Why Roger Collins Brought Afternic Back from the Afterlife - New at DNJournal.com

[Duke]

Here is an interesting new Cover Story at Domain Name Journal (especially for horror fans )

DOMAIN INDUSTRY GHOSTBUSTER:
WHY ROGER COLLINS BROUGHT AFTERNIC BACK FROM THE AFTERLIFE

Register.com paid 48 Million Dollars for Afternic.com in 2000.
Just 2 years later, they threw in the towel and sold it for what was pocket change in comparison.
Did new owner Roger Collins get the deal of the century, or will he be trapped in the haunted house too?

Read It Here

 

[izopod]

As always top notch work Duke! I enjoyed the article. I've always wanted to know a little more about the guy who had the "brass cahonus" to buy Afternic.com. It does seem the site is generating some decent sales which will bode well for them.

 

[stuff]

Nice work again.

 

[Sharpy]

Nice read Duke, thanks.

 

[Duke]

I just noticed the Voxtreme server that dnjournal.com is on is down this morning. Sorry for the inconvenience to those trying to access the site. Please try again later. Their uptime record is good so I doubt they will be down long. I told you there were some spooky things going on with this whole Afternic story.

 

[actnow]

Duke,

"You're back in the game." Your server is up again.

 

[actnow]

Duke,
Excellent article. Now, I have a whole different opinion of Afternic.

I wish Roger Collins the best of luck with his new company. He will be successful with Afternic.

 

[izopod]

One thing for sure is that there are some inherent risks involved in taking over a badly damaged brand, however if you are "good" and can revive it's image, the payoffs can be worth every penny. The free press alone, which happens quite a bit after a brand has been revived, is worth some dinero.

IDEA: What would be nice if Roger might be available in this thread for some Q/A's. I know I have a few questions for him, and I'm sure others do to. The Q/A could then be added to the bottom of your story on Dnjournal.com.

Ah, the power you have with self-publishing!!!

 

[StockDoctor]

Hey Duke Great article.

I see another potentially great story brewing just in time for the 4th of July. The "Declaration of Independence" of the .US namespace from the .com king.

Hope you consider that one. Doc

 

[izopod]

Originally posted by Stocdoctor
Hey Duke Great article.

I see another potentially great story brewing just in time for the 4th of July. The "Declaration of Independence" of the .US namespace from the .com king.

Hope you consider that one. Doc

The "King" is Dead

July 4, 2003 - DNJournal.com Wire
by izopod on special assignment

Today on "XXForum.xx" domainers around the country signed a declaration of independence from the dot com TLD. From this day forward, no domainer must suffer under the ruling TLD. No more will they have to pay thousands of dollars for a "decent" name that would even make Bill Gates blush. No more will they have to hide their .US property in the "back houses" waiting for the day to become accepted in the community. The time is now, the time is today, that men of great character and faith will rise up and proudly display their Dot US names. This day shall be remembered as the day domainers stood up for the common good of our country. They said:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all domains are created equal, that they are endowed by ICANN with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

 

[Duke]

Roger Collins had some interesting comments on .US and the other new extensions that I was not able to use in the article as they didn't fit into the flow of the story, put I can post them here as an addendum to the DNJ piece.

After buying 400 .US domains in the Land Rush you would think Roger must be a major flagwaver for the new extension. He did see it as a worthwhile long term investment (as I do), but he doesn't appear to be expecting a lot in the way of short term gains. Here is a quote from his interview:


"I think it is going to take a long time before the public gets use to the new TLDs. We used to operate ChangeNotes.com on Watchit.us, but we abandoned it because it was just too soon for .us. We did not want to take on the mission of teaching the public that .us was really a web address. Let bigger companies tackle that marketing problem.

Maybe I don’t understand the “new TLD” controversy, but I do not see a need for new extensions. I’d rather new webmasters find a unique name by adding letters on the left side of the dot rather than the infrastructure and trademark holders go to great expense to add letters on the right side of the dot. - Roger Collins



I personally think we do need new namespace on the right side of the dot as the .com space has become exhausted and overly expensive for anything approaching a good name, but I certainly respect Roger's opinion.