Leaked audio tape from NamesCorn.
Well-known domain investor Ronald Dronk, was surprised this morning to learn that his microphone was live before the session at last year’s NamesCorn conference in Las Vegas.
The tape, released last night, contains remarks Mr. Dronk made to the session moderator while preparing for his talk, “Why my portfolio is so huge.”
Mr. Dronk was recorded commenting on what he allegedly is able to get away with in the domain investment community.
“When you’re a famous domainer like me, you can get away with anything. Anything. I can register any domain I want. Any domain. And if it’s taken, I can make moves on it anyway, because I’m a famous domainer.
I can grab any domain by the TLD and nobody questions me. It’s fantastic. Fantastic, believe me!”
When questioned about these unsavory comments, Mr. Dronk defended them saying:
“It’s just domain registry room talk. Nothing more than registry room talk. I apologize if any ICANN board members were offended, but really, I’m just saying that because I have to.”
Further comments about the size of his hands indicating a particular domain portfolio deficiency, were met with legal threats by his lawyer.
It’s unfortunate that such incidents can turn a great domain conference such as NamesCorn into a college kids’ playground.
Story first reported by Chris Ambler, who asked us not to give him any credit.
Scarier is when he pops in a Tic Tac and grabs a domain by the DNS, because he’s famous. When you’re famous and have the evangelical support you can get away with it.
Jeff – Definitely so. Expect that soon, at least a pair of abused, expired domains will come forward to share what he did to them at Network Solutions, years ago.
Nice article, made me laugh out loud!