《It’s Time to Quit Domaining 》
January 17, 2009/by Alan Dunn
原文：http://newfoundnames.com/its-time-to-quit-domaining/
2009年已经到来，正式是时候停止域名了。
没错——收拾好行李，让你的名字过期，搬进去和父母住在一起。经济正在崩溃，PPC收入正在下降，域名买家似乎在棺材里，人们仍然不知道浏览器和URL之间的区别。
对某些人来说，这听起来是个好主意，但实际上，我们都必须给自己一个踢，退出我们目前所知道的域名。术语“域名”本身尚未真正定义。
是买卖域名的业务吗？还是开发域名的业务？翻转域名？还是拥有、开发和销售域名的各个方面？
这个词太宽泛了。
即使是福特、雪佛兰、华尔街和其他在国会山排队乞讨我们的小丑，也有一个行业术语，如汽车标记、汽车制造商或银行。当你把一家公司称为“银行”或“汽车制造商”时，人们知道你的意思。将自己定义为域名管理员，10 次中有 9 次你会得到“你是什么意思”的表达，该表达以时钟滴答作响开始，迫使您在失去兴趣之前解释行业。
问题不在于这个词本身——当你想到它时，域名非常吸引人——而在于你在与他人交谈时如何定义它，以及我们作为一个行业如何共同努力进一步发展这个词作为一个品牌。
Domaining.com 是一个很好的开始，因为一个明确用于促进、汇总和展示“来自”和“关于”域名“行业的知识财富的顶级域名可以迅速开始建立一些街头信用，但是有多少行业外的人真正了解这个词每天、每月或每年？此外，domaining.com 由一家私营公司持有，因此（没有不尊重我的好朋友）它不是促进行业发展的全部或最终解决方案，而是社区必须为仍处于起步阶段的行业增加可信度的另一个重要工具。
我知道有些人仍然犹豫不决地解释他们以“域名”为生，因为害怕解释域名本身这个词。
足球教练有多少次想告诉人们他在周五晚上必须开始解释足球比赛才能开始的时候的大胜？
无论我们喜欢与否，我们都是大使，但我们很少会在一起，除了试图互相推销一个域名，抱怨片刻或分享一瞬间的笑声。
我见过产品来来去去。关于域名的书籍通过销售200本而消失，然后迅速消失，因为很难让人们了解如此简单和如此新的东西。存在许多产品的例子，这些产品具有如此巨大的前景，但由于制造商没有意识到如何吸引新人进入这个行业，因此永远无法充分发挥其潜力。
为什么我建议您退出域名？
容易。
到目前为止，它都做错了。当然，有很多成功的故事，但真正的增长 – 故事尚未讲述 – 是最终用户，公众对这个行业的热爱，以及购买止赎的深夜广告（具有讽刺意味的是，这可能比域名更受欢迎，他们大约在2年前才获得播出时间）。
你看，我不像你们中的许多人那样是一个“域名持有者”（至少在我的定义中），尽管我很自豪能成为这个社区的一员。我的故事始于开发，随着业务的起飞，我们选择了投资或补充现有项目的域名，但从一开始，计划就是开发和开发，多年来，我们确实向公司、上市公司和个人出售了许多成功的网站。
你有没有告诉别人你想要一辆保时捷，然后当有人回应时，内心一片空白——太好了，你打算怎么做？
当然，通常模糊的答案，如“我要努力工作”或“我要创业”，但如果你有幸与一个足够尊重你的人交谈，实际上问如何，而不是接受每个人对梦想的愚蠢模糊的答案，这是一种引人入胜的体验，让你几乎无言以对。
只有这样你才会意识到…该死的，我没有计划。我所拥有的只是一个梦想。
如果您在任何业务中拥有合适的工具，那么过上好日子并不难，但做一些伟大的事情需要的不仅仅是梦想——它需要一个计划。
我问我们的计划在哪里？
谁在尝试在现有领域之外共同努力并协调推动这个行业？
是否有人在电视上谈论这个行业，试图发表关于这个行业的文章，而不仅仅是为了出售你的 ineedamillion-today.info 域名？
世界上的绰号、域名和智能名称之间的联合协议在哪里合作和双重推广.com？
如果这个行业成功了，我们都会成功。
监督正在建立一个强大的力量，并利用协同效应相互补充，以建立伟大的东西。请记住，这些家伙有街头信贷，我的意思是橡树街的 1.5 亿美元是真正的街头信贷——不是来自域名商的街头信贷，而是来自投资银行家的街头信贷。除了他们多年前的日常工作之外，还有谁在做其他事情？
因此，是否退出域名的问题并不像听起来那么简单。
当然，你想谋生，所以你可能不会让你的名字过期，但你会帮助建立这个行业吗？
Got Milk的广告很棒 – 简直就是一个行业推广其行业的令人难以置信的例子。
我们在线，我们中的一些人甚至拥有流量——除了鲍勃·帕森（Bob Parson）到处闪烁GoDaddy女孩的乳房（我不会抱怨）之外，我们的行业活动在哪里。
前进，退出或让开。
不知道是谁说的，但我们会决定做什么？
如果有人想用一个计划开始一个运动——一个受人尊敬的机构和一个真正的计划，那么我们就参与其中。
你应该退出域名吗？
不是真的 – 但我们都应该在没有计划的情况下退出域名。
2009 is here and its officially time to stop domaining.
That’s right – pack up your bags, let your names expire and move in with your parents. Economies are collapsing, ppc is revenue is dropping, domain buyers seem to be in caskets and people still have no idea about the difference between a browser and a url.
To some this would sound like a good idea but in reality we all have to give ourselves a kick and quit domaining as we know it in its current form. The term “Domaining” itself has yet to be really defined.
Is it the business of buying and selling domains? or is it the business of developing domains? flipping domains? or is it every aspect of owning, developing and selling domains?
The word is too broad.
Even Ford, Chevrolet, Wall Street and the rest of the clowns lining up begging for our dollars on Capital Hill have an industry term such as Car Markers, Auto Makers or Banks. When you refer to a company as a “bank” or an “auto maker” people know what you mean. Define yourself as a domainer and 9 times out of 10 you will get the “what do you mean” expression that starts with a clock ticking forcing you to explain the industry before interest is lost.
The problem is not in the word itself per say – Domaining is quite catchy when you think about it – but in how you define it when speaking to others and how we, as an industry, work together to further develop the word as a brand.
Domaining.com is a great start since a top level domain which is clearly used to promote, aggregate and showcase the wealth of knowledge “from” and “about” the “domaining” industry can quickly start building some street credit however how many people outside of the industry actually learn about this word every day, month or year? Additionaly, domaining.com is held by a single private company so (with no disrespect my good friend) its not the be all or end all solution for promoting the industry but rather another great tool the community has to add credibility to an industry still in its infancy stage.
I know some are still hesitant to explain they “domain” for a living for fear of explaining the word domaining itself.
How many times does a football coach want to tell people about his big win Friday night when he has to start explaining the game of football to begin?
We are all ambassadors whether we like it or not but it’s rare that we ever bond together other than to try and sell each other a domain, complain for a moment or share a laugh for a fleeting moment.
I’ve seen products come and go. Books about domaining that get off by selling 200 copies and then quickly fade away since its hard to get people to learn about something so simple and so new. Many examples of products exist that have had such great promise but could never realize their full potential because the makers did not realize how to tap new people to this industry.
Why do I suggest for you to quit domaining?
Easy.
Up until now it’s being done all wrong. Sure, there are lots of success stories but the true growth – the story yet to be told – are the end users, the public love of this industry as much as the late night commercials for buying foreclosures (which ironically are probably more popular than domaining and they only picked up airtime around 2 years ago).
You see, I’m not a “domainer” (at least in my definition) like many of you although I am proud to be part of this community. My story started with development and as the business took off we picked up domains for investment or to complement existing projects but from the get go the plan was to develop and develop we did selling many successfully sites to corporations, publicly traded companies and individuals over the years.
Did you ever tell somebody you want a Porsche and then feel blank inside when somebody responds with – great, how are you going to do it?
Sure, the usual vague answers like “I’m going to work my ass off” or “I’m going to start a business” but if you have the luxury of speaking with someone who respects you enough to actually ask how and not accept the silly vague answers everybody has with a dream it is a compelling experience that leaves you almost speechless.
Only then do you realize … shit, I don’t have a plan. All I have is a dream.
Making a good living is not hard if you have the right tools in any business but doing something great takes more than a dream – it takes a plan.
Where is our plan I ask?
Who is trying to work together and promote this industry in a coordinated effort outside of the existing domain world?
Is anyone talking about the industry on TV, trying to get articles published about the industry in general and NOT just to sell your ineedamillion-today.info domain?
Where’s the joint agreements to work together and dual promotion between the Monikers, Domaining.com’s and SmartName’s of the world?
If the industry succeeds we all succeed.
Oversee is building a powerhouse and using synergies to complement one another to build something great. Remember, these guys have street credit and I mean $150 million from Oak Street is real street credit – not street credit from domainers but from investment bankers. Who else is doing anything else beside their day to day functions they were doing years ago?
So the question of whether or not to quit domaining is not as simple as it sounds.
Of course, you want to make a living so you are probably not going to let your names expire but are you going to help build the industry?
Got Milk commercials are great – nothing short of an incredible example of an industry promoting its industry.
We are online, some of us even own the traffic – where is our industry campaign except for Bob Parson’s flashing the breasts of GoDaddy girls everywhere (which I will not complain about).
Move forward, quit or get out of the way.
Have no idea who said this but what will we decide to do?
If anybody wants to start a campaign with a plan – a respectable agency and a real plan then we are in.
Should you quit domaining?
Not really – but we all should quit domaining without a plan.