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JILL PASKOFF WROTE:
>I recently received a notice from E-NIC that said I
>could register my existing domains with the .cc
>extension (as opposed to .com, .org, .net, etc.).
I think a lot of people have received those messages
from Enic, who's evidentally going through Internic's
Whois looking for domains. Fortunately for them, since
they're using a direct mail approach instead of e-mail,
this is (for whatever reason) considered to be okay.
Admittedly, though, the idea of a new extension is
definitely an appealing concept (even if it is
relatively unknown and higher priced in comparison to
.com).
If you have a domain or two and want to protect that
identity, getting a .cc domain may be in your best
interest, especially if your internet identity is
important to your business. Then again, you may not
want to do that and save your money for another
investment you think will benefit you more. One of
three things may happen if you don't buy the added
extension.
1) Some company like iDomain may scoop it up and sell
it for outrageous amounts ($5000 and up), which would
lead to one of two situations. a) No one would wind up
buying it (personally, I'd rather change my identity
than expanding iDomain's ability to snap up another
hundred or so domains), whether it's because it's not
attractive or not attractive enough for the hefty price
tag (many sites are worth that money and then some, but
unestablished ones are tough to justify with that huge
markup). b) Someone might wind up buying it and invest
largely into establishing it (if they're going to spend
well over 50 times the value of the domain, they
obviously need to do something to get a good return on
it). This would make them seem like the company that
put that name on the map (even if they've got .cc
instead of .com, if they establish it and have the
eyeballs, people are going to know them more than the
original).
2) Some other person or company may grab it. Since they
won't have as large an initial investment in it as
situation 1, they may not be as much of a threat as
someone who were to purchase it for overly inflated
rates. However, it is still possible for them to
establish it, which may become problematic for your
identity in the future. Of course, it's also entirely
possible that it won't cause you any identity problems
as well.
3) No one else will grab it. With over 200 million web
sites (millions of which are domains) and a new one
being added every 6 seconds (could be less), and
particularly if .cc catches on, this is at best a game
of chance (and most likely the least likely situation
to occur).
Given those potential situations, if you've got a
fairly small net presence domainwise (even if that
domain's got 10's of thousands of visitors/day, or
maybe even moreso if it's really popular), spending the
$100 to protect your identity is something to strongly
consider. If you look at the situations, it comes out
to about half good, half bad (as far as potential harm
to the business/name), but the cost is low enough to
prevent the half bad from showing up. Granted, if
you're one of those entities who has dozens of domains,
you'd need to weigh potential cost and see if it's
necessary to have that protection (and if so, which of
them is worth protecting).
Also, in both cases, you may want to consider if you're
just better off purchasing another domain and expanding
your presence as opposed to buying the same domain with
a different extension (read: is it better for you to
have yoursite.com and yoursite.cc or yoursite.com and
yoursite2.com?).
If the new extensions are accepted (of which there are
7 - any, all, or none may go through, though I haven't
heard much new info on this in a while), your concern
(and that of many) will increase greatly (well beyond
just the .cc or .nu names). While it will provide a
much needed breather from the problems of .com, .net,
and .org (frankly, it's very difficult to find a good
one any more, and certainly rare to get your first
choice - that's what the point is and what makes the
idea so welcomed), concerns (and thus costs) over
protecting internet identity will increase to that much
higher of a level than before.
I don't really foresee any one right answer to your
question. It's all based on circumstances, and each
e-business is likely to follow its own course on this
matter depending on their individual priorities/needs
and how they view the above points.
Shane Sacobie
VGF.Net
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Received on Thu Nov 18 1999 - 16:10:29 CST
