.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.
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!
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!
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>
Tags: .ws, dot ws, mlm, pyramid, western samoa, western somoa, work at home
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Multiple 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.
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, “
No one is perfect, and WIPO and NAF are not exceptions to that rule.
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.