Domain name nostalgia

A look back at the domain name industry ten years ago this month.

I’ve been writing Reglike for 14 years. Over 11,000 posts.

The domain name industry has changed a lot over time. This morning I looked back at what was going on this month ten years ago in April 2009.

That month I launched a fresh site design (pictured). Back then I took videos with a Flip Camera. And I thought nothing of flying to Vegas to party with other domainers. (OK, I’d still do that but it was easier when I was ten years younger.)

I wrote 100 posts that April. It’s a snapshot into what the domain industry was like back then. Here are some of the stories…

Parking was notable back then but revenue was falling. Remember when Parked purchased WhyPark? This will bring back memories of mini sites, too. Sedo picked up RevenueDirect a couple of months ahead of. Frank Schilling’s Name Administration was trying to court direct advertisers for its domains.

GeoDomains were also hot back then. Remember the GeoDomain Expo?

Network Solutions settled a class action for frontrunning. The registrar was reserving domains when someone searched for them. It held them for four days so that clients could only register the domains at Network Solutions during this period. The firm stated it was doing this to block others from frontrunning. So it was frontrunning to stop frontrunning. It was a bad idea.

A firm called Live Current was selling some of its great domain names counting Vietnam.com and Body.com for $400,000 each.

ICANN tied bonuses to the fresh top level domain rollout. Applications wouldn’t be accepted for another three years. (ICANN was also in growth mode.)

Sedo launched SedoMLS, enabling registrars to offer aftermarket inventory on their sites. Afternic’s DLS launched a couple of years ahead of that.

We were harping for bigger “for sale” notices on parked domains. It took a while for this to happen.

That was also the month Susan Boyle became an overnight sensation (see video below). When she went viral so did the website at SusanBoyle.com. But the singer didn’t own it.