IDN's dropping like flies

[Acro]

IE7 is out and yet ppl are in disarray, dropping entire portfolios. The IDN horse turned out to be a ...mule :-D

Sorry folks, told ya so a year ago.

[stuff]

Originally Posted by Acroplex

IE7 is out and yet ppl are in disarray, dropping entire portfolios. The IDN horse turned out to be a ...mule :-D

Sorry folks, told ya so a year ago.

This will be a long thread.

[memmst]

Originally Posted by Acroplex

IE7 is out and yet ppl are in disarray, dropping entire portfolios. The IDN horse turned out to be a ...mule :-D

Sorry folks, told ya so a year ago.

Source? Based on?

[Rockefeller]

Originally Posted by Acroplex

IE7 is out and yet ppl are in disarray, dropping entire portfolios. The IDN horse turned out to be a ...mule :-D

Sorry folks, told ya so a year ago.

IDNs are dropping? I've seen an increase in traffic since the release.

[Pim(P)]

Drama

[Explorer]

Originally Posted by Acroplex

IE7 is out and yet ppl are in disarray, dropping entire portfolios. The IDN horse turned out to be a ...mule :-D

Sorry folks, told ya so a year ago.

1. IE7 is not "out" yet. The auto-update only starts this week.
2. Views, clicks and revenues are up significantly since September.
3. People are excited, not in "disarray", as you said. Check the news and the blogs.

[Rockefeller]

Originally Posted by Explorer

1. IE7 is not "out" yet. The auto-update only starts this week.
2. Views, clicks and revenues are up significantly since September.
3. People are excited, not in "disarray", as you said. Check the news and the blogs.

[AnnaS]

Is there something in IE7 that breaks IDN's?

Just for myself, non IE traffic has grown in the past 2 years from <1% to over 25%

[Domagon]

IDNs have some very real limitations, which many IDN speculators aren't aware of / don't fully take into account when selecting them.

Chinese / Japanese IDNs along with other various select countries / regions / language IDNs are worth considering.

However, many people speculating in such IDNs don't fully research the definition / common usage of them ... and as a result end up with IDNs that seem valuable, but are basically worthless; computer translation tools are very error proned and can't be solely relied on when choosing what to buy.

People buying latin based IDNs ... some could potentially make a bundle, but more likely will end up with mostly worthless domains that blocked in many browsers / server configurations / unpredictable resolution; endless UDRP hell.

My personal belief is that some IDNs have value, but investing in them must be approached very carefully ... people who haven't been will likely be dropping their IDNs in bulk.

Traditional domain names aren't going anywhere anytime soon, and will likely become even more valuable as IDNs ramp up.

Ron

[memmst]

Originally Posted by Domagon

IDNs have some very real limitations, which many IDN speculators aren't aware of / don't fully take into account when selecting them.

Would you explain which real limitations?

Originally Posted by Domagon

My personal belief is that some IDNs have value, but investing in them must be approached very carefully

Ron

ASCII are any different? just look at some appraisal/sales threads and you will have to agree they were not approached too carefully to say the least.

of course you are right it is hard for a person who speaks no Japanese to get accurate translations with free online translators but really with the tools available pretty much anyone can get it right.

[Explorer]

Originally Posted by memmst

of course you are right it is hard for a person who speaks no Japanese to get accurate translations with free online translators but really with the tools available pretty much anyone can get it right.

True. The tools are:

Overture Japan - if the numbers is 100K, for example, you know people are searching for it.
Google Trends - same thing
Google Translator - to get you started
Google Images - to make sure
Yahoo Japanese Bidtool - to see what advertisers are paying
Number of results when you search - to make sure
Amazon listings - to make sure
Ebay listings - to make sure
Probably forgetting some others

We check the word against most of them and that creates confidence that would explain that most of the IDN sales from xx to xx,xxx are done by people who can't read, write or pronounce a term. They don't have to. It's not a rocket science to figure out the foreign term using the internet and sense that digitalcameras.com, for example, is valuable in any language.

[Acro]

It always amazes me how people will hold onto a breaking straw, just to stay afloat :-D

[domainstosell]

Originally Posted by Acroplex

It always amazes me how people will hold onto a breaking straw, just to stay afloat :-D

It always amazes me how people spew opinions as if they were fact, yet don't back them up with sources.

This is one of the top domain industry forums. I visit here (among other forums) to intelligently discuss the state of the industry with other domainers. The great thing about a forum is that members can have dissenting opinions that can lead to lively, meaningful discussion.

Unfortunately, with posts like yours, the intelligent discussion fails. If you have sources to back up your claims, then by all means, please share and we can discuss. Otherwise, perhaps you should stop trolling and contribute something meaningful in another area of the forum.

[Acro]

I am sorry to burst your bubble.

And IE7 is out. And its adoption is minimal, so all you IDN "tower of Babel" junkies can shed a tear or two. Firefox 2.0 implements strong control over IDN characters as well, to prevent URL fraud. So no more Paypal, eBay and Bank phishing.

Failure to admit failure is double the failure :-D

[Edwin]

Ahem. IE7 adoption is about to skyrocket through the roof, as Microsoft plans to force it on Windows XP users who still have their PCs set to "auto update" with Windows updates. Outside the webmaster/domaining community, I'd guess than anywhere from 50%-90% of "normal" users have not touched the manufacturer settings for their Windows updates, and most PC companies ship with "Automatic Update" as standard.

My prediction: within 90 days (assuming that the auto update is pushed through during that timeframe) IE7 will make up 35-50% of all browsers hitting ENGLISH sites. IDN/foreign language sites will take a bit longer, as the regional Microsoft offices are a few weeks or so behind the US parent in releasing localized IE7 final browsers.

Whether this has the anticipated/desired impact on IDN traffic is a separate, though related issue. IE7 will come by default to many users, whether they like it (or even realise it) or not...

[Acro]

Actually, Microsoft will not enforce IE7 into Windows XP users, for two reasons.

The antitrust case, which Microsoft lost, forces Microsoft to offer all IE downloads as optional components. In addition, Microsoft won't release Service Pack 3 for XP until 2008. First reports of IE7 describe it as a bloated piece of buggy software, that offers little more than tabbed browsing.

The market share of Firefox and other Mozilla-based browser is expected to exceed 20% in the first quarter of 2007.

[seanboy]

IE7 looks like a firefox knock-off, IMO

[Olney]

Acroplex I can't tell you about every market but I can firmly talk about Japan & Japanese.

As far as IDN drops there has been IDN drops since forever. It's only recently they have been in SnapNames.
Just as you say there needs to be people who are reliable in the target market, realize that there are bilingual, trilingual individuals that post here & other forums.

ASCII dot com is not the cheapest at most registries in Japan. Currently because IE7 is coming out the Japan Registry is doing major campaigns with domain registry sites putting IDN.jp at less than $10, & these are the domain registry sites many Japanese use.

Yahoo Japan, Google Japan, Goo are all IDN friendly & Yahoo & Goo have had press releases to announce when they went IDN friendly.

Even though all of this info doesn't get published in English, it does in Japanese. It's just natural progression that's happening. Is it going to flood our domains with traffic overnite? No.

IE was the biggest thing holding back the use of IDNs. Use of other browsers in Japanese is relatively low. I have ASCII based Japanese sites & IE use is about 95% to 97%.

As far as some people having bad domains, well. Like someone wrote above, it happens in English all the time. Anyone who plans to invests that is not familiar with the language I strongly suggest to stick to generic commercial terms initially.

Most have accepted it's become another part of domaining. Instead of trying to down it, look at the facts we present, the biggest is that companies are working hard towards IDN compatibility. And with the facts, it has to be facts that pertain to the markets that IDNs will be used.

[Acro]

More reasons why IDN's are evil:
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/200...resale_market/

And:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6099370.stm

[Olney]

Acroplex
What is so evil about a domain name in someone's native language?
Every technology has downsides
Spam, virus', hackers

For people looking forward to the IDN market, it's mainly based on the fact that people will be able to use domains in their native language.
Chinese, Japanese, Korean don't have to worry about phishing domains but users can finally get domains they can easily remember & not misspell all the time.

The benefits don't affect the English market at all. It affects those of us who are in foreign markets. By your standards email should be deemed evil too. 85% of my email is Spam, that's how they send phishing domains. Would we get rid of email because there's so much Spam?

Think about the use, seriously. No matter what you hear or think. Remembering things in English letters is not easy for the entire world. People want to do things in their own language above anything else.

My replies are not to inspire you to ever invest in the market, but at least respect that the IDN market is progressing.