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New members, quantity over quality?

Discussion in 'General Board' started by ian, Oct 27, 2016.

  1. monaghan United Kingdom

    monaghan Well-Known Member

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    Not sure of the options available in the software, but could we have an option to discuss sales threads in a non-indexed section of the site? This would allow legitimate questions & comment without the worry of value discussions showing on Google.
     
  2. Domain Forum

    Acorn Domains Elite Member

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    IWA Meetup
     
  3. Edwin

    Edwin Well-Known Member

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    I am not talking about sales threads. I am talking about threads involving domains that don't belong to the thread starter at all. (A sales thread, by definition, is about a domain owned by the first poster in the thread).

    It would be a terrible idea to allow discussion about random domains i.e. just whatever domain any poster felt they wanted to talk about.

    For example, if I own XYZ.co.uk but have NEVER posted about it on here or elsewhere, I would be very, very annoyed to find a thread with people talking about the value - or lack of it - of XYZ.co.uk. That's none of anyone's business!

    If I ask for appraisals, then it's 100% fair game.

    If I posted it for sale, then maybe there's a case to allow comments. Though that is likely to turn very nasty very fast, it's human nature.

    But if I didn't post it at all, then it shouldn't be discussable, period.

    I'm making this point now specifically because the discussion is turning towards possibly allowing more leniency around the discussion of particular domains, so I wanted to nip the issue in the bud.
     
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  4. scottmccloud

    scottmccloud Well-Known Member

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    IT'S A DOMAIN NAME DISCUSSION FORUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     
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  5. Edwin

    Edwin Well-Known Member

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    You don't generally find people bantering about the value of a neighbour's property on a property forum. The discussions are around the value of one's own house (if you're thinking of putting it up for sale) or around the value of one you've seen for sale. But there aren't thread after thread about houses that aren't on the market at all and whose owners have made no indication they want to put them on the market.

    Yes, Zoopla etc. will provide an "estimated value" for any property, just like Estibot will for any domain. But that's very very different from having people actively discuss a particular not-for-sale property.
     
  6. ian

    ian Well-Known Member

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    Hmmm, tricky one. If you take cars for example, such as the one I own, the car forums are rife with opinions on the value of them, to be point where the thread has now passed 150 pages worth of argument, not just about the car in general, but specific cars of owners who haven't asked for them to be discussed; I have no issue with this, so the same has to be said for domains I guess. However, I'm not a fan of discussion taking place on someone's 'for sale' thread (unless the seller doesn't mind)...if they want to discuss, take it to another part of the forum. Maybe all 'for sale' and 'wanted' threads can have an option to "allow discussion about this domain" you have to untick to prevent?
     
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  7. Admin

    Admin Administrator Staff Member

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    These threads are always the best :).

    @invincible You could avoid the non-helpful derision of this forum David, you set up your own and failed so you know how hard it is. Don't give harmful and derogatory remarks about someone else's, when they are well meaning and you use their forum. Feedback, ideas etc is good but if you want to criticise my decisions on advertising (those ads are businesses of members here!) and forum creation then you can do the right thing and message me privately if you have to get it off your chest. Speculating about Alan is bang out of order too. You don't know anything of what happened, if you want to ... ask me. Timing was everything, I never even knew about that thread, I enquired to Alan around that time and that is it. Why on earth are you criticising my use of 'admin' publicily? What confusion do you have, I cannot possibly imagine. And no you have not heard from Alan but I heard from him last week. All of this unpleasant noise and speculation has no place for public posting, especially as you are not asking me, you are just putting your crap talk out there... so full declaration, i may delete it as its not within the forums interests for more and more people to read your inaccurate speculation and derision. Rant over.

    Some good points in this thread. It has been mentioned above and I agree that there are some excellent internet entrepreneurs and online business savvy individuals on this forum, I include myself in trying to be one of them. I am not sat here all day looking at Acorn with hours and hours of free time to develop it, unfortunately. Without wishing to brag, I have bought 14 websites in the last year, many from members here. I have bought domains from many of the regular members here. In total I have bought around 700 domains in the last year from Acorn members. I recently hired a prominent member who is highly skilled and experienced with adwords campaign management. There are many talented individuals here with a mix of skills from design, programming, business, IP and of course everything around domaining and doing online business.

    My interests as a keen internet entrepreneur take me into many areas and a look at my postings data shows just what an array of subjects we can discuss here. I've posted in recent history about:

    - nominet - 2fa, keyword searching domain manager and many other things
    - doing end user outreach for domain sales
    - escrow
    - adsense , page level ads etc etc
    - SEO , penguin
    - Google Certified shops
    - reported a good domain sale
    - asking about notable websites uptake/use of .uk
    - Wikipedia editor accounts
    - asked for advice on the best .com registrars and given my experience of transition from 1 major to another
    - LLLL.com valuations
    - SEDO and domain parking, domainmanage feedback and experience
    - content creation in general, textbroker.co.uk etc

    This forum was closed to registrations unless you signed up with a domain email. This had some obvious benefits but stopped most potential domain buyers. I changed this recently which of course has opened us up to easier registrations with gmail addresses. I do my best to deal with spam quickly.

    I believe this forum can discuss and share much more information on the subjects around domaining as there are many here who do not just buy/sell domains, that is actually a side business to their online business ventures and we need to share knowledge on the subjects that wrap around this, especially until the 5 years is up on the .UK situation and UK domaining will get a bit more interesting again.
     
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  8. scottmccloud

    scottmccloud Well-Known Member

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    You'll find threads on motoring forums that point to Ebay auctions talking about how much people think it is worth, is it worth the buy it now price er

    Edwin, I understand that you're a bit touchy about this because of accusations made against you in the past from one (former) member in particular but it's unrealistic not to allow discussions of any domains that you don't own on a domain discussion forum.
     
  9. scottmccloud

    scottmccloud Well-Known Member

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    Great to hear.

    I've said it before, broadening out the discussions to general digital marketing, SEO, starting online businesses will also bring in potential domain buyers too.
     
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  10. Edwin

    Edwin Well-Known Member

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    Cars are FAR less subjective than domains. By several orders of magnitude. We've all seen the stories of so-called "regfee" domains that have sold for big money. Doesn't happen with cars. So equating the two types of discussion isn't really a fair comparison.

    BTW, I hope it was clear (but perhaps not, text's pretty rubbish at nuance) that when I say "I don't want" I am not trying to create a specific rule for myself! It's just how I wrote about the general subject. I don't think anyone should be happy with having domains they've not asked to be discussed getting discussed. There's zero upside, only (potential) downside to such discussions.
     
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  11. martin-s United Kingdom

    martin-s Well-Known Member

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    This is one of the problems with many forums - no one ever takes the time to turn common Q&A content into useful guides.

    There are lots of threads on Acorn which could be merged into really educational guides - which (done well) would have some really nice SEO value too.
     
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  12. Edwin

    Edwin Well-Known Member

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    I agree, with the proviso that an effort is made to keep it as UK relevant as possible.

    Acorn will never be Namepros - and that's a positive not a negative! Better to be the biggest and best fish in a small pond than a fairly random fish in the ocean.
     
  13. Admin

    Admin Administrator Staff Member

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    I actually think Edwin that THERE IS a way for any bright and motivated newbie to join the industry in 2016. Read the sales threads here, look at a certain UK auction site and pick up the gems from £50- £100 and then get doing out reach to end users. It's there for the taking. You need a small amount of money with a self starting, motivated and organised approach.
     
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  14. ian

    ian Well-Known Member

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    Can this forum perhaps be developed into not just UK domains, but UK start-ups and small businesses? There is an opportunity to do this, most of the UK business specific forums out there are full of idiots or those asking the same old question, "what is the easiest way to make money". It would be nice to use the wealth of experience on here (many of us have developed businesses from scratch into success stories) to offer a more professional business forum. The current url may be a sticking point though, perhaps David will donate acorn(couk) to the cause :D :p
     
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  15. invincible

    invincible Well-Known Member

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    @admin - Rather than reply here to your post, I'll send you a message over the next couple of days with a follow up. :)
     
  16. Edwin

    Edwin Well-Known Member

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    That's not incompatible with what I said. I merely pointed out that most people who will present here as newbies in 2016 will NOT persevere to find the kind of route to success that you've described. So most of their posts will inevitably have a similar clueless/defensive/get-rich-quick vibe.

    The kind of self-starters you are talking about don't need to be spoon-fed - they'll go out and dig for the information and get on with it. After all, 100.00% of the information they need to succeed is already on Acorn...

    And hopefully once they've found their feet, they'll rock up at Acorn and share some information about what worked and what didn't (success stories can be really interesting, but so can tales of failure if there's a "learning" to be taken away)
     
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  17. keys United Kingdom

    keys Well-Known Member

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    The low-hanging fruit was taken long ago, and there is tough competiton for lean pickings from the drops. A handful of catchers have the edge to grab all the best domains dropping.

    Success for a newbie lies in the challenge of identifying and contacting potential end users, and being able to explain the benefits of a particular domain purchase. It is far from easy, but there are many domains available with scope for high margin and immediate resale - Admin's example was perhaps exceptional but there are many similar and frequent opportunities.
     
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  18. Lovekraft United Kingdom

    Lovekraft Well-Known Member

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    Edwin, I do remember you saying roughly the same about newbies being unlikely to make any decent kind of money from domaining when I first joined this forum, so that was 6 years ago in 2010! Although I wasn't actually a newbie then I was still very much finding my feet around that time. And you were probably right, those who persevered and and put the time, effort and motivation into into domaining could potentially do quite well and, i feel I personally done ok and I continue to do so more now. However you are also correct, the vast majority of newer people who joined around this time are no longer here, they just didn't learn and thought they could get rich on a few low quality hand reg's. Much like Ian's current complaint about the current wave of newbies so nothing has really changed in that respect!

    It was a much harder game in 2010 than it was in previous years due to the ever continuing lack of quality dropping domains, and it is even harder now in 2016 BUT I do still believe someone new to this starting out now could still do quite well for themselves if they are determined enough, but it is important to realise this is not a get rich quick scheme, it takes time and effort. Domainlore has turned me and many others some great profit's actually, that's buying domains from there for end user resale (I don't make a habit of posting about my sales for various reasons so you won't generally hear me mention them but they do happen). Personally i'm glad i kept at it because i was confident i could make it work (without sounding arrogant I hope, I just had the determination).
     
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  19. Admin

    Admin Administrator Staff Member

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    @Lovekraft is a good example of reaching end users, I gave him 1 domain to try and he found a buyer in one afternoon. I handled the lead from there and the sale and payment completion was protracted and Lovekraft never chased me but some weeks later out of the blue I sent him a 3 figure commission. Forums can build relationships where you can see decency and trust in other members of the community over time.
     
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  20. timter51

    timter51 Well-Known Member

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    If domaining is hard now, I'd love to know what it was like before I joined the fray in 2012... must have been a flipping gold mine. I make more money doing part-time domaining than I do my "proper" work as an education consultant, and I've seen others saying similar things recently.

    Regards the forum, I visit a number of times a day to check the for the sale forums, wanted forum, sold domains, and then anything that's happening in the business forums. I completely agree with what others are saying about opening up discussion around internet marketing / online business specific to the UK, I think a lot of us here are involved in that on the side (or even primarily). There is nowhere decent online to discuss... Warrior Forum is a shambles, and UK business forums don't genuinely atract that kind of discussion. Someone in a different (but similar) thread recently also mentioned the possibilitly of Acorners working on projects together, a great idea I'd be very keen to be involved in if it can be instigated on here.
     
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  21. ian

    ian Well-Known Member

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