Afternic Removes Adult and Gambling Domains

[penguinmama]

As long as it's an individual service saying "WE will not allow this on OUR servers" I can see no problem with it. The problem is when THE GOVERNMENT says "You cannot have this on YOUR servers." Individuals - business owners - should have the option to allow or deny whatever they want... it is THEIR server/business/etc.

[hokeshel]

It doesn't make me nervous at all. It isn't like they have nowhere else to go. In fact,
forcing them to let gambling and adult sites when they do not want to would make me much more nervous. You can't stand up for the site owners and say have the right to run it however they want and then they that the servers do not. That smells like domestic communism.

[LyricB]

Well put, hokeshel. I agree with you...people can always take their business elsewhere if they want to.

[goodkarmaco]

Its not about what they want in their site. I was a member for years and myself and others are disgusted at the way the did this. I have removed all my names from them and a lot of other domainers have too.

The reason is they are taking perfectly good names and categories and deleting all that have any notion of the not accepted terms. For instance my popebendeictxv1.org was listed as not acceptable. I assume because it has dick or maybe ope in the the name and the system sees it as porn or dope. Thousands of names like that are not acceptable.

People who own names like gayforum are deleted. Many people are contacting gay rights groups as it is clearly slamming those folks.

NO folks unless you have been in the middle of it you have no idea how communistic their approach has been. They say things like poker is not a good image for the domain industry, hah.. The biggest players on wall st are gambling casinos like ballys, harrahs, sands, etc.

Almost every state in the united states allows gambling in one form or another.

We don't need industry leaders who self proclaim rightousness by saying owners of perfectly legal names and terms are promoting hate and violence. That is done to look good for the new owners who just bought Afternic. Shame on them for doing that.

Plus the fact they did it with one simple email.

So in essence if you paid for a years membership and you see Afternic selling gambling domains you go out and register some, right? So you invest your money and buy some names and think you have the right to do that.

Then without giving you a years notice they fly off a email slamming the owners of such names as those who promote violence and hatred, shame on them for that.

Take your names out of Afternic, do not use them again untill new management owns up to what they have done and they apoligise for their actions.

If we don't do that we will get walked on by all the other places that sell our names.

Thumbs down to Afternic

[zach]

I got many names banned. I got many emails from them telling me which names would be removed. here is the latest:

Quote:Thank you for submitting your name(s) to Afternic for listing. We have made a commitment to our visitors to not show names which promote hate, sex, obscenity or self-destructive behavior, such as substance abuse, violence or gambling.
In addition, we cannot list names which violate trademarks, servicemarks, copyrights or other materials protected under US or international law.

Unfortunately, we cannot accept the following (2) name(s).

PokerCapacity.com
PokerPrepared.com

Our review process was conducted utilizing a process of both technology and human analysis. You may request an appeal for any of the domain names listed for removal. Simply send our customer service department a message with the domain name you would like to have reviewed by visiting Afternic Send a message to Afternic

We appreciate your business, and look forward to continuing to service your domain name needs.

Sincerely,

Afternic Staff

I guess the world is safer now that those two poker names are not listed... (?)


I definitely agree with you, goodkarmaco.

I know that you have been an afternic member for many years, and that you have contributed greatly to their community (one of the best posters in their community and you always gave great suggestions for their development). It's a shame that they decided to pull this on their members.

Free speech is important, or at least for one principle reason: Why should one person, company or institution decide for an entire community what is 'right', 'kosher', or 'good-values'. Although Afternic states that they "have no interest in censorship and that we fully support First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and expression", this obviously isn't the case.

They then say that you can go post your banned names on another brokerage, so that makes Afternic's move alright. Well it doesnt... If they ban it, it doesn't mean that others won't. And even if no one else bans them, it still dosen't justify Afternic's ban.

Let's take an example: if one country 'bans' people of a certain hair colour, and deports them, it doesnt make it OK just because other countries aren't doing it!

As for the issues that goodkarmaco mentioned, about sloppy recognition and scanning, it just makes things worse.

I am very disappointed with afternic. And you can quote me on that.


Do you think that the new owners will keep this ban or will they lift it? If you look at BuyDomains portfolio, it looks pretty 'clean' (according the Afternic's standards). The worst that I could find was "AdultPartnerFinder.com". No 'fuck' or 'sex' pr 'poker'.

[Lenandlar]

Wasn't the internet about freedom and sharing and all the good things OR was it about dictatorship where the elite few run the show?

[goodkarmaco]

Zach,

I thank you for the compliment and yes I put a lot of time and energy into the discuss names forum and many fine domainers posted there too. I used to take much pride in the community there.

You are correct also about how I managed to get thru a couple times and implement some new change for the better.

They actually listened to us and that is a good sign of of a great forum.

But something happened and now they don't answer people who want answers.

Member after member asking questions, looking for some explanation and none came forward. The shock of that kind of treatment took a while for some of us to engage.

Today the very best have left and that will surely have a impact on them. Zach, one thing for sure, I am not leaving domaining and what small contribution I can make I will continue to do so. For now I am dedicated to encouraging domain owners to not let these types of actions go without cost.

Industry leaders will only know our influence if we stand up when we are mistreated. As others have stated before me if we allow them to have no regard for the very people who fuel this industry and that is you and me who register the names we will be mistreated in other auction houses too.

Standing together we have a strong voice. That voice is we are important to the industry.




Even if they have an agenda, how they pulled it off is the key to professionalism.

In other words if they had simply stated they don't want such names they do have that right.

But as a industry leader on their landing page you will see a almost dictorial statement.

That names that have any refrence to an adult term even if the name could be used for education purposes are to be labeled by the domain industry as not up to professional standards for the small business community.

In other words they are saying if you want to register under the new terms your name must not have any refrence to perfectly legal activities in America. If you want to have a name in their system called ladiesnight it would be banned!

I think the amount of names taken out is staggering. I remember a few weeks ago Afternic announced they now have over four million names for sale.

The new letter declaring the sale of Afternic yesterday announces they now have a little over one million names! Where did the three million missing names go?

But the real slap in the face to us who have built up their wealth and made the name Afternic a industry leader is the way we are treated when they want to promote their agenda.

Can you imagine how some very successful domainers feel when for years Afternic encouraged them to sell their gambling names and to park them?. They also were happy to charge us domainers a fee to get an appraisal with adult names or gambling names.

I never paid for appraisals as they are worthless in the real world of domains. But Afternic made hundreds of thousands of dollars from domainers with the very names they are banning now.

So if all of this is approved by Afternic and actually encouraged, does it seem rude to you that with no notice at all in one email on one day you are told that the rightous good ol boys at Afternic have announced you own names that are a bad example?.

You are told your names promote hate and violence.

Ha, they should change their name to comedy central as they are really losing it.

Do you like hypocrites?

Think about this. At the same time they are taking out everyones names they are taking in thousands of dollars by appraising the same kind of names and charging a big fee to do so.

Plus they are allowing people to bid on and pay for the names in the auction houses. You would think a big company like that who announced those names are promoting hate and violence would not even allow a sale to go thru.

Pages after pages of the very kind of names deleted were selling daily after the announcement and appraisals were too!.

Hypocrites in my view.

Yes I used to support Afternic with all my energy. Now my hope is you will join me and not support them.

Heres my capper to how silly they behave..


Only six weeks before we received the President of Afternics announcement by Roger Collins, he was on a private yacht doing of all things, playing poker for money with his buddies from the Traffic domain convention they were attending!.

So how does that settle with your sense of right and wrong?

If you are going to declare that poker is a bad image for the domain industry leaders such as Afternic why in the world would you play poker for money with the industry leaders of the auction houses?.

This is no small thing for Afternic.

In my opinion they will never be the same.

Its up to us to make it known we want industry leaders who set the proper example by promoting professionalism and supporting the names we all own.


See the Presidnet of Afternic, Roger Collins gambling on a private yacht only six weeks ago with money probably earned from gambling domains or adult names from the members in Afternic.. scoll down the page you will see the newly converted Afternic President "raking it in".

Heres the link to the dnjournal article only six weeks before Afternic denounces such activity as not being a professional image for domainers.


West Coast Domain Owners Meet at DomainFest LA 2006


You know before the announcement I used to think that photo was cool.
I thought, some day when I sell a big name I want to go to the Traffic convention, as these industry leaders look like a cool bunch of guys, casually playing poker with anyone and having fun.

Now I see that photo and am disgusted about how they treated me and my fellow domain members.

Join me by leaving Afternic.

In my opinion why pet the dog that pisses on your leg.

[Dave Zan]

penguinmama Wrote:I can't see how they can call it censorship, when there are plenty of OTHER places they can go to do their thing. I can't speak to hypocrisy, as I don't know the company's other business practices.

Well, the last 2-3 posts above might answer your question.

[Plumley]

Wow, even worse than I thought. Zach, goodkarmaco, thanks for providing some details. It's not a good thing when any organization sets itself up as an arbiter of what's good, or bad, for everybody else. I can understand why customers are unhappy and indignant, especially in light of the shoddy treatment that accompanied the moralizing.

[goodkarmaco]

Plumley,

Nice to know other folks feel that type of behavior is not acceptable to them either. I notice some members of Afternic are laying real low, they think this is a one time blow. Trust me, when total disregard for the economic welfare of its members are witnessed once it will happen again.

As domainers we want to be aligned with professional leaders and members. Why waste our time and resources supporting those who are quick to sell us out.

Plumley, you made my day. Hopefull others will do the same.