It's a PR disaster!
We mentioned before that the .Nxt publication is a great resource of facts and opinions about the general domain industry.
Dot .Nxt is generally anti-ICANN but very objective in its coverage of events.
While posts are sparse, the latest one is definitely entertaining.
Titled “The five biggest PR disasters of 2011” it showcases the five worst moments of domain-related incidents that ruined the publicity of the companies or individuals who initiated them.
I agree that ICANN’s Beckstrom and GoDaddy’s Parsons both belong on the 2011 loser list for the reasons stated, but I would like to add my nominations for 2012.
#3. Stuart Lawley after his .XXX tld effectively causes thousands of innocent G-rated companies to cough up the equivalent of extortion money to pay for a .XXX extension that they neither want or need.
I suspect that the .XXX tld will cum and go (sorry!) within the year, but nevertheless, it was a bad idea which should never have been approved and will be deserving of next years’ loser award.
#2. Rick Schwartz after he stopped blogging and forced us all to find something else to do with our precious time. Ok, actually this was 2011, but the ramification will be felt in 2012. Rick, please re-consider…
And the #1 loser of 2012 award goes to …Rod Beckstrom (again) for allowing the fiasco of gTLD proposal to take shape. So caught up in his sily starfish analogy, I believe that he felt the need to screw up a perfectly good naming system. Jon Postel must be turning in his grave over the havoc this one term ICANN president caused. If it is possible to “ruin” the internet, this is as close as it gets.
Luckily, I suspect the auto-correcting nature of the net will rectify itself and cause the foolish tld concept to quickly fail (think .mobi, .travel, .aero, .museum, .biz, .jobs, .pro, .tel, .cat and yes, Virginia, .xxx), but nonetheless, Beckstrom and his team of overpaid ICANN cronies are, in my opinion, all well deserving of the 2012 award.
Internet Observer, I like your style 😀 But you should stick to using one alias and email 😉
I agree with Internet Observer on two things: .XXX will fizzle and thud within the year 2012; and, for the same reason, the gtld extensions will eitehr never take place or suffer the same fate.
If netizens wanted the tld field to be expanded, .biz and .mobi would have caught on long ago. If you want to be taken seriously, you need a .com — period.
Know anyone using a .tel? Me either.
Thanks for listening.