Team Schwartz vs. Team Schilling. LIVE From T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Video Part 2

Morning Folks!!

Grab a cup of coffee and get ready to enjoy Part 2 of a 2-part video that was shot live at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Some say it was one of the best panels we have had.

Whichever side of gTLD's you come down on, you will love it! About 1400 folks have watched part 1 and there are plenty of comments here and around.

I think you will see it continues to be candid, passionate, respectful and displays the best of our industry debating a true unknown. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed participating in it and I want to thank Frank for agreeing to do it to begin with. It is great theatre and it was sorely needed to give some clarity to what is coming.

Team Schilling was made up of Frank Schilling, Monte Cahn, Jeff Saas, and Tim Johnson. Team Schwartz had Lonnie Borck and yours truly.

Gentlemen, thank you for agreeing to participate in this panel. I am hopeful we will do it again in May. Below is part 2 and HERE is Part 1.

Rick Schwartz



38 thoughts on “Team Schwartz vs. Team Schilling. LIVE From T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Video Part 2

  1. Jonathan

    The “new world” nations have national pride they / people will default to the cc’s if the com has gone. Monte Cahn comes across as Elmer Gantry.

    Reply
  2. Observer

    Existing non-com registries will inevitably be affected. There is no question about that. Why pay $100 when you buy a similar one for $ 8.

    Reply
  3. Anita

    People might eventually “use” the new GTLDs but they will all “want” a .COM when it comes down to business or to look professional and “need” a great .COM when they want to compete with the best locally or globally.

    As Rick has been saying all along, the good registries may make money but projecting the new GTLDs against .COM (and ccTLDs) is a big mistake they are making coz’ people who invest in GTLDs could potentially lose a lot of money and that might hurt these registries in the long run. It would be in their best interest to not make outrageous claims or statements but to be more realistic so there is a better chance for their registries to become sustainable in the long run.

    It was funny and typical how Frank smoothly sidestepped Rick’s question about showing any evidence of what he was claiming regarding the Manhattan real-estate example.

    Reply
  4. Stu

    Good example of why com seem’s to rule

    I own the domain – InboxDesign.com , and over the last 31 days I have had 61 people ( 100% visitors ) come from New Zealand to my .com , instead of going to InboxDesign.co.nz where they also have a website, no spam intended, however funny old world since a member on the panel said people in New Zealand do not trust the .com , wonder why they are all coming to me?

    Reply
  5. Jonathan L

    I was thinking…. the fact that so much time and energy has been expended to compare and contrast opinions and debate about gTLD’s, are we dot comer’s giving the gTLDer’s more credibility and “press” than they would not normally have at this time? Not that the gTLD’s should be ignored but why make more people aware of them? We should be promoting dot com’s and avoid giving the gTLD’ers any more free press and promotional opportunities. Let them find their own niche without our help here and other online locations!

    Reply
  6. DonnyM

    Funny exchanges. Watch out for BIG G. Hard to compete with FREE DOMAINS.
    .tickets- nope I think apple with future finger print tech will solve this with phone. Also 7 letters way to many.
    .app- maybe 50/50 on this, but really what makes an app is the app itself and not the domain. But it would help having a good app name.. Maybe
    .shop- what are you going to do start e.shop and worry about the owners of eshop.com coming beat your as-
    .web- 3 letters makes sense. We use the term everyday.

    Reply
  7. ivorytrader

    rick… you were at your best when you just sat there. let other people say stupid things. the stone age didn’t end because they ran out of stone.

    Reply
  8. Honest Abe

    Will Monte even feel bad when millions are lost as a result of this stupid idea he is trying to promote? I guess the money lost on .MOBI was just practice for him. Same .crap

    Reply
  9. Samit

    There will be hits and misses in all these new extensions, just as there are in .com and other gTLDs and ccTLDs.

    Whoever predicted that .ly or .io would become the flavour of the season for startup brands?

    The key for newgTLDs, I guess, will be to find phrases that makes sense which include the extension, which is something that isn’t mandatory in .com or for ccTLDs in their country of origin.

    Reply
  10. Yoni

    gtld will going down quickly. suckers money. No one will want them and Rick was right that they will get outpromoted quickly. in answer to Lonnie’s question ..NO, Ticketmaster will NOT be switching to Ticketmaster.Tickets — and why would they?

    Reply
  11. Domenclature.com

    “dot whatevers have all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”

    ― Winston Churchill, Wealth, War, and Wisdom (slight modification by me).

    A fund should be quickly set-up to educate the public about the virtues of .com, as well as the vices of .whatever.

    Reply
  12. Domenclature.com

    The Schilling team, including Cahn, must address why folks are not scrambling for .travel right now; never mind the fact that Orbitz, expedia, kayak, travelocity, and so on did not switch, or use .travel; the new gtld people must address this issue properly, before anyone can take them seriously. Reciting that the .travel registry is a successful registry because the numbers work for their profit is pure wickedness. The extension has to be adopted for its intended use for it to be considered generally successful. Else it’s narrow-minded success.

    Reply
  13. Domain Name Man

    Well said Domenclature!

    Yeah, “.travel is a success!” Is that guy for real? And he said it with a straight face! Almost as good as Frank’s logic that people will want .tattoo. Someone’s been drinking the Koolaid.

    Reply
  14. Kassey

    As I said in part 1, I recently gave up my .co.nz and moved to .com, and I have no interest/plan to own any .kiwi domain name. I don’t see how it can become popular. Where is the need, want, or desire? Simply patriotism?

    Reply
  15. Crawford

    The overall winner is Team Schwartz. I didn’t particularly like Rick’s telephone number/area code argument, but agree with his team overall. I see no redeeming value of the gtlds and think it is clear that they will all fail. Yes, every single silly-ass one of them. Only .com will survive.

    Also, surprised Rick didn’t bring up the leakage argument. You can either be the leakee or the leakor, your choice.

    Reply
  16. Leonard Britt

    While it is difficult to find short meaningful .COMs in 2013 (RETVAL.com is not as brandable or valuable as Travel.com), there is no need for 700 new TLDs in 2014. IMO the registration growth of .COM. .Net, .Org, vs the new TLDs will tell the story. Note that the pace of annual .COM registration growth has slowed a bit since 2008 (compared to prior years).

    Reply
  17. DrDomainer

    Lots of questions Schillings team didn’t answer properly especially the question Howard said about .mobi

    This is what’s going to happen to all the gTLDs owners once their business starts to do better. They will keep getting huge amounts of problems if they don’t own the .com

    They will NEVER go to the global level and will always live in the shadow of dot com and watch it destroy them.

    Lets get to the point shillings team
    are like sharks selling fake Rolexs (gTLDs) of the domaining industries. Frank has been Domainer of the year 4 times and has a platform showing unbelievable data with most of his sales .com so Frank knows how powerful .com is and it rules. It’s fine selling these gTLDs but don’t try to fool newbies saying .com will be like .am its never going to fool long term domainers.

    Frank said .gay will find it hard
    because the gay market will not
    like it because of what’s going to
    be listed in search engines around it.

    Same thing is going to happen
    with the .sexy someone will buy it
    for something like http://www.kitten.sexy
    telling all their friends to view their website and next to it on search engines will be some adult .sexy version. So I believe you have so many problems if google did start listing these headache gTLDs long term.

    All the new gTLDs have BAGGAGE! HUGE AMOUNTS OF BAGGAGE because SO MANY others have failed in the past. Lots are going to fail very quick and that’s more BAGGAGE for them.

    It was like someone threw a COLD BUCKET OF ICE WATER in Ricks face he couldn’t believe the amount of crap they were talking most of the time without showing FACTS

    gTLDs without owning the .com
    will always be like playing Russian roulette

    Reply
  18. Jeff Schneider

    Hello Rick,

    This latest gTLD over reach, (Power Grab) , by Google.COM, places them one step closer to their eventual breakup, currently being pursued by the International Community. Predictive Marketing Fundamentals now are heavily skewed for this eventuality. Our guess is they will seriosly curtail their gTLD efforts. 90 % Probability JAS 11/5/13

    Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)

    Reply
  19. Kevin M.

    In today’s internet world, we may not see or agree with these new extensions (and I don’t), but like it or not, 10 years and on from now, so many will be looking back at all these back and forths on these new extensions, and wondering/laughing-at all these ‘predictors’ who simply made their cases against them with their ‘Eyes Wide Shut’.

    Let us all not forget, that ‘horseless carriage’ was never going to catch on!

    Reply
  20. Jeff Schneider

    Hello Rick,
    Branding by definition , IS NOT , categorizing yourself in a GENERIC pool of thousands of wannabe competitors.
    GTLDS by definition expose their users to BRAND DILUTION . This whole gTLD Derivatives Experiment is a severely flawed Marketing Strategy, scheduled to happen.

    All this while their slick promotional Marketing operatives banty around, that they are indeed Branding devices. This arrogant misrepresentation will be echoed around the media belt, and many will fall prey to this lie.

    Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)

    Reply
  21. UFO

    Interestingly, saw 1and1 advertising this evening for all these TLDs. What strikes me is they are looking for expressions of interest when they don’t have in fact likely the ligtimacy to actually sell all of the ones they show. That to me pushes the boundaries of what is allowable under consumer advertising laws.

    Makes me laugh though, sign up and tell them the name you want and then they’ll come back with ‘it’s a premium name and it will cost you 5k’.

    Personally I think the advertising is misleading.

    Reply
  22. domo sapiens

    “This month, I had the opportunity to interview Jon Nevett and Mason Cole of
    Donuts, the largest filer of generic top-level domains (gTLD) applications…”

    “For more information on Donuts’ complete portfolio of domain names, go to
    http://www.donuts.com.”

    The author mistakenly asks readers to go to the .com …

    http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2304516/donuts-new-gtlds-a-digital-shopping-mall

    As Berkens @ thedomains.com wrote:

    “Donuts doesn’t own Donuts.com, there site is Donuts.co.”

    and the Fiascos keep on coming:

    Del.icio.us
    Rebrands as Delicious.com: A Lesson for Entrepreneurs –
    Awkward domain name slowed growth of site.
    http://domainnamewire.com/2008/08/01/delicious-rebrands-as-deliciouscom-a-lesson-for-entrepreneurs/#sthash.AggzPbbe.dpuf

    O dot Co
    “”Confused? So were customers. Mr. Johnson (Company President) said customers
    responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots, “a good
    portion” of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co.
    (O.com is one of the off-the-market single letter domain names still held by
    ICANN.)”
    http://adage.com/article/news/o-overstock-backs-o-change/230983/

    More Fiascos coming on Part Deux…

    Reply
  23. UFO

    @Bill

    That may be so, but my guess only 10% or less will move through to registration. They even have their stats on their URL.
    http://www.1and1.co.uk/new-top-level-domains?linkOrigin=&linkId=ct.tab.ntld.domains&stage=ntld

    Pre-orders: 3,845,172..WEB144527, .ONLINE101159, .SHOP90497, .APP62454, .BLOG57911.

    This must just be on the .co.uk website as there would have to be a huge long tail to get to 3.8m

    My guess more than 80% of pre applications are on these key extensions. And what does that mean? Those seeking the string will bid more with ICANN and the preapplicants will get a nasty shock when they are told they need to pay far more than reg to get the domain they want.

    Reply
  24. UFO

    Let’s face it, its every domainers duty to preregister their interest in as many of these domains as possible. Then the over hype and expectations will result in people getting burnt.

    This is a classic plump and dump. Its the mother of all perfect storm cluster f9cks where leeming newbies throw themselves head first over the cliff.

    Reply
  25. domo sapiens

    More ‘Fiascos’ (Part Deux) :
    O dot Co
    “”Confused? So were customers. Mr. Johnson (Company President) said customers responded well to the O.co advertising, but after watching the spots, “a good portion” of those who sought out the website went to O.com, instead of O.co. (O.com is one of the off-the-market single letter domain names still held by ICANN.)” (nope, it doesn’t get old, it’s a marketing lesson)
    http://adage.com/article/news/o-overstock-backs-o-change/230983/

    healthcare.gov
    The big winner of Obamacare rollout: The guy with HealthCare.com
    That domain is Healthcare.com, which hundreds of thousands of people rushed to by accident on Oct. 1, when the United States …
    “We generated over 100,000 quote requests in October, and since HealthCare.gov launched the site traffic has increased 10 times,”
    http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/25/the-big-winner-of-obamacare-rollout-the-guy-with-healthcare-com/#vb-gallery:1:846083

    up.co
    when you search for it at Google, it not only fills automatically the “M” missing in Dot Com t also asks you:
    Did you mean: up.com ?
    as a poster at thedomains.com commented: in regards to a billboard: “Most people who see that billboard probably just assume the “M” in .COM burnt out.”
    ******************************************
    lost traffic = lost revenue = lost profits
    Madison avenue….Any clearer?

    Reply
  26. HowieCrosby

    As investments go, for those who reserved some super short in-between the dot NEW GTLD’s in early 2011 are likely to have some cream domains to sell in the forthcoming years, these names are here to stay along with premium .com’s, it’s a new World and I think what Monte and Frank were translating made perfect sense.

    I still believe in the .com, I’m old school, but I run with the new.

    Reply
  27. NEIL

    The keyboard of my Samsung Galaxy has a “.com” tab, this is not enough power of .com?

    Rick, your T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is Grand!

    I can prove with my eTRAFFIC.me, which has every minute more and more T.R.A.F.F.I.C., starting from zero 2 weeks ago.

    Reply
  28. Mike Ward

    I thought the best point was made by Frank and went practically unnoticed. He cited an example of a 2-word .com and said he’d rather have just the 2 words on either side of the dot. There is an obvious inventory shortage in .com

    So many people register 4-word .coms because they just think it’s the best they can do. A catchy one word + the right extension will be a branding miracle for them, like the divorce.miami example Monte mentioned.

    As Monte also points out more than once, the explosive growth of the Internet in the coming years will drive massive change. To assume the status quo will prevail seems shortsighted. The .COMs are not going away any time soon, that’s for sure. But change is the only constant in this world.

    Reply
  29. HowieCrosby

    @Mike Ward Yes Yes Yes! These are the domains that will excel, it’s obvious, just like private plates on cars, folk are inbred with .com at the moment but that will change not saying it will elite the .com. Some will.

    I just don’t understand the mentality in the .com is king theory that folk can’t see that these simple domains are the next step forward!!!! It’s progression baby.

    I guess if you’ve already got serious money invested in .com then you will back the .com.

    Premium .com’s will always be premium, but you will have to make way for the one + gtld that makes a catchy word.

    Reply
  30. Tony Sheehy

    Monte emphasises the bells and whistles that some of the new extensions – like .tickets and .secure – will bring with them. Yet he also states that for what .mobi was offering, “the internet figured it out”. I am pretty sure the internet will figure out a lot of this other stuff as well.

    I once registered more than 800 .mobi domain names, based on the hype surrounding it at the time. It was going to be the future! Had I bought one proper category-defining .com for the same amount of money, I would still have it – for $12 a year – and it would only be appreciating. As the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”.

    Reply

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