Earlier this week, the Digital Citizens Alliance published a report entitled, “When it Comes to Digital Markets, Trust Can’t Be Secondary,” that looked at how the rise of digital secondary markets threatens to box out consumers, hike prices, and undermine trust in broader markets. The report focused primarily on how brokers harvest event tickets that creates scarcity and jacked-up prices for fans.
The report also touched on how houses are monetized for short- and long-term rentals and the role of domain name investors acquiring and parking domains, which creates scarcity for small businesses and others. Those three pages in the report on domain names made domain investors lose their minds!
Perhaps the most vocal was domain investor Rick Schwartz, who wrote: “So, Tom, take your fake numbers, your anti-capitalist screed, and your tech illiteracy and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. Domain investors aren’t the problem. We’re the reason the digital economy exists. And we’re just getting started. This is a fight I relish. They want to make our assets even more important and more valuable and accelerate their understanding. “Let’s go for it Tommy! You’re my new best friend and I’m going to eat you alive and in the process, thank you for allowing us to have this rumble. Coke needs Pepsi. McDonald’s needs Burger King. Ali needed Frazier. And Tommy, I need you! You are MY digital piñata.”
Weird!
The response from Rick Schwartz and other domain investors, beyond the sheer entertainment value, is quite telling. It says the domain investing community remains as immature and insecure as it was two decades ago. That’s disappointing. While I hadn't planned for Digital Citizens to devote much time in the near future to the domain secondary market, the over-the-top reaction from domain investors now makes me wonder if there is more here than meets the eye. Additional research may very well explain domain investors' over-the-top reaction.
While I'm here, let me add something. I did work for Verisign (it's right there on my LinkedIn profile). But I've also worked in the past for other players in the domain industry, including GoDaddy, which is mentioned in the report as one of the biggest holders of domain names. And sorry to disappoint, but no members of the domain industry funded this report.
I won't play Twitter tennis and volley back and forth with domain investors. So, this will be my only response. Nor will I respond in kind with immature comments. As always, I'll let DCA's work speak for itself while we will always be open to constructive criticism.