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Kaiser77

Regular Member
If you buy a block of land and hold it for a while you're a "smart investor".

BUT

If you buy a domain name and hold it you're a "cybersquatter".

I don't hear anyone complaining about "property squatters", then again hypocrites always knock that which they don't understand.

Is there a hypocrites forum we can post on??


K77.
 

Shane

Top Contributor
There is a difference in my view, but I don't want to get into another debate about it! :)
 

James

Top Contributor
Think the big difference is if you are buying trademark domains or misspellings then you are a cyber squatter.

But if you buy generic non brand names and sit on them then you are just an investor, I don't get the BS how people can label people who buy and hold generic cybersquatters.
 

Billy01

Top Contributor
Complete Rubbish

We had mastershardware.com purchased well before they had decided on a name I just turned the W upside down and had a punt. SAme with us owning mysuper.org and superstream.org. Its called domaining
 

DavidL

Top Contributor
Yeah it frustrates me that most people don't see the parallels

The true analogy is buying land and buying domains rather than property. The property comparison can be made with domains with a website.

people complain that Domainers hold domains and do nothing with them forcing some poor business to choose another name (or heaven forbid buy their preferred domain rather than get it for free)

But the same people don't have an issue with property or land investors buying up real-estate which pushes up prices and makes home unaffordable for home buyers.

Which is worse? Poor business has to pony up a couple of hundred for a decent domain nAme or a family never being able to fulfil their dream of owning their home...
 

snoopy

Top Contributor
Regarding all this I'd say the two big factors are the following,

-TM infringements which have flow on effects on the whole industry. I'd say the average person on the street would see domaining as an occupation with a trust factor comparable it to real estate agents, lawyers, used car salesman etc. Lets face it lots of us have at least one problematic name.

-Some people might hold chunks of land to speculate, develop etc but that is quite different to the domain industry where maybe 50% of the market (just a guess) is held by speculators who bought something for $20 and then ask $10,000 (me included). If you drove down the average suburban street and every second block was sitting idle waiting to be resold and had been that way for years people would probably be up in arms about that also.

I would say the following: accept the public perception for what it is because I don't think it will ever change, the reason for it is this industry, not outside forces. Just look at the last week, two major pieces of news, MirandaKerr.com.au and InvestmentProperty.com.au. Half the news stories about this industry are in relation to fairly obvious squats and the other half is about people making a lot of money, that doesn't make for an industry with a good public perception.
 

cherrytron

Top Contributor
-Some people might hold chunks of land to speculate, develop etc but that is quite different to the domain industry where maybe 50% of the market (just a guess) is held by speculators who bought something for $20 and then ask $10,000 (me included). If you drove down the average suburban street and every second block was sitting idle waiting to be resold and had been that way for years people would probably be up in arms about that also.

Some interesting points Snoop, but consider this ... there is no "average street" in domain names. Often times there's "the only property I want in a specific street, in a specific suburb" something like "wheelbarrows.com.au, a specific niche, in a specific industry" there can be only one. With such finite property, domainers should have the nerve to sit on it and demand ridiculous amounts. Finite blocks of land like that rarely exist on the average street - just buy next door :)

Also, in before hyphenation and .net, you can't hyphenate a block of land either.

:)
 

Shane

Top Contributor
I would say the following: accept the public perception for what it is because I don't think it will ever change, the reason for it is this industry, not outside forces. Just look at the last week, two major pieces of news, MirandaKerr.com.au and InvestmentProperty.com.au. Half the news stories about this industry are in relation to fairly obvious squats and the other half is about people making a lot of money, that doesn't make for an industry with a good public perception.

I couldn't agree more.

Domainers and online marketers (I hate that term!) are never going to win awards for Australian of the year or whatever. Despite what we may think, the generally public will never see us as an industry that adds value, and we'll always be seen as a little shady.

I was a financial adviser up until earlier this year and I'm still in the industry via my websites. Despite being a massive industry employing tens of thousands of people and involving big household name companies, financial advisers are still seen as being 'a bit dodgy' by many people.

Despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of Australians have benefited hugely from good financial advice there's still a bad perception about the industry due to misconceptions about commissions, memories of the old insurance agents from the eighties, and of course the more recent dramas with mobs like Storm Financial.

Financial advisers will be seen as professionals long before domainers are, and I don't think it's particularly close for either of them to be honest!

Like Snoopy said, just accept it because this is how it's going to be for a long time. If you think you're doing good, then keep doing good and don't give a stuff about what others think.
 

Chris.C

Top Contributor
The general public will never see us as an industry that adds value
That's because, by enlarge, we don't. No social value is created by my owning the domain prior to a business that sells the product. No social value is created by my shitter site out ranking a business site because I know better SEO.

Despite being a massive industry employing tens of thousands of people and involving big household name companies, financial advisers are still seen as being 'a bit dodgy' by many people.
That's because, by enlarge, they are a bit dodgy. For advisors that don't make their income from hourly fees they need to give their clients suboptimal advice and sell suboptimal products.

Despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of Australians have benefited hugely from good financial advice there's still a bad perception about the industry due to misconceptions about commissions, memories of the old insurance agents from the eighties, and of course the more recent dramas with mobs like Storm Financial.
People are emotional beings, not rational. People often care about the "how" more than the "outcome". Ie a financial advisor may improve someone's financial position, but they will do it with their own interests taking precedence. That's what the public hates.

It's the same things people are lashing out at bankers and government for, ie institutions prioritising their self interest above their social obligations. In good times these institutions are happy to take accolades of "serving the public" but in bad times their line of thinking is "you're on your own".

It's just human nature... and 99.9% of us are all the same at heart.

Like Snoopy said, just accept it because this is how it's going to be for a long time. If you think you're doing good, then keep doing good and don't give a stuff about what others think.
Agreed - and if you're not doing good - it's best to keep lying to yourself because the reality will just depress you unless you are a psychopath.

:D

And if my assessment does depress you, just know there is nothing WRONG with being a middle man in the short run - middle men in many cases are necessary because markets are inefficient due to asymmetric information (perfect markets require perfect knowledge), but with time markets generally become more efficient and middlemen will be squeezed out.

Both domainers and financial planners are likely to become smaller industries over time.
 

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