DropWizard on the WLS

[DropWizard.com]

I have just emailed the president of Dotster. It appears they have picked up the ball and are moving forward with the appeal to oppose the WLS. In addition they stated they are prepared to take legal action. I'm happy they're doing this. Their first response it appeared they were going to accept it. It seems to me this would be a good time to come forward and offer support financial, emotional or otherwise.

I'd hate for them to think they are in this battle by themselves.

If you fell as strongly against the WLS as I do let's start to organize. email me [email protected] subject WLS


DropWizard.com

 

[GeorgeK]

Dotster is definitely taking the leadership role. Folks should post at www.antiwls.org (I've made www.antiwls.com redirect there -- good job, Andrew), and also email [email protected] . For background reading, check out:

http://web.dotster.com/resources/wlsresponse.php

Sincerely,

George

 

[DropWizard.com]

Thanks George

I'd forgotten you'd set that site up. It would make an excellent place to get together on the issue.

If you need help with bandwidth or costs LMK we'll be glad to help



GordonDropWizard.com

 

[GeorgeK]

I think GregR of PerfectName.com donated the hosting, and Andrew (Bennoart) has done most of the installation work. I just type random thoughts to the DNSO GA mailing list, and other places, like a single monkey typing at a single typewriter....

 

[DropWizard.com]

like a single monkey typing at a single typewriter....

OK can I donate bannanas then

 

[clemzonguy]

How can we get this into the main stream news media? I know that ICANN was coming up for review by the goverment this fall I thought. Maybe this would only help it's case against them and they can simply disband it. I hate to fall victim to conspiracy theory but this just all just makes me more of a believer everyday.

 

[DropWizard.com]

How can we get this into the main stream news media?

This may sound stupid but I believe filing a class action lawsuit against ICAAN, Snap, NSI, Dept of Commerce & Various attorney generals for a huge amount of money would do it.

Oh yeah and add "mole" in for cheering them on!

 

I think RacerX said, "WLS is here, accept it and move on." Or I guess you guys can subsidize the legal industry to fight it, but only the lawyers win. Just like divorces.

 

[DropWizard.com]

Or I guess you guys can subsidize the legal industry

I guess you guys would rather subsidize NSI in a flagrant monopoly to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.

Pathetic

 

[Capt. Flash]

Originally posted by gmartfin


I guess you guys would rather subsidize NSI in a flagrant monopoly to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.

Pathetic

I do not want to come off the wrong way, but how do you justify "tens of millions of dollars". The only people that would use the proposed "WLS" are speculators, and given the collapse of the domain name resale market (even as reported on this site no more than a dozen names are "snapped Up" daily). I fail to see the math. Please educate me if I am mistaken. The snap name thing is about worthless, when a good name gets ready to expire, the current owner is bombarded with literally thousands of emails, hundreds of phone calls and actually have people show up to their home or office to acquire the name before it is actually dropped. And given the quality of the names that actually do get picked up I still do not see tens of millions of dollars.

 

and yet many of these domains still end up dropping and get picked up by the rrp players - whether that be snap, nw or someone else.

i would expect a largescale increase in pre-drop contacts to take place though once the wls bites - as if the wls slot is taken, your only chance is to do that whereas now there is always a "luck" element due to the choice of drop-get provider.

for anyone treating the domain game as a business, the wls slots become very important as this will be the only real mechanism for growth in the future. By the nature of domain speculation, even if the better names are taken people will still wls the junk in the same way it gets registered at drop time right now.

The venue changes, the game remains the same - and verisign prospers accordingly.

 

[DropWizard.com]

The venue changes, the game remains the same - and verisign prospers accordingly.

Exactly except the base cost will rise around 60-80 dollars extra along with all the stuff that gets taken that will never fall at all.

Take the number of .coms/nets

10% are really valuable

10% are probably worth having

take 20% of the com/net base and multiply it by $24 and then double it for the registrars take.

And even if they take it away after a year who will be left to compete?

 

[Capt. Flash]

I don't know, but if I look at it in a statistical manner, as time goes on fewer and fewer names are likely to drop. At present most of the names dropping now are the ones purchased during "the Bubble". When individuals are unable to sell the names they thought would bring them thousands of dollars and do not want to shell out the cash to renew, they let them expire, so a speculators steps in and grab them as they drop. A speculator is not likely to let them drop a second time. Therefore, since there is really a fixed number of names that can realistically be resold for a profit, the number of quality "re-sellable" dropped names will shrink year after year. Now factor in the potential buyers. Since major corporations and established businesses have the name or names they want. It seems reasonable that only start up ventures would be the only ones interested in purchasing a dropped domain name. With the current state of the world economy and the lack of start up investment capital available for internet ventures, I doubt any large amount of money will be paid for any name, ever. Therefore, I do not believe NSI will be able to make any profit from a "WLS". If one takes the time to research NSI, they will find their numbers really suck, this is validated by the current price of the stock. They now also have severe credibility problems in the investment community. There only answer to boost the bottom line seems to be to find new ways to collect fees. Their history indicate that they will price the WLS "out of business" and eventually the WLS will go away. I can see NSI charging 200.00 to 300.00 for a name. I mean really, what registrar has the balls to charge 200.00 for a 48 hour transfer and purposely make it impossible to do a alternative normal transfer. What would you pay for a WLS slot?

 

[DropWizard.com]

To put it bluntly I don't feel like having my business F***ed with while NSI plays around whether they make 10's of millions or they make nothing.

As to whether names contimue dropping I think its likely. Although I take your point about speculators buying up large portfolios.

 

your point is mirrored by reality stockpilot, in that as time has gone by the overall "vanity" drop quality is diminishing, but when you look at the volume of dropped names that are reregged it seems the quality threshold has also decreased alongside it.

As long as people are happy to register the lesser vanity names and chase the traffic names (which are continually being created regardless of the base domain quality), there will remain a market for the wls and it will be substantial by the nature of the volumes currently sitting in the limbo between expiry and deletion.

 

[DropWizard.com]

in that as time has gone by the overall "vanity" drop quality is diminishing

Has it ? I wonder.

The second the WLS was announced the overall quality and quantity dropped substantially.

I think is the real answer here is NSI and other registrars hoarding .

 

Why would you ever drop a name now? Why wouldn't every registrar start their own after-market services? There is nothing prohibiting this behavior, and it would only cost $6 a domain to the registrar rather than $24 to let them auto-renew and then resell.

-t

 

[Domain]

Originally posted by thewitt
Why would you ever drop a name now? Why wouldn't every registrar start their own after-market services? There is nothing prohibiting this behavior, and it would only cost $6 a domain to the registrar rather than $24 to let them auto-renew and then resell.

-t

Exactly!

A Registrar will just "partner" (probably own) with a business that will buy up its dropping names. They will know the exact details on all the expiring names with that registrar. Those names will never see the WLS. An inside job if you will. It happens now but will probably become much more prevalent when the WLS starts up.

 

[mole]

Originally posted by thewitt
auto-renew and then resell.

renewing is one thing, being able to resell is another different story.

Insider jobs will happen in one form or another, and the only solution is when people see little value in those names and let it drop accordingly.

I think this whole rukus about the WLS has only served to fuel the fire in everyone on to the supposed value of dropped names.

 

[Capt. Flash]

Mr. Mole makes a point that is my argument, once a speculator picks up a dropped name who is going to buy it from the speculator? Why did this potential customer not want the name for the last two years before it dropped? How much is this customer going to pay? I tracked and put the snap on SEA.com just before it dropped it was renewed. The owner told me that their company got so many emails that he had to change his whois email to direct the traffic away from company servers. He claimed that people called daily. And that two different people came to their office. So that tells me only mediocre names are likely to drop. who is going to buy these mediocre names from speculators? Where is the value in the "WLS"?