Investment domain name sells for a whole lotta pennies.

NameMedia, which sells domain names through its BuyDomains web site and Afternic DLS platform, has sold the domain name BestPennyStocks.com for 2 million pennies. That’s $20,000.

The domain name was one of 394 domain names the company sold this past week for a grand total of $606,000. The median .com sale price was $1,185.50 and the median .org/.net price was $750.

Another interesting sale is VGmail.com for $10,000, which seems like it could be a typo of Gmail. The domain hasn’t been transferred and the buyer is not yet known.

Here are other notable .com sales for the week:

footballhero.com $9,900
OnlinePawnshops.com $8,000
digitisers.com $7,155
ipps.com $7,000
RedColor.com $7,000
KidsSocks.com $6,000
PlayKitchen.com $6,000
cybernest.com $5,500
foodvillage.com $5,500
farai.com $5,400
brain-damage.com $5,188
enterpriseproducts.com $5,188
respon.com $5,088
credittime.com $5,000
gunclub.com $5,000
velvetrose.com $5,000
seniorcentral.com $4,970
zizio.com $4,888
powerhousepartners.com $4,388
subcom.com $4,000
upholsterers.com $4,000
nooke.com $3,988
acierta.com $3,950
chiefofstaff.com $3,788
gtsy.com $3,713
rooftopsolutions.com $3,600
krassen.com $3,441
bloodomen.com $3,388
podem.com $3,188
firstserve.com $3,000
interculture.com $3,000
jousting.com $3,000
superbasket.com $3,000
TreadmillComparison.com $3,000

And here are .org/.net sales:
thehills.org $3,688
meltwater.net $3,188
operation.net $2,800
irelandhotels.org $2,700
seniordating.net $2,541
malpracticelawyers.net $2,488
banque.org $2,200
marlo.net $2,088
9999.net $2,030
magicbus.net $2,000
christmassongs.net $2,000

TheHills.org was purchased by a Fort Worth, Texas church. Seems like a good use of collection plate money.

French cyberbullies step up attack.

Ville de Paris — the City of Paris — is continuing its multi-prong attack on domain name owners by filing a lawsuit against the owner of Paris.org, this time in French Court. The owner has had the domain name since 1995.

The move to Paris is another attempt to find some sort of venue that will give the city exclusive rights to use “Paris” in a domain name. But it’s not a guaranteed win for the city. In fact, it previously lost a trademark case in France and was fined as a result. Perhaps it’s time to start a new series on Domain Name Wire. I’ll dub it Paris: Ville de Trademark Fools.

Here’s a quick review of Paris’ war on domain name owners:

2006-2007: City of Paris sends threatening cease and desist letters to owners of domain names with Paris in them, including Paris.com and Paris.tv. Owners of Paris.com and Paris.tv file suit against Paris in American court. Paris runs away and claims lack of jurisdiction.

September 2009: Paris tries its hand at UDRP, filing cases against owners of WifiParis.com, Wifi-Paris.com, and Parvi.org (Parvi is the name of Paris’ municipal wifi project). It loses the Wifi cases, but wins Parvi.org in a disturbing decision.

December 2009: Because Paris agreed to U.S. jurisdiction when it filed the UDRPs, the owner of Parvi.org sues Ville de Paris in Texas court. Then, after running away from the Paris.tv lawsuit years earlier, Paris files a UDRP against Paris.tv. Finally, Ville de Paris takes its case to French court by suing the owner of Paris.org.

Stay tuned to Domain Name Wire for updates on Paris: Ville de Trademark Fools.

Story shines light on fears of IDNs, but it’s really an issue of ccTLDs.

The reaction was swift and positive — finally, after years of typing in Latin-based top level domains, people who use different character sets would soon be able to type in new top level domain names in their own alphabets.

What’s not to love about that? Apparently a lot. A story in yesterday’s New York Times says that many Russians are wary of their government’s plans to introduce a Cyrillic IDN country code top level domain name. They’re concerned it’s just another way for the government to censor them.

But now, computer users are worried that Cyrillic domains will give rise to a hermetic Russian Web, a sort of cyberghetto, and that the push for Cyrillic amounts to a plot by the security services to restrict access to the Internet. Russian companies are also resisting Cyrillic Web addresses, complaining about costs and threats to online security.

To be fair, I’m not sure that this is an IDN issue. It’s more of a country code issue. ICANN has very little say on how country code domain names are administered, and it’s wise to not use a country code top level domain in a country that doesn’t value freedom. That’s why so many people in China shun .cn in favor of .com or even .org.

Cheap shots — I’ve had my share.

Well, moderately thick-skinned, anyway.

When I started writing Domain Name Wire in early 2005, I was just getting my feet wet in the world of instantaneous, anonymous, public feedback. As any blogger will tell you, it isn’t always pretty. You have to have thick skin in this world. If you have thin skin, you take attacks personally and let it eat away at you.

Thanks to the relative anonymity of leaving comments on blogs, many people take the opportunity to lob cheap shots. When you start out blogging, this can get to you.

I recall sitting on a panel at GeoDomain Fest earlier this year with Elliot Silver. He admitted that he had “thin skin”. I promptly responded that I thought his blog sucked.

It was a joke, but any blogger will tell you they frequently get comments like that. They aren’t constructive, and often times the commenter doesn’t mean for them to be. It’s like the people who join forums only to start flame wars.

Learning how to deal with criticism is part of the game. After all, disagreement is a good thing and important for discourse. There are two types of criticism in my book: thoughtful criticism and idiot criticism.

Just because something is thoughtful doesn’t mean you have to agree with it. Stephen Douglas and I often disagree. But when he leaves a comment about a post I make, he clearly outlines why he thinks differently. That’s thoughtful and adds value.

Then there’s idiot criticism, which is comments like “This post is stupid”, “Are you an idiot?”, and “This is news?” (I got one of the latter ones this week). These comments are almost always anonymous, and don’t add any value. I call them YouTube comments. (Seriously, have you ever seen the comments on videos at YouTube? I always wondered who spent their time leaving those comments. Then I met all of them one day when I had to stand in line at the drivers license bureau.)

When I first started blogging, I’d usually take the bait and respond to comments like these. After all, I can’t let this person take the last shot! But taking the bait is exactly what the commenter wants you to do. Don’t go for it. Your other readers will look at the stupid comment and say “what a stupid comment” and move on. You don’t need to defend yourself. If you ever find yourself writing “I probably shouldn’t bother responding to your comment, but…”, then stop writing your response. In fact, sometimes making no response is the most powerful response. People that try to egg you on get bored if you don’t take the bait.

So my skin’s getting a little thicker. And yes, I’m fully prepared for the smart ass comments that will be left on this post (assuming the smart asses aren’t all out Christmas shopping).

Cofounders and management team of web site building platform talk on DNW Radio.

In this episode of DNW Radio, we talk with EVO Media Group founders Geoff Nuval, Mark Michael, and Daniel Rust. EVO Media Group is known for its DevHub web site building platform.

I first met Nuval on the bus ride to the Playboy Mansion at this year’s DOMAINfest Global in Los Angeles. They’ve had a wild year since then: they’re expanding quickly and have closed on $1.5 million in capital.

In this show, you’ll hear about:

-What types of domain names work well with DevHub, and how soon you should expect to see results
-The difference between “setting it and forgetting” it and actually devoting some energy to building out your sites
-A funny gimmick Geoff and Mark used when first approaching their initial investor, Rob Monster
-2010 road map for DevHub.
-What to do if you’re interested in working for the company.

As always, you can either listen to the show or read a transcript.