Constructive suggestions to get auction going.

[adoptabledomains]

Open post to Greg and programming staff.

Although it didn't work this week, it was a helluva try to get that going in a weeks time. The client looks good and on the one domain that auctioned it was a nice effort. I just thought I'd make a couple suggestions.

Postponement to Saturday
Since I placed domains that expire in a week, I"ll have to rethink whether I want to keep them up. Sounds like some others may want to do the same. With the way things went, it would be nice to open the list back up for everyone to adjust. Also, what happens to the $1 auction that was to be next week? is that a week later?

Saturday auctions
Sunday is a good time for me, but Saturday nights don't seem like a good auction time to get US bidders since it's somewhat of a "night out" for most people. Personally, I probably can't participate as a buyer if held on Friday or Saturday nights, as these are "family nights". With users here from all over the world, I even wonder if "live" auctions are the best way to go. Now if an ebay style auction existed with only 24 hours to bid, that might be a good compomise. Although it may still work fine with proxy bidding.

Java requirement
Seems with the perscentage of users using IE, the Java VM is not commonly installed by everyone. I know a lot of people scambled at the last minute, and I never could get IE to work and reverted to Netscape. For this to grow and get new buyers, I think it needs to cater to the lowest common denominator as for browser requirements.

Future $1 starts
Some may try this, but I think many won't risk it not knowing how many will show up. Maybe after some numbers are history, but I think maybe $25 max start may be better until proven. Maybe allow other prices, but start the auction with the lowest start bid first, so the $1 auctions would all go first.

Screen logistics
(after the current bugs are worked out)
I tried to have the chat window open, the auction page, the list of domains to be auctioned, and the main dnforum page. If I could see the queue of names in the auction window(scrollable), that would eliminate one window. If fully tested, I could get the forum window away. The shape of the auction and chat window was hard to fit on screen with the shapes that work best.

Testing
How about a couple weeks of beta tests with maybe 10-20 names per night to get the bugs worked out, before going to 200+ names?

Now for some postive's.

• A lot of us updated our computers and have re-tried Netscape.
• The chat worked pretty good with all those users. I'm sure it boosted chat users a whole bunch.
• The hype drew a crowd from the forum users, the largest ever on at once. (or was that an angry mob)
• From the crowd that gathered, it looks like there is viability of quick auctions from seller to seller.

Thanks for the effort, I look forward to seeing how this develops.

[com]

Its all nice, but the only thing that we need is a solid robust auction engine. If we dont have it, there will be nothing else. If we do, we can live with all the other minor details as they get polished.