My Latest Acquisition: Forensics.TV

While performing my weekly scan of available .TV domain names, I found that the domain name Forensics.TV was available for registration. I was quite surprised to find that I could secure this name at a non-premium price--almost as surprised as when I found that Joy.TV was available--so I registered the name without hesitation! Forensics.TV is perfectly generic so I'm confident that there are no trademark issues with the name. Verisign is asking $2,000 per year to rent the singular form of the name, i.e. forensic.tv, so I have a feeling that Forensics.TV may have slipped under their radar. After all, "forensics" is more intuitive than "forensic".

Forensics-related TV shows are very hot here in America, both the true crime and fictional programs (Forensic Files, CSI, CSI:Miami, CSI:NY, CSI:Mars, etc.) so I think this name can do great things. I wouldn't be surprised to find that forensics related TV shows are popular in other countries as well (please post a comment if you have any insight!) Most TV shows make me sick to my stomach (everything is so "dumbed-down" these days), but I have to confess that Forensic Files is the one TV show that I watch with some regularity (though I do try to catch Nova or FrontLine when I can.) I just can't get enough of all the ways people try to get away with murder. Fascinating stuff. And when you factor in that many murders go unsolved, it really puts the violence of our society into perspective, no doubt.

I'm parking Forensics.TV over @ AfterNIC for now since I have no real plan for development at the moment. Wish me luck with the name!

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$1 Gets Donated To Katrina Victims for Every .ORG Domain Name Registered Until September 30th

Here's another way that the Internet community can help Katrina victims: register a .ORG domain name! For every new .ORG domain name registered between September 8 and September 30, 2005, Public Interest Registry (PIR)--in conjunction with partners Afilias Limited and The Internet Society--will donate $1 to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. PIR and Afilias have already made an advance donation of $100,000 to The American Red Cross, with a more funds on the way later once the promotion ends.

So if you've been holding off on a .ORG domain name registration, now's a pretty good time to snag that name you've been thinking about. It doesn't matter which registrar you choose; as long as it's a .ORG domain name and you make the purchase before September 30, 2005, the $1 donation will be made.

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LoansLoans.com Domain Name Package on eBay: Legit or Scam?

I have just read a PR Leap press release about an eBay auction for a domain name. According to the seller, half the proceeds of the final auction price for the LoansLoans.com package of domain names (it's packaged with LoansLoans.net and LoansLoans.org) will go towards The American Red Cross. Scam? Maybe. There are a lots of dubious domain name offerings on eBay. Of course, that's not enough to "convict", but let's consider another piece of evidence: The seller claims that,

"LoansLoans.Com, along with the .Net, and .Org versions, has in the past, been appraised at a value of $1 million..."

$1,000,000?! On what planet? I personally wouldn't appraise LoansLoans.com for more than $500, and I don't think any experienced domainer would argue with me. This auction is starting to get an odd smell about it.

And look what I found: there's an AfterNIC appraisal for the name, completed on June 4, 2005. AfterNIC tends to be generous with their appraisals, and they appraised the potential market value of the name @ $2,900. Hmmm...

But it would seem that the seller is in fact committed to giving half the money from sale to charity, as the auction is officially listed under eBay's "Giving Works" program. Interesting.

But I still smell a dead fish here. Perhaps this is not an outright scam, but an elaborate ploy designed to boost the sale price for this domain name by attaching the auction to a worthy charity. An interesting tactic: divert the buyers' attention away from the fact that the domain name is overpriced by linking the auction to a charitable cause.

I'll be keeping my eye on this one...

FYI: The heading for the PR Leap press release is, "TOP DOMAIN NAME AUCTIONED on EBAY for HURRICANE VICTIMS"

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Scammers, Hackers and Other Criminals Are Using Hurricane Katrina-Related Domain Names To Spread Viruses, Initiate New Phishing Attacks and More...

Have you been visiting any Katrina-related domain names? Well, watch out! Scammers, hackers and other Internet criminals are taking advantage of all the interest in the Katrina hurricane disaster to trick Internet users into visiting domain names that will infect computers with harmful polymorphic viruses (worms), Trojans, spyware and keyloggers. Hurricane-related phishing scams are starting to make their way around the Internet as well.

Some scammers are trying to turn a profit by selling hurricane Katrina-related domain names on eBay, claiming that a portion of sale proceeds will be donated to hurricane relief organizations.

I won't post any of the domain names here, mainly because just visiting some of these names can result in serious trouble for your computer. However, you can click here to read the full story about these Katrina related scams.

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The New AfterNIC Parking: Thumbs Up!

Remember back in the 90's when Microsoft had it's Schedule Plus organizing software? I never liked it. It was cumbersome and clunky, and I actually preferred to write my contacts and appointments down with good old fashioned pen and paper.

Then Microsoft came out with Outlook and all was forgiven. Today, I don't even know how I'd function without Outlook. Powerful, intuitive and efficient: right up my alley!

If you compare AfterNIC's new parking program to it's previous system, it would be like comparing Outlook to Schedule Plus.

I had tried parking a few names on AfterNIC over a year ago and was not at all impressed. The earnings were dismal and the ads were generally off-topic (probably due to a small advertiser base.) I had also tried SEDO's parking and was disappointed there as well: pitiful earnings, and I never seemed to make any money referring new members to SEDO, even though I had referral links posted on a lot of my sites. With AfterNIC, the pay-per-click (PPC) earnings were poor but I would at least earn some revenue with their affiliate program (referring new members, commissions on domain sales, etc.)

Zoom forward to 2005: AfterNIC's new parking program is first class, in my opinion. I can only assume that they acknowledged the seriousness of their advertiser base problem, so they solved it by partnering with other parking specialists, companies loaded with advertisers, specifically Fabulous and Domain Sponsor. When AfterNIC announced the revamping of their parking program, I moved a handful of domains to their parking system as a test. So far, I've been impressed overall: the ads have been right on target 99% of the time, and as a result the earnings have been very nice. And I'm still earning extra commissions with their affiliate program (click here for more details on making money via AfterNIC parking.) I am now in the process of moving a pretty large chunk of my domain portfolio over to AfterNIC parking.

So, why use AfterNIC parking if you can just signup with Fabulous or Domain Sponsor? The extra affiliate earnings, of course! The additional affiliate earnings can be significant if you refer a decent volume of new members and domain sales to AfterNIC. Why earn just PPC when you can earn PPC + AfterNIC affiliate commissions?

My domaining and parking experience with AfterNIC has been further enhanced by their improved domain management interface. The process of setting up parking for my domains is now easier and more efficient than ever, and I've noticed an improvement in server performance as well. Support? Yes, it's there, and it's good. In my experience, the good folks @ AfterNIC have gone beyond the call of duty with their support in the past. And you know how it is: you don't forget it when someone helps you out of a jam.

What I find a bit annoying about AfterNIC is that they sometimes go offline on weekends late at night. I'm a night owl, and I often work on weekends, so this can cramp my style. Not a big deal, really. Every large, database driven website has to go down for maintenance sometimes. Taking the server down late at night on a weekend is certainly practical, albeit somewhat annoying for vampires like me.

Can you earn more by parking at SEDO? Depends on the names you intend to park, I think. I've been reading lots of stories of folks earning $3-5$ per click with poker-related domain over @ SEDO. Maybe the poker related earnings are just as good with AfterNIC, but I can't say for now as I don't have enough data. I have very recently moved my www.InternetPoker.cc domain name over to AfterNIC so I'm waiting to see how that goes.


Feel free to post a comment about your parking experience with AfterNIC or SEDO. Thanks!

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