The Giant domain Ponzi scheme run by ICANN & co and why I stopped regging domains.

[italiandragon]

I started domaining between 2005 and 2006 and got really excited (about the future) and a little frustrated about the missed opportunities of just few years earlier.

Soon enough though, new extensions came out, first .ws , .travel, .tel, then anything else.

I loved the ccTlds, coming from a country where its own ccTLd was and is the best way to go, over .com but could not really understand the various .travel, .tel and .whatever

Except thinking that it was just a giant cash cow for ICANN, the registries and the registrars. We, registrants, were the lemons to squeeze.

In my opinion, they lowered the value of the few good extensions, created confusions among endusers and just laughed all the way to the bank.

Moreover, on the side, the other sharks, aka dropcatcher companies, were joining the party trying to get a piece of the cake.

I'm disgusted by ICANN's work.

[katherine]

The ccTLDs and established gTLD like .com or .org aren't really affected, personally I continue to invest in those extensions (that are actually selling) and I ignore the background noise. There is no shortage of gullible people and fanboys as people don't do their homework and never learn from the past, sad and funny at the same time. Sure it's a money-making scheme with many losers and few winners. Like the casino in fact

[ksinclair]

Disgusted? Your attitude is very inefficient and wasting of your energy.

Your goal is to make money (and/or improve the world). Whatever options are presented to you,
you maximize your chance of success. You work hard. Maybe you are disgusted too that you started
so late? Or you would like a time machine to the early 1990's?

You adjust, as markets change.

I started domaining between 2005 and 2006 and got really excited (about the future) and a little frustrated about the missed opportunities of just few years earlier.

Soon enough though, new extensions came out, first .ws , .travel, .tel, then anything else.

I loved the ccTlds, coming from a country where its own ccTLd was and is the best way to go, over .com but could not really understand the various .travel, .tel and .whatever

Except thinking that it was just a giant cash cow for ICANN, the registries and the registrars. We, registrants, were the lemons to squeeze.

In my opinion, they lowered the value of the few good extensions, created confusions among endusers and just laughed all the way to the bank.

Moreover, on the side, the other sharks, aka dropcatcher companies, were joining the party trying to get a piece of the cake.

I'm disgusted by ICANN's work.

[Banned: Raider]

[Theo]

Definition of a ponzi scheme here.

No-one forces anyone to invest in anything, definitely not ICANN.

[katherine]

Except thinking that it was just a giant cash cow for ICANN, the registries and the registrars. We, registrants, were the lemons to squeeze.

In the news today:
ICANN Board Approves Renewal Of Verisign Contract To Run .Com for Another 6 Years

[DomainsInc]

In the news today:
ICANN Board Approves Renewal Of Verisign Contract To Run .Com for Another 6 Years

What i really hate is that for every hike verisign does, the registrars double it.

[Theo]

What i really hate is that for every hike verisign does, the registrars double it.

They don't double it but they surely round it up.

[Johnn]

There are ton of candy stores out there. Not much you can who will open the store.

Just come in the store that you want to buy. Simplify your life.

Make it difficult will increase the chance of getting prostate cancer!

[Theo]

Make it difficult will increase the chance of getting prostate cancer!

Get your domainer colonoscopy, John

[Johnn]

The GoDaddy girls check it for me once a year when I renew my domains.

[Anthony Ng]

In my opinion, they lowered the value of the few good extensions, created confusions among endusers and just laughed all the way to the bank.

To be fair, it's rational to expand into an exponentially much bigger market. Yes, existing products may suffer a bit along the way, but that's inevitable. More importantly, whichever new gTLDs making it through will be "good" extensions; so even if .COM is "damaged" as a result, so be it.

I do have some problem with ICANN operating in a commercialized model, but until we tear down Capitalism, there's really very little we can do when even governments (or more accurately, the state) have to "kowtow". On the other hand, I have full confidence in the ordinary people, who have been quick to adapt from fax to email to laptop, and now to social media and smartphones. CHANGE will only be more frequent and vigorous when we move ahead into the brave new era. The tranquility of the 1950s (or the illusion of it) was a thing of the past. Embrace for impact.

[italiandragon]

Definition of a ponzi scheme here.

No-one forces anyone to invest in anything, definitely not ICANN.

Neither Madoff did.

[italiandragon]

Disgusted? Your attitude is very inefficient and wasting of your energy.

Your goal is to make money (and/or improve the world). Whatever options are presented to you,
you maximize your chance of success. You work hard. Maybe you are disgusted too that you started
so late? Or you would like a time machine to the early 1990's?

You adjust, as markets change.

Don't worry, I have taken the right direction towards being financially better: stop wasting money on new domain registrations.

[cbk]

All and all the new tlds will be the death of the .com, maybe not the complete death but a slow dying death once new tld's established in years to come. The default will not be the .com anymore, the name will be the default. .homes will have a much stronger reach than homes.com as an example. Google already knows that.

[DomainsInc]

All and all the new tlds will be the death of the .com, maybe not the complete death but a slow dying death once new tld's established in years to come. The default will not be the .com anymore, the name wille the default. .homes will have a much stronger reach than homes.com as an example. Google already knows that.

why?

[KING dot NET]

The new gTLDs is just part of domain name business cycle.

ICANN started small, now available for companies with deep pocket. I will not be surprise it will be available to everyone, ICANN being the registry. Who knows, time will tell.

[Anthony Ng]

The new gTLDs is just part of domain name business cycle.

ICANN started small, now available for companies with deep pocket. I will not be surprise it will be available to everyone, ICANN being the registry. Who knows, time will tell.

True. Regardless of how often ICANN is criticized for being incompetent, it is probably the best we could get, in terms of commercialization and bureaucracy. Under this framework, ICANN shall not only expand (making more money, by e.g. pushing new products) and justify its existence, but also facilitate OTHERS to make money (registrars, registries, etc). HOWEVER, let's not lose sight of TECHNOLOGY whose advancement in leaps and bounds makes all these money-making opportunities possible. Remember how the music industry TOTALLY "reinvented" its distribution and delivery model in just YEARS? Denial and resistance is futile. I too will not be surprised that this new gTLD thingy will be even more widely available (if not to just everyone), because if it does not, the domain name system itself might lose its competitive edge, and become irrelevant when other protocols take over.

[katherine]

ICANN is supposed to be a non profit, but when you look at the salaries paid to top management they look more like verisign.
In fact ICANN is working for itself and its partners, not for the registrants. It's crony capitalism exercised by a monopoly with little oversight.
The recent archery disaster is bound to generate more lawsuits, I think words like incompetence and recklessness do apply here and are not too harsh. Now will somebody be accountable for this mess ? If not then it looks more like government in action.
Sometimes I think we are in the wrong business.

[Theo]

Neither Madoff did.

I fail to see the correlation. Unless you invest in ICANN stock and were defrauded? Apples and oranges.