught them,,,if you want a name its simple buy it.

Easier said than done when the name of that so called private drop catcher you said you purchased America.us from is secret and even when I asked you over the phone who it was you would not identify them even more than 1 month after the purchase.

How could myself or anyone else have got them when the entire event was behind close doors and unannounced? The entire affair seems very odd. For example, what ever you paid for America.us I am sure I woud have offered more so why would that private drop catcher sell to you secretly with no offering elsewhere such as on the forums, etc?

It all seems quite strange. I know if I was selling that amazing US portfolio Blink purchased privately at fire sale pricing and selling America.us (the best of the best) I certainly would advertised the sale very heavily in all venues.

[mole]

So, is .US value rising again? :-D .COM is doomed.

[Mr Webname]

I'm getting tired of our black and white world. I happen to like colorful people like Yakov. A little swearing never hurt anyone. At least it doesn't me.

izopodian rule-of-thumb: If someone swears at you, swear at them back, but at the end of the day shake hands.

If it was just a little black and white that would be one thing but accusations, abuse and threats from someone who has contributed little or nothing to this forum is another matter.