TRAFFIC East 2005 – Photos courtesy DNJournal / Ron Jackson.
Looking back at domain news coverage from 10 years ago appears to be a venture into a mystic world, laden with esoteric terminology and reclusive players.
And yet, in the ten years that passed since 2005, a domain article that appeared on CNN Money still offers a refreshing look into the microcosm of domain investing.
Featuring Rick Schwartz and his $65,000 Rolex, Frank Schilling and his shoulder-long hair, Marchex, Mike Bahlitzanakis and his idol Yun Ye, the CNN article is titled “Masters of their domains.”
“On a balmy night in late October, hundreds of partiers, most sporting red or blue Hawaiian shirts, pack the Delux nightclub in Delray Beach, Fla. It’s a swank place–outdoor decks, two bars, plush, bed-size sofas scattered throughout–and the crowd arrives in chartered buses and stretch Hummers. Many head straight for the guy rolling cigars and toss back shots as if it were 1999. Which, to them, it might as well be.
They call themselves domainers. They make their living buying and selling domain names and turning their Web traffic into cash–lots of it. They have gathered in Delray Beach for a trade show called Traffic that this year boasts 300 paying attendees, more than twice the number that came for the first show, in ’04.
The man behind the conference, Rick Schwartz, couldn’t be happier–and he isn’t even around when midnight strikes and bikini-clad women take to the dance floor to raffle off prizes and peel off their tops.”
In the 10 years since this article was written, many things have changed.
Rick Schwartz sold both his Candy.com and Porno.com mentioned in the article, along with iReport.com to CNN itself. TRAFFIC is no more. Frank Schilling’s hair is short, and he operates his very own domain empire from Uniregistry. Yun Ye’s name rarely ever gets mentioned.
But the nostalgia of those days, tossed with a sprinkle of forward-thinking in an expanding Internet name space definitely lives on.
Click here to read the full article.
Ah the traffic, the traffic…the damn traffic!
Party like it’s 1699!