11% of our recently dropped domains got picked up...

[Blossom]

I agree with the principle of what you say, but to be fair we've had to put up with quite a lot of bull from someone who isn't exactly living up to his billing while you've been away.

Sounds interesting, what did I miss?

Of course, as someone from a 'big 20' background I imagine you might be more "commercially minded" than several of us regarding management of the namespace.

Without wanting to derail the thread...It's always been hard for me because I have 'dual citizenship' I guess - loyalties to the community, loyalties to the people I work and have worked for. With the way things have worked out, it's messy enough without factoring Acorn and the domain community into the mix. Everything I post is my own opinion and I've never had any secret agendas. Nor have I ever been here to advertise or promote any specific services or companies (I may have recommended Moz at some point for SEO, I'm not sure, but there was literally nothing in that for me if I did).

Having said that, there have been times where I've had a bit of insider knowledge. It's never anything particularly huge, and it's even less frequent now I'm working for an independent company. I don't really have any strong opinions on how the namespace should be or is managed (largely because my work has been much more hosting-based than domain-based, and that's also true of most of the people I've worked with), and because I feel you guys are in a far better position to talk about that than I am. I have a personal interest in domain names, but I've not had any special treatment or used any information I had to give myself an advantage in any way. Happy to answer any questions around any of this (within contractual disclosure limits of course!) if anyone wants.