Domaining - War of the Words
Am I the only one who thinks that there is a Quality and Grand war going on in the domaining world?
Don’t worry if you don’t know what this post is about… its best if you don’t, really.
I’m so glad that am all the way over here in Europe, so the chances of any stray bullets hitting me are very remote. Well that’s what I would want to believe anyway.
Its approaching winter here in the United kingdom, so I can’t afford to take the gloves off now 
Come on now guys, this is getting a bit ridiculous. You know who you are. Ease the tension.
I once watched a very interesting documentary on the Discovery channel. It was a about all species of animals living in the wild in Africa. There was a drought, and the rivers and lakes were slowly drying up. The crocodiles, hippopotamuses, lions and all the wild animals you could think of, started converging on the last remaining lake. The animals subsequently went into survival mode and each started defending a certain territory. Eventually only the strongest survived.
It would seem like we are fighting over very limited resources here in the domain industry. Too many sellers and just a few buyers. I have been blogging about the need to market domains to end-users for a long time now. What people don’t seem to realise is that we domainers are ALL just a bunch of losers operating in an “exclusive” circle, trying to sell to each other. And our rivers and lakes are drying up, fast.
The domainer-to-domainer sale machinery is losing speed real fast, and with no one making the slightest effort to reach end-users, everyone is now feeling the pinch in what President-elect Barack Obama calls “the biggest economic challenge of a lifetime”.
It would even appear that some are even firing bullets in my direction. Personally speaking, it would appear that some of my blog posts have been misunderstood, and some are getting increasingly and unnecessarily confrontational. What is going on?
Let me just say, and say it in peace… there is a BIG difference between web design and web development. Also, branding goes much further beyond simply setting up a website.
Keep the peace guys. Kiss and make up. At the end of the day, domainers who make mistakes will eventually have to learn either the easy way or the hard way. People eventually have to sit up and take notice when their bank accounts continuously bleed cash and receive no pleasure in return.
I better get in an air raid shelter now, fast!!!
November 8th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
That was entertaining to say the least! I read your post first and then realized he had to have posted something. I put the issue past me a day or two after it started. It’s quite sad he feels he needs to resort to slander and lies.
Anyway, thanks Kevin for the wake up call.
November 8th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
This is some funny shit!! Keep it going. Now that the US elections are over, this is just the humour we need. Mark we are waiting for your reply to Frager.
November 8th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
About that war you’re talking about i don’t know what it is, so i won’t say a thing. About the rest i agree, and i’ve commented here before, and i know you agree, things are very different when domains are being sold among domainers, or when they’re sold to end users.
I’ve seen a recent example of this, among domainers a domain with an hyphen has very little value, except for the new l-l-l fever. For end users hyphens seem to have good value, because the domain is easier to read, and the example is mercedes-benz.tv
It appears that Mercedes has bought mercedes-benz.tv and mercedesbenz.tv, but they have choosen to use the domain with the hyphen because it’s easier to read, the other domain is just to redirect.
When i talk to people who are out of the domaining world, they think the same thing, hyphens are better because it’s easier to read. Another example where the mind of end users is totally different from domainers and their established set of rules.
November 8th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Lol, talk about being childish.
Guys, relax. It’s a big world out there with opportunities for both of you - there is absolutely no need for either of you to feel cramped or to feel like you have competition from each other’s “marketplace” - domainers should stick together instead of trying to undermine each other in paranoid fear of being outtrumped… as if.
Just get over it and move on.
John
November 8th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
what I want to know is why it took Frager almost a whole month to reply. Did the man really carry vengeance all these weeks?
November 8th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
[...] An ugly war has broken out in the domainersphere between Mark Fulton and Owen Frager. Mark states that Owen’s GrandNames is a “Grand Waste“; Owen gives a “thumbs down” to Mark’s blog and his AQDN marketplace. I can’t begin to express how disturbed and sad I am that this war has erupted in our domainer family. Others agree with me. [...]
November 8th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
re: “What’s going on”…
Markets work on liquidity… less ppc revenue means fewer domainer-to-domainer deals get done, and those that do get done at lower prices. That simple.
As for the Owen thing… I wouldn’t recommend taking the other side. He’s been around and really knows his stuff. Regardless of whether you like the domains he’s advertising, it’s all part of a larger strategy and I have no doubt he’ll make it work. That said, I’m more of a shoedepartment.com kind of guy myself.
November 8th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
As usual, Frager’s title is misleading if not altogether false. Gold ribbon panel of world’s smartest domainers? LOL. Typical Frager hype at it’s best.
He swiped a couple of quotes left on the dotsauce page by two of his cronies after inserting his own thoughts as if they were from this “panel of world’s smartest domainers”.
Holding a grudge, revenge, whatever you want to call it, this guy has issues!
November 9th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Shoedepartment.com may not generate any ppc rev if Frager didn’t link to it on his blog every day. Makes it sound like a business but it’s only a parking page.
November 9th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
This mess started with Fulton’s attack on grand names. The “slander and lies” were made by Fulton first.