NamePros “domains for sale” section.
An innovative software product by NameThreads.com, seeks to provide a better search engine for domains for sale at NamePros.
The third party service is not affiliated with the domain forum, and describes its mission as follows:
“Easily search all the domains for sale in Namepros.com. We have well over 100,000 domains in our database.
Domain re-sellers trade their domains cheaply on Namepros.com but until now it has been very hard to search for specific domains according to your requirements.”
Offering two types of paid membership, NameThreads allows its users to search thousands of domain names listed at NamePros, using a extensive variety of filters and parameters. It clearly caters to “end-user” buyers, looking for domains for their business.
There are, however, questions about such data mining, including the understanding that domain sales threads are being “scraped” and their listed domains stored in an offline system, classified, and made available outside of the forum, without the explicit consent of the sellers themselves.
The reference by NameThreads that resellers are offering their domains “cheaply” on NamePros can also be misconstrued as valuation advice.
Perhaps the issue is with the NameThreads business model, that seeks to make money for what it provides; questions about the “freshness” of such listings, or the potential of data repackaging are both valid concerns, along with related privacy concerns: not everyone wants a domain’s availability to be known outside of the constraints of the listing venue.
For the time being, NamePros leaders have responded that the forum is not affiliated with the NameThreads product, and 64% of voters in a poll believe NamePros should disallow it.
In an ongoing debate and associated poll among its members, Paul Buopanane, tech admin for NamePros, stated:
“We think it’s great that people are finding better, more creative ways to utilize NamePros, although we don’t officially endorse any specific projects right now. Of course, we’re continuing to develop the tools available on NamePros.com. “
To read the entire exchange and debate about NameThreads.com, click here.
