.ws - If it looks like a duck…

So a recent posting advertising and hyping the benefits of .ws did get me thinking about its long and storied history (After all, it has been operating since 1999, they say!), and I was curious as to what model best fit .ws’s operating strategy.  .ws has been promoted as “dot website” or “dot web site” as a way to try to differentiate it from its real meaning representing the country of Western Samoa who licensed their TLD, or “extension,” to a company since the country had little need for it themselves.

To start things off, Michael Scott has a message for you; it is only a 1 minute clip, and will help put the rest of the post in some sort of context for you!


So it begs the question, how does .ws advertise themselves?

Well, first - go to any .ws site that does not yet exist.  (For example, http://www.szdughrfgkhkfdhskdshf.ws ) and you are greeted by a bikini-clad woman and the promise of great fortune inside!  So you enter a name (”Ted Turner” seemed appropriate since I couldn’t spell Bernard Madoff correctly on my first try.) and off you go!

At this point, I’ll let a few “snips” from their presentation do the talking.

ws-2-guys-and-cars-mlm-scheme

I am ready for this moment that I will never forget with unlimited earning potential and the ride of my life, oh purveyor of the .ws!

So from here they are going to show me some of the incredible numbers I can make!  Exciting!

ws-pyramid-mlm-scheme-numbers

Well… if I do something, I’ll earn $5 a month…  not quite “unlimited” earning potential :-(  But wait!  If I build layers of people under me, then I have the potential to earn oh-so-much more!

And after all, that’s not a pyramid scheme, because it’s just me finding 5 friends who can find 5 friends who can find… well, you see how that’s different, right?  Well, let me draw you a picture so you can understand…  oh wait, they already drew one for me!  Excellent again!

ws-pyramid-scheme-people

It certainly was nice of them to not spread the people out in the shape of a triangle!  See, if anything this would be an “army organizational chart scheme!”

So, yes, .ws is a wonderful company ready to help you make thousands of dollars a month!  Tell all your friends to tell their friends!

</sarcasm>

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$350 in Free Facebook Advertising Codes!

facebook coupon codesMy (by way of facebook.com) gift to you :-)

These coupon codes are only valid for new facebook advertising accounts.  I do not get anything for sharing these coupons, they are not tied to me, and are able to be used an unlimited number of times through January 31st with the credits being good for varying amounts of time.   I hope you enjoy!

1) Create a facebook account if you do not have one already.
2) Login to your facebook account, then click the “Advertising” link from the bottom of the page.  Create an ad and later you’ll able to change the daily budget and CPC.  You’ll need a credit card here in order to confirm your account, but the charge here is only to confirm space on your account; any temporary hold will be reversed and your advertising will draw from your coupons completely before charging your card.
3) After creating the advertising account and getting the “Congratulations Message”, click “Billing” > Click “Funding Sources” > Click “Enter Coupon Code”
4) Enter these coupon codes one at a time.  Enter a coupon and wait for success message, then enter another.
1652-YMF5-23XX-CM66
EVCT-54YH-K1V8-EKE1
TE8Y-46T7-NCRE-JX3C
EXEX-4P47-38JX-4W20
8CH1-5VW1-Y96N-2P94
XXWW-7JVC-3FH6-R61T
053K-H148-T1PE-98NC
21VT-RRNM-8RWN-2X1C
FCK0-T70X-HME3-FJ6C
XXEE-28X7-26NT-W4R8
5) Go to http://www.new.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=24249628048
6) Click “Go to Application” > Click “Allow”
7) Submit your brief profile info. Use the same email address that you used for your facebook account.
8) Check the email for coupon code.
9) Enter the coupon to your advertising account following the same step as previous (Another $100 to take your total to $350).

Create multiple ads and observe after 24 hours which are creating highest CTR, play around with “house money” for your first $350 in advertisements!

Of course, only valid for new accounts and don’t do anything questionable ethically to take advantage of these codes, please.  Thank you to facebook.com for giving us the opportunity to try out their advertising service before commiting serious resources to it!

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AcquireThisName.com playing better?

acquire-this-name-highway-robberyMultiple reports now indicate that AcquireThisName.com and/or their parent company have started to take Trademark claims more seriously when delivered by a law firm or attorney.  Good news for business owners or website administrator’s whose names end up in the hands of Acquire This Name.

Get a domain name attorney to write a demand letter (It isn’t too expensive depending on who you use) and see what happens!  That would be easier and faster than filing a UDRP complaint anyway.

Congratulations to those who have gotten their domain names back successfully!

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Thank God for Bulk-Email Harvesters; How Else Could I Get Spammed so Relentlessly?

The newest netizen to discover the power of bulk-emailing wants me to visit my-domain-register.com (don’t) from the ever-so-clever email address of “gmailer@tradeim.com.”  Never mind the unidiomatic “domain register” (instead of domain registrar), but it gets better when the site brags, “Hot: Search under 44121 investment domains!”

Just to top their offer, I now invite you to search under 1 bajillion (sp?) names by clicking here! (Link doesn’t work?  Success!)

The whois on m-d-r traces back to China and a repeat offender in the world of “bothers to inboxes.”

Domain Name ………………… my-domain-register.com
Name Server ………………… dns15.hichina.com
dns16.hichina.com
Registrant ID ………………. hc795508968-cn
Registrant Name …………….. wenyong luo
Registrant Organization ……… luowenyong
Registrant Address ………….. sz
Registrant City …………….. sz
Registrant Province/State ……. gd
Registrant Postal Code ………. 518031
Registrant Country Code ……… CN
Registrant Phone Number ……… +86.013316591333 -
Registrant Fax ……………… +86.013316591333 -
Registrant Email …………….  (alicexixi@126.com)

I would list of the names that are for sale on that site in the hope that folks would think twice about transacting with a spammer, but the backlinks would help him more than they would hurt.

Oh, bother.

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The best of the worst WIPO and NAF domain name decisions…

No one is perfect, and WIPO and NAF are not exceptions to that rule.

There is a post coming soon that highlights some of the more shocking decisions by the two arbitration forums, and the post would be better if you would include your thoughts on what decisions should be included!

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AcquireThisName.com - Who and what is Acquire This Name?

Update:
http://registerbetter.com/2009/01/acquirethisnamecom-playing-better/

++++++++++++

The better question may be, “Really!?!”

If you’ve followed any of the domain name forums recently you’ve probably seen more than one new user seeking information about “AcquireThisName.com” and what they can do to get their domain name back from Acquire This Name.

To get the elephant in the room first, Acquire This Name has been slapped on the wrist knocked upside the head in a rather direct way by WIPO.  From D2008-1162 by Tony Willoughby, AcquireThisName.com is chastised for holding hostage what was clearly a trademarked name, and that eventually was obvious even to AcquireThisName.com after Aquire This Name requested $160,000 for the name and after the UDRP was filed:

If [the fact that Domain Name was selected specifically for its attractive commercial value on the back of the Complainant’s goodwill was] ever in doubt, it is borne out by the response of the Acquire This Name Inc. sales agent on being told by the Complainant’s employee over the telephone that it was the Complainant, the owner of the DAVIS + HENDERSON trade mark who wished to acquire the Domain Name. If there was reason to have any confidence in the Respondent’s policies respecting the rights of third parties, the sales agent would have responded along these lines: “Oh, in that case, you should not be attempting to purchase the Domain Name, you should be submitting to us evidence of your rights and we will forward it on to the Respondent, who will then, if appropriate, transfer the Domain Name to you.” Instead, the sales agent, having frankly acknowledged the attractive value of the name, suggested that he might be able to reduce the price from $160,000 to $85,000.

Indeed, having seen the copies of the relevant Acquire This Domain Inc. webpages exhibited in these proceedings, the Panel is far from satisfied that the so-called ‘disclaimer’ is anything other than a cosmetic device designed to show Acquire This Domain Inc. and its clients in a favourable light in circumstances such as this where the client in question, the Respondent, is discovered to be in possession of a domain name featuring the trade mark of an unconnected third party.

This probably isn’t the only loss Acquire This Name has experienced, but it is the only one where they are so directly targeted by the complaint (Others).  As a NamePros.com user pointed out, all signs point towards Acquire This name being an enom subsidiary or similar arrangement (And an email response to a trademark complaint came from legal@enom.com as explained in this post.).

Acquire This Name, Inc. is a Nevada corporation that was incorporated sometime between May and June of 2008, with a corporate address of “15801 NE 24TH ST. BELLEVUE, WA 98008″.  The record with the Nevada Secretary of State can be seen here.

The company lists its secretary and  director as Sarah Akhtar Cooper and its president, treasurer and director as Michael Blend.

On LinkedIn and other sites Sarah Akhtar Cooper is listed as “SVP Legal and Business Affairs Demand Media and General Counsel eNom,” ( http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/a8b/895 , http://icannwiki.org/Sarah_Akhtar , http://www.sarahakhtar.tv/ )  There is plenty of information available, including her wedding announcement confirming it’s the same person, and more.  On his LinkedIn page and on vator Michael Blend is listed as “EVP for Demand Media.”

Acquire This Name would seem to be a fairly large company, based on the number of different employees who are willing to negotiate domain name sales.  Just a few of the email addresses shared from which offers to sell domain names originated: jacob@acquirethisname.com , Blake@AcquireThisName.com , trevor@AcquireThisName.com , elida@AcquireThisName.com
Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc.
Whois Agent ()
+1.4252740657
Fax: +1.4256960234
PMB 368, 14150 NE 20th St - F1
Bellevue, WA 98007
US

Update:
http://registerbetter.com/2009/01/acquirethisnamecom-playing-better/

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MustNeed.com pulls me back out of hiding…

I had taken a vacation from actively managing the domain name side of things for too long, apparently, and the wild-west has returned to the web (Entirely due to my absence, I’m sure.)! I came back in order to find the registrant of a domain name, and the registrant had tried his best to hide who/what/where/when/(why?)/(how?) he really was, and for good reason; with around a dozen WIPO and NAF arbitration (UDRP) decisions against him, I wouldn’t want to be associated with his other pseudonyms, either. All told, he had used some combination of all of the below at some point (Used them legitimately or not, perhaps.), but we did end up tracking him down eventually.

Names registrant has used on domain names:
Ling Hsiao Wang
Yen Chun Li
Li. Yen Chun.
IA Consulting, Inc.
ANXIN OUSEN LEATHER AND PLASTIC CO., LTD.
Dangbo Shi
zhiwen zou
Lee Yi
Wang Chuan Sheng
“Fred”
Wang, Ling Hsiao
Li Yen Chun
Mr. Ling Hsiao Wang

Some of the email addresses associated with Registrant:
domadm@mustneed.com
kevin.kern@msa.hinet.net
g1999067@ms36.hinet.net
domadm@corp.yoho.com
webmaster@yoho.com
info@yoho.com
partners@yoho.com
advertisers@yoho.com
support@yoho.com
Q9034785@ms7.hinet.net
zouzhiwen@126.com
zhiwenrexian@sina.com
ZZW_YJ@126.COM
info@speedreading.com.tw
music.box @ msa.hinet.net
fred@soeasy.net
Lee.Online@msa.hinet.net
yucherng@ms11.hinet.net
webster@5ai.com
netkingtw@mail.com
audisio@soeasy.net
wuwang2007@gmail.com
mustneed@gmail.com

A few of the mailing addresses associated with Registrant:
MustNeed.com
P.O. Box 3506
Taipei
Taiwan
100-00
TW
6F, No.217 Nantzu Road Nantzu District,
Kaohsiung City, 811
TW
4F, No.6, Lane 79, Chienkwo S. Rd. Sec.2
Taipei,Taipei,Chinese Taipei 106
3F, No. 1-2, Alley 23, Lane 10, Bau – Jian Rd., Junghe, 235 TW, Taiwan, Province of China.
4F, No.12, Lane 16, Shuang Ho St, Zung Ho, 234 TW, Taiwan, Province of China
2F, No. 30-2 Kun Min Street
Taipei City
Taipei, 108
TW

And just a few more phone numbers associated with Registrant:
+886.917557860
+1.886226819351
886-2-26818070
886-2-26819351
886 2 27091437
+86 (312) 5282066

A couple of fax numbers associated with Registrant:
+886.886226820327
886-2-26756001
886 2 27554571
+86 (312) 5282566
+886 2 89237418

And all of that was just scraping the tip of the iceburg, I am sure, but it is wild to think just how much work this registrant must go through to hide his information. Imagine how productive he could have been if he put that industry towards a more worthwhile end…

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