DNJournal Reporting

[dnjon]

In early June I made a submission to the Letters to the Editor page of DNJournal. I waited several months but the page was never updated and Ron Jackson has recently informed me that the page will soon be eliminated.

The letter read:

>>>

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Conference Reporting

I am sorry to see the self-congratulatory cultism of Rick Schwartz's private domain board spill over into DNJournal reporting, i.e. the photo caption "Celebrated domain attorney John Berryhill."

Late last year I had a bad experience with Berryhill and was subsequently thrown off Schwartz's board and banned from TRAFFIC conferences for having the audacity to defend myself against attacks related to my reporting of it. Cults don't like people who criticize "celebrated" members of the group as the presence of such "celebrities" helps to reinforce the collective illusion of superiority which makes membership appealing.

While I don't deny that Schwartz and Berryhill have made valuable contributions to the domain industry - and many board members are nice people who don't necessarily approve of everything that goes on there - such uncritical reporting at DNJournal may contribute to a slowdown in the domain market if the larger business community comes to recognize and reject this cultism, as it very well may.

You can be the "Domain Industry News Magazine" or the "Rick Schwartz Cult-Board News Magazine." You can't be both.

<<<

Jon Schultz
Las Vegas

 

[Poker]

Ruh Roh

 

[DomainFatigue]

opcorn:

 

[actnow]

I don't know if any of the facts/comments listed above are true.

However, I don't think it would be good for our industry for the DNJ to become the
"national inquirier" of the domain industry.

Duke has done an excellent job of keeping us informed. As well as informing the
outside world in a professional format the successes of the domain industry.

As a professional journalist, he has done an excellent job of covering the news
as it happens.

DNJon, you have access to all of the different domain forums (except Traffic Forum), so put your gripe there about Berryhill and Schwartz.

But, don't try to make the DNJ the bad guy because he wouldn't let his publication
become your soapbox.

 

[ShaunP]

Big 'ditto'! Ron does a awesome job and is a great source of information about the goings on in the domain business. DNJournal.com is NOT the place for the petty hissy fits that are constantly featured on the many forums.

Shaun

 

[Duke]

This is the dictionary definition of the word "celebrated":

adjective: widely known and esteemed

I think the vast majority of people in this industry would agree with me that that is an accurate description of John Berryhill. The term does not mean someone is unanimously esteemed - I don't think anyone on the planet fits that bill - it just means someone is held in high regard by many people.

If Mr. Schultz wants to complain about someone, it's a free country but DNJournal is not going to be a party to these kinds of personal disputes.

As I told Mr. Schultz when he emailed me, we are going to replace the Letters to the Editor section with a new section (one focusing on ICANN which should be up within the next 30 days). The Letters section was never very active and a lot of what we received was this kind of personal diatribe against one person or another, so I decided to replace it with a topic that should provide more value to our readers.

 

[dnjon]

I wasn't criticizing Mr. Jackson for not publishing the letter. I simply posted the letter here after it became apparent there was no chance it would be published there.

In general I agree that he does an excellent job with DNJournal. But if he wants the site to be taken seriously by the business community then he needs to maintain journalistic objectivity and not be a fawning admirer of Schwartz and other "DN luminaries" who are certainly not heros to everyone.

 

[David G]

I know from experience with Duke that he has very strong journalistic integrity and can say he would not favor anyone and not be objective. Forums are OK for complaining but not industry journals which are mostly for news, facts and industry articles to contribute to knowledge.

 

[dnjon]

Well, I don't think Mr. Jackson was very objective in his evaluation of my letter, which he dismissed as a "personal diatribe."

It is a personal diatribe. When someone who has done things that have had deleterious effects in your life, unjustifiably in your opinion, is lauded in a public article, it's only natural to launch a personal diatribe.

But it is more than a personal diatribe, containing general statements about the nature of Schwartz's board and the TRAFFIC organization he largely controls - a subject which DNJournal has been reporting on - so I think Mr. Jackson would have considered it worthy of publication if he truly were objective (and wasn't discontinuing the page).

I can't remember one statement in any DNJournal article on TRAFFIC that mentions it is a private group with membership totally dependent on whether Schwartz likes you. Period.

I'm not the only person who has been ejected from the group for no good reason. I personally feel bad that I didn't complain and quit the group in protest when the "Domain King" ejected Hal Meyers, and from what I understand (I wasn't reading the board for quite some time while I was technically a member) quite a number of people have been ejected for very arbitrary reasons.

Yes, it is a private board, and Schwartz has a legal right to admit and exclude whomever he pleases. But those of us who live in the more democratic countries expect our government to guarantee us a certain degree of freedom of speech, and to belong to any group that affords its members less is something of a step backwards in terms of civilization, in my opinion.

But of course Mr. Jackson can't comment on anything that goes on in Schwartz's exclusive little club - since he's a member and members are prohibited from discussing what goes on there. Can any reporter objectively report on a private, secretive cult that he or she is a member of?

So again I think Mr. Jackson needs to disassociate himself from this group if he wants DNJournal to be taken seriously by the wider business community.

 

[TheLegendaryJP]

Maybe it's just human nature but Id like to know wth happened ?

I used to be a member there as well btw opcorn:

 

[StockDoctor]

dnjon It's Rick's private forum and Traffic is his tradeshow. He can do what he wants. It's Ron's DNjournal and he can write what he wants. If he chooses to celebrate whatever he sees as successes in this industry, that's up to him. He's a nice guy.

Now, there's plenty of negative stuff in this industry to report if someone is so inclined, and it might be a very good thing for domainers to hear and discuss further, and independent of any influences. Now someone taking on the publishing of such a report might face the wrath and legal threats by those mentioned, but it also might make fun reading. Maybe someone should do that, but I don't think Rick or Ron will or should take on that task.

 

[hugegrowth]

For my part I really enjoy reading everything at dnjournal and reading about those conferences. Is anybody else even writing a similar journal, or holding these types of domain events? Since it's his journal he can write whatever he wants, if people don't like it they don't have to read it. Its like complaining about a tv show or a song you don't like, just turn it off then.

 

[Dale Hubbard]

It's like newspapers -- if you don't like the flavour of the editorial, read another one.

 

[seanboy]

I don't know much about this situation, but being a newbie, dnjournal was the first website that I found that had really good info on the domain name business, and it helped me to get started. It also led me to this forum, which has caused me to lose a ton of sleep lately :yawn:

 

[JEsports]

The simple fact is that for those who cannot or choose not to attend the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Conference, DNJournal's reporting provides the most available indepth look of the highlights that took place. I commend and appreciate these efforts provided by Duke greatly as I am sure the majority of the community does as well.

 

[Ian]

I just love reading the DNJournal and would not discredit the publisher for anything. It is only at the DNJournal that newbies who want to enter the domain industry gain knowledge through reading what goes on in the world of domains. I wonder where I would have been without indepth reports and feature stories by the DNJournal!! Keep up the good work Ron!!

 

[Biggie]

dnjon

you can always start you own private board and your own domain news service, promote and sponsor your own conventions.

add one more fixture to the net...if you will.

i personally, don't think this is the place to discuss those personal issues.

and really ..... who cares?

i doubt if you'll get anyone here to dispute the work that duke has done to propel dnjournal to the status level it has acheived.

as is, he is OUR guy
he reports about the things we do
the money we make and the domains we sell
reports on whats going on in this industry

not who's hating on who, in the dn world.


having a "squabble" section there, would dilute the substance of the content.

imo...


squash it and move on!

good luck

 

[dnjon]

Please don't criticize me for things I didn't say. See my Post #7 above.

 

[Biggie]

Please don't criticize me for things I didn't say. See my Post #7 above.

ok

the site is already being taken seriously, as it has been quoted by several major newspapers including Chicago SunTimes, where they used a bar graph to show the recent prices of some "high priced" domain sales. The credited source was "dnjournal.com". The story was in the Business section.

 

[actnow]

it has been quoted by several major newspapers including Chicago SunTimes....
The credited source was "dnjournal.com".

Did they also quote ?

:greenbiggrin: