Podcast tells the story of guys who tried to buy a domain name from Michael Berkens.
I just listened to a very interesting podcast called Reply All. This particular episode talks about two guy’s effort to buy a domain name from Michael Berkens.
The guests run a site at Longform.org and wanted to buy Longform.com. But Berkens owned it. After many failed attempts to buy the domain, they tried one last time. The last time, they let is slip that they owned the matching .org.
Shortly thereafter, they received a message from someone trying to buy their own domain, Longform.org. Then they received a message from Berkens telling them that he’d just received an offer on the .com, and asking them if they want to bid.
The Longform.org guys thought they were getting scammed by Berkens. They thought he was just toying with them to get them to buy the domain, making them worried that someone else was going to buy the domain name. They thought he was probably in cahoots with whomever had emailed them about buying the .org.
When they backed out of bidding on the domain, they never saw the domain transfer. They concluded that, indeed, Berkens was playing them.
They thought this was the case when they scheduled to go to the studio to be guests on Reply All earlier last year. But just before arriving, they looked up the whois and saw that the domain had transferred.
Berkens wasn’t playing them. There was another party bidding on the domain, and they bought it. It also happened to be a Mark Monitor client, which means it’s likely a big company.
(I got a big kick out of the guests talking about Berkens’ prolific blogging.)
Reply All then talked to Dave Higgins over at Afternic, before reaching Berkens himself.
It’s a really interesting and well done show, and worth spending 20 minutes to listen.
It appears the Longform.org guys are sticking with their name. They just applied for a trademark for “Longform”.
Derek JeterMichael Berkens will be at NamesCon next week, and I look forward to seeing him there.
Michae Castello says
That podcast was excellent and well done. For those of us in the industry, it also gives us an objective viewpoint from those outside the business.
Steve says
Hilarious, if they substituted the word “domain” with “real estate” would they be thinking the same thing. Throwing domain brokers/traders off boats in the Keys??
Great podcast and it should serve as a lesson to business owners and individuals that if you want a spot on “Virtual Main Street” you have to pony up some decent cash.
I just received a $200 offer on a name that estibot puts at $270k??? Hilarious.
Lori Anne Wardi says
Great story! Go Mike!
Joseph Peterson says
I was expecting something much worse.
But these guys are NPR veterans! Award-winning shows like “This American Life”, “Planet Money”, etc. Right off the bat, I recognized the production style and (I’m pretty sure) even the voice. Sure enough, same team.
Since they specialize in telling multiple sides of a story, I’m glad they didn’t break that pattern just to crucify a squatter!
Andrew Allemann says
I thought they sounded like the This American Life guys. Thanks for making the connection.
KC says
Excellent interview!!! Thanks Andrew.