Domain Regrets & Mistakes

[Busynic]

I don't dwell or lose sleep over things I can't change (no time for regrets). There are more opportunities today than there ever were yesterday. For some of us the lessons have to be repeated a few times before we "get it." Kudos to those who "get it."

The "could a been champions" syndrome makes for fun conversation over a BBQ steak and beer, but inevitably reduces to beer goggle tears........

Reinforcing what Poker said earlier - Each "mistake" has lead to a new path of discovery, less ignorance and more success.

Markets go up, markets go down - wisdom is not gifted by genes. Action makes heroes, and luck can make a person wise in hindsight. For me, the greatest lesson ever taught was patience (not to be confused with procrastination - the destroyer of more “potential fortunes” than any other single factor). Wisdom is an alignment of experiences (good and bad) given the time to organize themselves into gainful and meaningful conclusions.

I watched my business partner invest 400k in an online startup 5 years ago and recently sold it for 15m+. At the same time we invested in a another startup (offline). One succeeded and one didn't. Do I regret having money in the one that failed and no money in the one that succeeded - not at all. It made all the signals from the last 15 years come crashing home (how does it go “when the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear!!......... doh!)

I don't look at domain names the same way anymore.

In the same way as I don't regret purchasing beach front real estate 30 years ago in sleepy towns for small fractions of what they are worth today, I don't regret the names I did not buy in '90's....

With the historical benefit of cycles, pains, losses, and successes, I can now look forward to purchasing more names that are good value in today's dollars and may seem cheap in another 10 years or more.

It's an explosive industry. Full of every volatility in a market you could possibly hope for (including greed, fear, ignorance, arrogance, money, politics, complacency etc etc).

Great opportunities today, tomorrow and for years to come.

Onward and Upward!!

(BTW - Great thread Larry)

 

[lotk.com]

my 2 regrets so far... only being 22 and letting nosbisch.com (my last name) drop when I was in high school. But I can't complain too much, I've done decently well as this is just a hobby for me right now. Software engineering is my main passion.
Cheers!

 

[vip]

I can feel the pain Larry.

Many errrors including letting AEIOU.com and 7K.com expire because I did not want to pay the high NetSol renewal fees in the mid-90s.

Just wondering, how much was the renewal fees back then, trader?

Anyway, my BIGGEST regret of all was I did not register computers.com!

Stupid me. Stupid me. Stupid me.

 

[urbandomainer]

Oh I remember those days. It cost $100 yearly to renew and it took forever to register because the form was so long and there was no script that allowed for mutiple submissions, so we had to hand register each one individually!

Yup I am identifying fully. I registered about 20 and let a few go that I regret like earthcompany.com, but my biggest regret was not understanding what had more value than other names. I registered and held but not the ones I could have registered back then I could be financially well off by now. I did however, get a few decent ones like eworldnews.com, designweaver.com and financiallenders.com.
So all is well, actually I'm OK with it all because 10 years from now, I will be sitting back and saying good thing I had insight 10 years ago. Buy and Hold!

 

[Jacqueline]

I regret not registering my city's domain .com back when domains were no charge. I thought about it, checked and it was available, but then shrugged my shoulders figuring all I'd do with it was put in movie times or something, so I let it go. Google now shows over 9,000,000 searches per month average for the city. I kick myself all the time for this one.

 

[Sonny Banks]

My only regret is not to be born in Usa.

 

[David G]

Just wondering, how much was the renewal fees back then, trader?

Not sure about renewals but the reg fee was $70 for 2-yrs minimum from what i recall.

 

[Fatbat]

I got into the "internet game" in 96 but didn't understand the idea behind "generics" at the time (and some might say I still don't). I reg'd a bunch of interesting domains when you didn't have to actually pay for them to hold them for 30 days with Netsol. They would invoice you with a paper invoice in the mail... the domains would take up to a year to return to the public domain. At one point I had so many invoices arriving I would have to go the the post office to pick up the stacks (one invoice for one domain).

I had green garbage bags full of Netsol invoices. Of course I needed something like 30k to hold onto all the domains I had regged.

I missed the boat considering when I started. I just didn't have the smarts or the foresight.

 

[BLazeD]

People often regret not being around back in the day... but even if they were would they have registered good domains and held them? Maybe not.

I was around (and buying) when LLL.com were still $1-$2K and only got one of them - admitedly I was a student and that was a lot of money!

 

[MacyT.]

1) Selling some names too cheap
2) Not selling some names because I thought I could get higher prices than the offer
3) Not double checking that my auto renew is off on newbie hand regs I wanted to let drop.
4) Not developing certain names sooner
5) Being too gullible.
6) Being too skeptical.

 

[vip]

My only regret is not to be born in Usa.

DON'T.

.de is the most popular cctld in the world (look at .us now).
And besides, .com can be registered by anyone. Cheer up, carter!

Not sure about renewals but the reg fee was $70 for 2-yrs minimum from what i recall.

Hmm, I think I wouldn't pay that much either. I mean, back then, even your own family would think you as a total bonehead if you keep domain names for that kind of price.

Sigh... :disappointed::disappointed::disappointed:



"Another example of this is the word 'ringtones.' It is worth millions right now, but five years ago, it wasn't worth 50 bucks." -- Marc Ostrofsky, President of Internet REIT

 

[Sonny Banks]

DON'T.

.de is the most popular cctld in the world (look at .us now).
And besides, .com can be registered by anyone. Cheer up, carter!




Hmm, I think I wouldn't pay that much either. I mean, back then, even your own family would think you as a total bonehead if you keep domain names for that kind of price.

Sigh... :disappointed::disappointed::disappointed:



"Another example of this is the word 'ringtones.' It is worth millions right now, but five years ago, it wasn't worth 50 bucks." -- Marc Ostrofsky, President of Internet REIT

Why .de?
I'm Italian not German.

 

[Commerce]

This really is an excellent thread. I think everyone has regrets in life, but the trick is to learn everything possible from the experience and move on without looking back in regret.

Life can be a roller coaster and it is hard to know exactly how to time things to fully take the best advantage of the ride.

Sometimes in retrospect, we can do crazy things to keep a dream alive. I know I have, but do I regret them? Not really, because at the time the choices made facilitated something else that was important.

My biggest regret is not doing better for my family than I have to date, but as I am still breathing, I still have opportunity and I am still working hard to reach my goals.

-Commerce

 

[Sonny Banks]

This really is an excellent thread. I think everyone has regrets in life, but the trick is to learn everything possible from the experience and move on without looking back in regret.

Life can be a roller coaster and it is hard to know exactly how to time things to fully take the best advantage of the ride.

Sometimes in retrospect, we can do crazy things to keep a dream alive. I know I have, but do I regret them? Not really, because at the time the choices made facilitated something else that was important.

My biggest regret is not doing better for my family than I have to date, but as I am still breathing, I still have opportunity and I am still working hard to reach my goals.

-Commerce

Great post Commerce.
The things you said are so true.

 

[vip]

Why .de?
I'm Italian not German.

It's just an example.

 

[Raider]

Parking with DS and not testing other parking programs, where I could of earned 8 times more... No exaggeration.