Domain Name Wire

Baylor Sucks (again) with BaylorSucks.com

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:54:21 +0000

Baylor University gets “sucks” domain back after letting it expire.

It’s pretty easy to sit down here in Austin and say that Baylor sucks.

You can get on its case for yanking a gay student’s scholarship. And for waiting until the 90s to lift a ban on dancing on campus.

There’s also that little fact that the school is in Waco.

(The one thing we can’t do any more is say that its sports programs suck.)

But now the university is claiming a bit of suckiness itself: BaylorSucks.com

Baylor University is the proud new owner of this domain name — for the second time — after winning a dispute at National Arbitration Forum for the domain.

As more proof of its suckiness, Baylor used to own the domain name BaylorSucks.com. Had it not let the domain name expire in 2008 then it wouldn’t have had to file a complaint in the first case.

You can legitimately own domains like BaylorSucks.com if you do it to criticize the university and not profit from the site. But the owner of the domain merely parked it.

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How NOT to name your company and secure your domain

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:45:13 +0000

When you know it’s time to select a different company name…

A Colorado company just lost a UDRP for Qwizzle.com, and it’s a great example of botched company naming.

The company, Qwizzle, LLC, knew that Qwizzle.com was taken when it came up with its name. It tried to contact the owner of Qwizzle.com but had no luck. It still decided to launch its business as Qwizzle but then filed a UDRP to try to get the domain name.

It lost the UDRP because Qwizzle.com was registered before it came up with the name for its online real estate company.

I started to research where I could find Qwizzle on the web. When I Google “quizzle”, the first two results are from Facebook and Twitter respectively. Then there’s Qwizzle.co, which resolved to a blank page save for the company’s favicon. This domain appears to be owned by Qwizzle.co. Quizzle.us looks like the actual site for the company, although it’s registered to someone in Michigan.

I noticed Qwizzle.net was registered, too. Surprisingly, it’s registered by Quicken Loans. Quicken has a site called Quizzle.com, and apparently there was some confusion as to how to spell it so they picked up the Qwizzle.net name as well.

That should have been a huge red flag for Qwizzle, LLC. If people are confused that Quizzle.com might be spelled Qwizzle.com, then certainly it can be the other way around. And Quicken Loans offers mortgage loans — which is too close for comfort to a real estate site.

If I were this company I would have just gone with another name (and domain).

Qwizzle wants to disrupt the traditional home marketing and real estate business. It’s a laudable goal, but they need to pick a different name.

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My picks for Sedo’s Great Domains auction

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:21:02 +0000

Great Domains auction ends Thursday. Here’s what I like.

This month’s Great Domains auction at Sedo ends on Thursday. The lineup doesn’t include as many big ticket domains as usual; there’s only one domain with a reserve over $25,000. But that’s OK, there are some good domains worthy of attention.

Here are ones that popped out to me:

Reconnect.com – With a reserve range $10k-$25k, this would be good only if you have a plan for the domain. I can think of multiple tie-ins to social media.

Invasion.com – Also has a reserve range $10k-$25k. Not a very commerce-friendly domain, but would be good for a video game, movie, etc.

WineFridge.com – I’ve looked at wine fridges/beverage fridges for our new house. Not cheap. Reserve is met with a top bid of $1,049.

Swindled.com – I like this one because I used to own it I don’t recall what I sold it for, but the domain is currently $100 with the reserve met.

ComputerCourses.com – reserve is $5k-$10k. May be a little high, but good market for this.

There’s also a wonderful opportunity in a non-Great Domains auction on Sedo. Seesaw.com is currently $3,100 with a Wednesday end date. This is a great brandable domain.

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Domain registrar offers UDRP insurance

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:07:15 +0000

Registration service offers free insurance against expensive but unfounded UDRP filings.

Francois Carrillo, the guy behind Domaining.com, has launched a new domain registrar (an eNom reseller) with an innovative twist: “UDRP insurance”.

Basically, if you’re hit with a UDRP on one of your domains registered at DONA.com then you’ll get assistance with finding a domain attorney. Selected domain attorneys offer discounted rates to DONA customers. And if you successfully defend your UDRP, DONA will reimburse you for your legal expenses.

It sounds like an interesting idea that might offer some peace of mind if you frequently get hit with bogus UDRPs.

Additionally, DONA donates 30% of its profits to the Internet Commerce Association, an advocacy group for domainers.

.Com domain registrations at DONA are $11.15.

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TLDH adds .budapest to its location top level domains

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:54:34 +0000

TLDH adds to its stable of geo top level domains with .budapest.

Top Level Domain Holdings Limited (AIM:TLDH.L), parent company of Minds + Machines, announced today that it has applied for the .budapest domain name with the blessing of the city of Budapest. The city will earn a revenue share from the deal.

TLDH is also on the applications for .London, .Miami, .Bayern and .NRW. .NRW is for North-Rhine Westphalia, the most populous state in Germany.

These applications are pretty close to “sure things” since an applicant needs approval (or non-objection) from a governmental authority to apply for geo domains like these. The only exception would be if there’s more than one location of the same name. .NRW could also run into a bit of an issue if there’s a competing application because it’s not actually the name of a location and could have a different use.

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Did Google just buy G.me?

Andrew Allemann — Sat, 19 May 2012 14:45:49 +0000

G.me now registered to brand protection company.

The whois record for the domain name G.me recently changed to DNStination Inc., which is the proxy service for brand protection company Mark Monitor:

The change was just triggered on DomainTools yesterday, although the record shows it was altered on April 20.

The domain name was previously a registry reserved domain name.

Although nothing is definitive, there’s a good possibility that Google is the new owner. Google uses Mark Monitor for some of its domain name registrations. Given Mark Monitor’s need to avoid conflict of interest amongst clients, at a minimum I’d assume that Google was aware of any transaction for G.me.

There’s also a Google Chrome extension called G+Me.

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Domain acquisition email misfire

Andrew Allemann — Sat, 19 May 2012 14:35:09 +0000

Received yesterday…

Subject: Website Purchase Inquiry

Hi,

I am interested in setting up a new blogging website on your domain name.

My name is Adam and I located your contact information through a domain look up and I understand that you are the owner of DNW.com. I’ve been working in establishing a number of high quality websites for quite some time and think that your domain name fits in perfectly with the blog!

In my current situation, I would like to set up a new blogging site and conducted several site searches relating to my niche.

I decided to contact you after finding out that your domain is not one which is highly active at the moment. Obviously I would provide you some compensation for the exchange, so If you are willing to sell your domain name please let me know what sort of price range you would be willing to sell for and we can discuss further.

Furthermore since this is our first time to do business, I can easily set up an escrow service to ensure a safer business transaction for both of us if you would prefer.

Again, feel free to contact me through my email address if you would like to discuss.

Sincerely,
Adam Daniels
Zoom-IT

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