INSTRUCTIONS:

This is a poll of forum members on who will benefit and who will be hurt by VeriSign's proposed Wait-Lising Service (WLS) for .COM and .NET. In the top part of the poll, check each party that you think will benefit from WLS. In the bottom part of the poll, check each party that you think will be hurt by the WLS. When you have finished checking all the lines you wish, then hit the vote button.

Please vote twice. First, vote on the poll on this page. Second, click on the link below that shows how much you spend per year catching dropping domains and vote on that page as well.

This is a complex topic with different strongly-held views. It was not easy to design this poll, but hopefully the results will be interesting and even useful. Thank you for your participation.

LINKS TO SECOND PAGE OF POLL:

Click if you pay over $10,000 per year to catch dropping names

Click if you pay $1,000-$10,000 per year to catch dropping names

Click if you pay $1-$1,000 per year to catch dropping names

Click if you do not pay to catch dropping names

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You can also vote in a simple Yes/No poll by Peaceful by clicking here: Yes/No WLS Poll

Why not move all these polls that you are so fond of to thier own section... this is ridiculous, now it is even a Multi- Part poll?

I come in here for other reasons and it is really annoying that I have to literally stumble over your polls every time I do.

Maybe I'm missing something, but if a thread says "poll" in the title - why can't you just skip over it to the next one?

because in this section there are literally 1/2 dozen "polls" now...

Originally posted by Cartoonz
Why not move all these polls that you are so fond of to thier own section... this is ridiculous, now it is even a Multi- Part poll?

I come in here for other reasons and it is really annoying that I have to literally stumble over your polls every time I do.

The poll relates to this topic.

This is a multi-part poll so that we can see if there are different types of results for people with different levels of investment in the process. A number of people seem to appreciate the polls, even the multi-part ones. I limited the added pages to four and they will quickly fade down the list. Just show a little patience and overlook them for a day or two. I do the same with some of the blankety-blank stuff that I read that I do not appreciate... for the sake of the community peace. Some people dislike polls, other people dislike insults. Different views.

OK... I'll make it even easier... I'll bump the other posts up.

I always find the polls interesting as I like to get a gauge of people's sentiment on various issues (to see just how far out of touch I might be )

At the same time, I wouldn't be against Cartoonz' suggestion that they be in their own section, but for completely different reasons than his. It would allow me to zero in on them and make sure I'm not missing any.

I agree and think a separate forum section for polls should be created. You could maybe put a poll link at the top of each forum section which would take you to the relevant polls for that section, which would all be in the poll forum section. I think that would be a better organization.

I only ever use the "view new posts" section personally, which would still contain the polls regardless of where they were sectioned in the site.

With that kind of use then it doesn't matter where you put anything. But for those who read each section, new visitors, people who visit infrequently, having polls in their own section with the relevant polls linked to in each section with say a simple polls link or something similar might make for a better focus. Just a suggestion.

Originally posted by peaceful
I agree and think a separate forum section for polls should be created. You could maybe put a poll link at the top of each forum section which would take you to the relevant polls for that section, which would all be in the poll forum section. I think that would be a better organization.

How would people find polls then?

For example, currently if someone is interested in new extensions and goes to the new extension forum -- they see the new extension poll and the information it provides. If it were in a separate polls-only forum, they would miss it... and I would think there would be minimal participation as well.

(posted this before I saw your posts about a "link" to poll from forum)

Yes the links in the proper forum would be critical if you did make a change . Personally, I surf forums in the way that Safe does - just viewing new posts - so I'm just as happy with the status quo. However, I do like the polls well enough that if there was a special section it is one I would check regularly.

PRELIMINARY DETAILED WLS POLL RESULTS

It is a bit early to tell a lot from the results thus far. It also seems that I was not clear in the poll design and not everyone voted on the main page as well as the drop$-specific subpages. I was hoping that the main page would give an overall summary. The drop$-specific subpages are still valid though and can be summed manually. Nonetheless, here is my shot at some preliminary results:

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1. Starting with the hopefully obvious, people think that VeriSign and SnapNames will benefit from WLS. From the main page poll:

Who will benefit from WLS? (may check more than one):
= VeriSign 14
= SnapNames 9

Who will be hurt by WLS? (may check more than one):
= VeriSign 0
= SnapNames 1

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2. In general, people think that WLS will hurt most categories of people catching names more than it will help them, but will hurt the big spenders less than the little spenders. From the main page poll:

Who will benefit from WLS? (may check more than one)
= People paying over $10,000 per year for drops 6
= People paying $1,000-$10,000 per year for drops 2
= People paying $1-$1,000 per year for drops 3
= People who do not pay to try to catch drops 1

Who will be hurt by WLS? (may check more than one)
= People paying over $10,000 per year for drops 5
= People paying $1,000-$10,000 per year for drops 3
= People paying $1-$1,000 per year for drops 9
= People who do not pay to try to catch drops 4

One of the really interesting things is that this would suggest that most people think that WLS will hurt folks catching drops, but the results of a .Yes/No WLS poll elsewhere in this forum show a majority support WLS. It is not immediately obvious how to reconcile these results -- could be different folks voting, or could be that folks are motivated by emotional response to recent registrar changes or other things than self-interest? Just conjecture
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3. Interestingly, the big spenders themselves are be less optimistic than the little spenders about WLS, based on the following from the $1,000-$10,000 subpage:

Who will benefit from WLS? (may check more than one)
= People paying over $10,000 per year for drops 2
= People paying $1,000-$10,000 per year for drops 4
= People paying $1-$1,000 per year for drops 4
= People paying $1-$1,000 per year for drops 4

Who will be hurt by WLS? (may check more than one)
= People paying over $10,000 per year for drops 9
= People paying $1,000-$10,000 per year for drops 5
= People paying $1-$1,000 per year for drops 7
= People who do not pay to try to catch drops 3

I expected these types of results, which is why I thought it would be worthwhile structuring a multi-page poll (even though the pages it take up space in the forum for a day or so uuntil they fade). Perhaps this means that the little spenders think that the big spenders will do OK with WLS, but the big spenders do not think so themselves? It may also be that the big spenders have spent more time investigating WLS? but that is just a guess on my part. Perhaps this ties in with what Safe said earlier in another thread?

Originally posted by safesys
If i had to guess, I'd say people who have been involved with domains on a professional or semi professional basis for a relatively long time will be against it and those newer to the domain industry will favor it as those who have been around longer (in a serious capacity) will have found ways to work within the confines of their resources imo.

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4. Folks who have good domains (particularly .COMs and .NETs) now are generally seen to benefit from WLS.

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None of this detailed information would be possible with just a one-page poll and is a good way to try to understand why people feel that way they do about WLS in addition to general support or opposition.

That's it for now. Comments welcome. If you have not voted, please do so. If you have voted in a sub-page but not on the main page, please vote on the main page. Thanks

i find it funny the only 0 is verisign not benefitting from WLS.

What do you guys think, will we survive the WLS evolution
or will we be crushed by the monsters (BuyDomains, Ultsearch).

The way I see it is this:

If BD has the money to bid $5k-8k on a $2k domain
and WIN it, what stops them from using that $8k to
buy 300 WLS subscriptions and SECURING the domain
for $24/$26. Assuming they spend an average of
$4k-15k on domains PER DAY, they could literally
put a WLS on any half decent name dropping within
the next few months (or whatever the cut off date is
for WLS') using that same money, and still end up
spending less.

Here is another scenario.

They scan a domain database which is a few months away
from the drop. Say, the drop date is going to be 8-22-03.
Now, there are about 150 names which fall into their
"MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS". So they've placed WLS
subscriptions on those 150 domains, which cost them $3600 (
assuming $24/WLS). Now, we all KNOW that they're known
to bid $3600, $5,000, $10,000 every day on good domains
so the $3600 is really a drop in the bucket for them.

Now, lets say their daily budget wasn’t 150 WLS subscriptions
but 500 ($12k). I don't remember too many days with 500+
GREAT (BD quality) domains dropping in a single drop, so
that's an example way off the charts. Getting to the point, what
stops them from securing the 150 GOOD names and the 350 crap
names? Nothing.

People complain now, but I gotta feeling that when WLS comes
along a lot of the complainers are gonna have to pack their
bags and find a different job.

Your input is appreciated.
Luc L.

Originally posted by DomainRetriever
People complain now, but I gotta feeling that when WLS comes
along a lot of the complainers are gonna have to pack their
bags and find a different job.

I don't think any of this represents ANY form of "game over" for small players (or even big players). It is simply a changing of some rules in the same old game. We will all adjust or suffer the consequences.

This will however be "game over" for many people now who rely on being able to determine good names 1-3 months in advance of their drops. Clearly the rules are changing.

My only real concern is that BuyDomains begins to reserve huge numbers of names "semi-good or semi-bad" that may never have any real value, and therefore are effectively taken off the market after they expire. I'll be watching closely to see how it all goes, and hoping BuyDomains keeps to the notion of only "catching" "good names". Otherwise, it may as well register many "unregistered" names sitting out there right now. Big players like BD or UltSearch know that just because someone had registered it before doesn't make it viable.

~ Nexus