Early post-mortem on MeetDomainers Manchester

[jasman]

I know .com space has a professional organisation representing it but that's a much larger market. I think it was tried for .uk but never got anywhere. It will be an enormous burden, in terms of money and time, to run and why should the onus be put back on us. Is there any evidence to suggest that large portfolio owners (i.e. the people she was speaking to) are the ones giving Nominet staff abuse?

But there is a cheaper way of setting up an organisation. How about - from today all 'exclusive' members of acorn are automatically members of the UK Professional Domainers Association (UKPDA) and you Edwin have been nominated to be our spokesperson

If such a professional organisation were to be set up, especially if membership fees were required, it should not only be to police ourselves but also to stand up for ourselves in an industry increasingly dominated by big and powerful interests. It should offer real tangible benefits to its members, to counterbalance the restrictions we would voluntarily impose on ourselves, after all if we are its members and we are paying for it, we should be its main beneficiaries.

Lobbying activities, a stronger influence with Nominet similar to that enjoyed by registrars, access to resources to assist members with legal threats and domain hijacking, bulk-buying discounts for certain services like PRSS for members, higher PPC rates from being able to negotiate as a group who can collectively bring in a lot of business to PPC providers etc etc... these kinds of benefits would be similar to those offered by other trade groups, and if our membership would increase our revenues, reduce our costs and afford us greater protection from opportunist lawyers and the like, if membership would effectively pay for itself from the benefits conferred, then of course we would all gladly join and we would all be better off as a consequence.

 

[GreyWing]

Thanks Rob and Edwin

Helps us understand the context i.e. it wasn't part of a prepared speech

But as I said before there's nothing anyone can do to control loose cannons. At the end of the day they usually come unstuck.

Sorry to disagree Nigel but it's all well and good to call these people loose cannons but you have no idea what has gone on behind the scenes on most occasions.

To condemn them without remembering the contempary reasons or placing them in context is very simple to do, but wrong.

There might be a few people here who like to voice off, but what you are not remembering is that Nominet at that time never answered one question on Nomsteer to the members. That's just one example, but that argument for me is over and not going back into everything.

So there are plenty of good reasons why people might have been loose.

Back to the auction, very good job from James and it was a great event from the couple of hours I seen on Thursday evening.

 

[Brassneck]

If such a professional organisation were to be set up, especially if membership fees were required, it should not only be to police ourselves but also to stand up for ourselves in an industry increasingly dominated by big and powerful interests. It should offer real tangible benefits to its members, to counterbalance the restrictions we would voluntarily impose on ourselves, after all if we are its members and we are paying for it, we should be its main beneficiaries.

Lobbying activities, a stronger influence with Nominet similar to that enjoyed by registrars, access to resources to assist members with legal threats and domain hijacking, bulk-buying discounts for certain services like PRSS for members, higher PPC rates from being able to negotiate as a group who can collectively bring in a lot of business to PPC providers etc etc... these kinds of benefits would be similar to those offered by other trade groups, and if our membership would increase our revenues, reduce our costs and afford us greater protection from opportunist lawyers and the like, if membership would effectively pay for itself from the benefits conferred, then of course we would all gladly join and we would all be better off as a consequence.

Agree that it would be brilliant to have such an organization but as Nigel points out the annual costs would be very significant - several hundreds of thousands a year I would imagine. That would suggest some pretty hefty subs.

 

[stevebrowne]

thanks for the write-up Edwin. I had other commitments, so couldn't come, sounds like it was a good event.

 

[Nigel]

Sorry to disagree Nigel but it's all well and good to call these people loose cannons but you have no idea what has gone on behind the scenes on most occasions.

To condemn them without remembering the contempary reasons or placing them in context is very simple to do, but wrong.

There might be a few people here who like to voice off, but what you are not remembering is that Nominet at that time never answered one question on Nomsteer to the members. That's just one example, but that argument for me is over and not going back into everything.

So there are plenty of good reasons why people might have been loose.

Back to the auction, very good job from James and it was a great event from the couple of hours I seen on Thursday evening.

Hi Greywing

I'm not sure if you have misinterpreted what I said. I am not criticising the many people who have had run ins or disagreements with nominet often with valid cause. As long as those disagreements are conducted in a civil way. I agree with you that Nominet's standards have often fallen short and they still haven't put safeguards in place to protect domain holders (see the other thread on this).

I was mainly referring to Mrs Cowell's statement "If I hear complaints about people being threatening or abusive [to Nominet staff] on the phone, it's people from this industry," she told the intimate gathering. "What I would like to see is your part of the industry being more professional and being more respectable."

I cannot accept that 'threats' or 'abuse' on the phone are coming from the large portfolio holders who attended the meetdomainers meeting or who visit this forum. All I am saying that there are probably some loose cannons out there who own a few domain names and perhaps give nominet staff a hard time. But bearing in mind that the only business nominet deal in is domain names then it is not surprising and I cannot see that it has anything to do with us. How on earth can you or I, or admin, or Edwin etc stop these types of people being abusive or making threats to Nominet staff i.e. "What's the problem?" asks Mrs Cowell to a distressed nominet employee. "Oh it was a very rude domain owner again" comes the reply.

I think Mrs Cowell could have been a bit more positive about the domaining industry and the way standards have improved over the last few years. I think we are on the same side Grey Wing.

 

[redbird]

I attended the event which was really the first time I'd been to anything like that and thoroughly enjoyed it. There isn't much more I can say really that hasn't already been said primarily by Edwin other than it was really great to put a few faces to names that I feel I've "known" for about 3 years now but never met.

Edit: Apparently it's 5 years just seen my join date, thought it was sept 2007, where does the time go?

I would also like to add my thanks to James and Daniel for organising it. I know a lot of work went into it and I for one really appreciate the time and money (90% was probably the bar bill ) spent.

You really had to be there (I was on the front row) to appreciate Morgan Linton's auctioneering skills (something he said he's not done before). I was exhausted just watching him and I'm sure it's something I'll remember for a long time.

Well done James and I look forward to the next one.

 

[DomainManagement]

Evening All

Well i had a great time Thursday night and tonight Saturday missed Friday

Due to last minute business issues miffed about missing Friday

it was great to meet with Rob,Edwin,Paul and Graham (Greywing)

of the forum by all accounts a much superior even to traffic event in Dublin

James has to take a round of applause as it was brave to organise

and to leave the free bar running even braver a lot were talking of were the

industry could be heading

conclusion is that there are lots of different niches in this niche of

Domaining and everyone makes a living or supplements a income or is

investing by either drop catching buying and selling with other each and

selling to end users , there's no Domain investors bible to consult just the

courage of our own conviction, this is a industry of great opportunity,

you just have to find your own take on it


Thanks once again James

Best regards steve

 

[GreyWing]

It seems I probably did did misinterpret what you said, it just sounded very similar to what people said about myself and even Andrew when he was going for Non-Exec, not too much from here more other places and I just assumed you were probably referring to the sameincidents, so apologies on that.

With regard what Lesyley said about her satff receiving abuse and the transcript you provided,

How on earth can you or I, or admin, or Edwin etc stop these types of people being abusive or making threats to Nominet staff i.e. "What's the problem?" asks Mrs Cowell to a distressed nominet employee. "Oh it was a very rude domain owner again" comes the reply.

If that is the true transcript that is just crazy, of course it's going to be a domainer calling Nominet. Unless Nominet are doing takeaway food now, I have no idea why the member of staff need to highlight it's a domain owner on the other end of the phone.

But they still haven't defined what a domainer is, if they do and then the advisor on the phone says it's a domainer then things may be a bit different.

But even then, Lesley and the others still haven't given any guidance about what any of the other domains can do about it. At the end of the day if someone is being abusive, call the Police and let them take the action needed, I would.

 

[rob]

I have had a domainer on here being rude, shouting and swearing at me. 2 days later I got the undertaking I required. It does happen, and people are ignorant and rude.

People need to shape up and be more pro, as its a joke. I realise most jokers wont be about in a couple of years but its their actions that damage everyone , let alone their own reputation.

 

[Nigel]

Thanks for the post GreyWing. I'd have been 100% behind you and Andrew.

Agree with you on Nominet's right to call in the police. If callers are really 'threatening' nominet staff (and assuming these calls are recorded - I think they all are) then it should be an easy problem to sort out.

It seems I probably did did misinterpret what you said, it just sounded very similar to what people said about myself and even Andrew when he was going for Non-Exec, not too much from here more other places and I just assumed you were probably referring to the sameincidents, so apologies on that.

With regard what Lesyley said about her satff receiving abuse and the transcript you provided,



If that is the true transcript that is just crazy, of course it's going to be a domainer calling Nominet. Unless Nominet are doing takeaway food now, I have no idea why the member of staff need to highlight it's a domain owner on the other end of the phone.

But they still haven't defined what a domainer is, if they do and then the advisor on the phone says it's a domainer then things may be a bit different.

But even then, Lesley and the others still haven't given any guidance about what any of the other domains can do about it. At the end of the day if someone is being abusive, call the Police and let them take the action needed, I would.

 

[rob]

Agree with you on Nominet's right to call in the police. If callers are really 'threatening' nominet staff (and assuming these calls are recorded - I think they all are) then it should be an easy problem to sort out.

Agreed - but 'Nominet Calls Police in Over Domainer' headlines will get peoples back up as well.

Common sense all round ideally!

 

[JamesTuplin]

Hello all!,
Well Im back in the office, although still recovering, having lost my voice somewhat after the many days of partying.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the panelists, the sponsors and EVERYONE that attended the event and bid in the live domain auction.

The show was for you guys, a way of showing my appreciation to this industry.
I hope it lived up to expectations.

It would never had been possible without all of your support, and for that I salute you.

If anyone is interested Morgan Linton has updated his page www.morganlinton.com with a few videos of the event. Im sure more will also follow.

Regards,
James

 

[KevDI]

I was/am a newbie to these kinds of events, but I certainly enjoyed MeetDomainers.

Primarily, it was nice to Meet Domainers.

Secondarily, I thought the sessions mostly contained useful information.

Morgan's session on how to set up Wordpress was bang-on. Anybody who didn't already know how to quickly deploy a Wordpress site would have learned something invaluable. Really good practical advice, well-executed too.

I missed the Expedia talk, unfortunately, but I heard several people raving about it afterwards. If anybody recorded it, I'd love to listen to what was said.

In general, I'd say that the conference condensed some of the best information you'd get from several months of readng the right domainer blogs into about eight hours of panels.

It certainly would have had value for a newcomer/part-timer to the industry.

I wonder a little bit how much the experienced domainers gained, in terms of usable infromation, though.