discredit.org

I can’t begin to tell you how long I have been waiting for a rapforum combination to drop from the domain registry.  Last year I almost purchased RapForum.org for an outlandish price.  Lets just say that I am glad that I did not, because RapForum.us makes entirely more sense when it comes to branding purposes and it only cost me around $10.  This domain name dropped from the registry recently and I really am surprised that I was able to register it before anyone else did.  All of the TLD for this domain are taken as well as the .info extension.  From the looks of it the only developed domain is RapForum.info and it definitely looks like it was a failed attempt due to the amount of spam which is currently located on the forum itself.  The TLDs of the domain are either parked or suspended hosting accounts (RapForum.com LOL!).  This gives me a clear path to develop a quality brand.  First, I will either switch one of my vbulletin licenses over to the new domain or register a new license.  Second, I will pay for a custom design for the forum itself as it is important to separate your brand from the masses.  After those two steps are done I will create only a few sections for people to post in and use a combination effort between PPC and recruiting members from other forums to build the site membership.  I really do feel this will be a successful venture and one that I will enjoy as I am an avid listener of this genre of music.

Best Regards,

Jason Thompson

Alright, great keyword but difficult sell due to the cc extension.  Although it is a great keyword lawyer or lawyers would be a much better fit.  I personally don’t tend to utilize the keyword attorney much, but I do use the word lawyer all of the time.  An upside to this domain name could be attorneys that specialize in credit card debt.  Since credit card debt is a huge issue across America there are a number of people looking for attorneys to help them handle this issue.  This domain name could potentially be a gold mine once developed, key-phrase in this sentence is once developed.  I can’t see the domain alone going for much, perhaps it will sell for the max of $500.  Lets see if I am right or wrong on this!

Best Regards,

Jason Thompson

Next auction on Bido.com is for ZNM.com, a three letter domain name that could potentially be a winner.  Now lets dig deep into the value potential of such a domain name.  Lets start with the potential abbreviation for these three letters, for this we will use acronymfinder.com.  According to the website there are no abbreviations that can be found for ZNM.  This is definitely not a good start, but that doesn’t deteriorate the value of such a name.  Keep in mind the three letter combination alone is worth four figures.  Now onto my personal opinion for the domain name.  In all honesty, I am not a big fan of domain names that start with the letter Z as there is limited potential for development.  The last letter in the alphabet is just not normally useful for establishing a company brand.  Now if we move backwards a few paces to the letter X then we might have something here.  All in all, if I were to bid on this domain name I probably wouldn’t spend more than $1,000 on it.  I am sure that there are those of you who feel different and will probably bid this domain name to the sky.  I look forward to watching the auction!

Best Regards,

Jason Thompson

Today I was a bit late visiting the Bido site, so I will write about my opinion of the price that Pizzeria.us was acquired for.  This review is solely my opinion!  I’ve got to admit this Bido system is working quite well, for a domain name with a .us extension to get as much attention and bids as it did is quite an amazing feat.  I’ve also got to confess that I am quite surprised that the domain itself ended up selling for the total price of $648 to winning bidder locomo.  Well locomo, you must have some grand blueprint to make this domain a winner.  Now back to the main point I would like to make.

1.  I have ordered pizza before on the internet, mainly from companies with established brands such as Pizza Hut or Papa John’s.

2.  If I do decide to search for the delightful menu item in google I normally type Pizza.  Simple and plain as it tends to yield the results that I am looking for.

3.  I have never searched for a pizza place using the name pizzeria, so this complete cancels out the direct type-in potential of the domain itself.

Now with the keyword pizzeria it is a decent name but the .us extension does not make this domain name valuable to me, in fact I am surprised this domain name was not listed in an auction thread on namepros.com with a $1 starting price.  Therefore, I might be a bit crucial but I definitely don’t think there is much potential for a domain like pizzeria.us, simply because the only potential would be to spend more money on the domain trying to establish it as a better brand.  Better bidoing next time!  Stay tuned tomorrow for my review of ZNM.com and for an explanation of why I decided to submit sirloins.net into the Bido site!

Best Regards,

Jason Thompson

For more information on the daily Bido auction feel free to visit the following link:

www.bido.com

Over the weekend I decided to renew the domain name sirloins.net, it’s never easy to renew a domain name that you haven’t had the chance to develop in over a year.  I decided to renew this domain because I feel it has a great amount of potential.  It would be a great asset to a company that specializes in selling high quality cuts of meat.  I think such a domain would easily go for around a couple of grand.  Note to self:  Look into developing Sirloins.net and tap into the potential of this great domain!  Maybe, I will try submitting it to the Bido auction service and see what kind of bids I can bring in from there.

Best Regards,

Jason Thompson

Alright,

I created a schedule for myself that I will use as a skeleton to follow daily.  The schedule includes everything from batching tasks such as laundry to exercising and going to the market for groceries.  I have to say, since today is the first day that I am actually following this schedule that it seems to be working well.  If I spend too much time on a task, I won’t hold it against myself as the schedule is something that can change through out the day.  As I learn the actual timeline that it takes to complete certain agendas I will tweak the schedule accordingly.  In fact, I have actually scheduled to type this blog entry today.

Onwards!

Within the last few months I have really taken a liking to print.  I have been able to find a handful of customers on craigslist creating business cards for them.  Graphic design is definitely something that I have always had a knack for.  Here is a design that I recently completed for a client.

I designed both the client’s logo and business card.  The client was very happy with the outcome and I look forward to working on future projects for them.  With the completion of my last client project, I have decided to try to market my print business in a number of different ways.  In addition to craislist I have started promoting the service on ebay to see what kind of customers I can draw in.  Here is a listing that I currently have up:  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=300310149221

I am using the Vendio service to promote on ebay as it allows me to create listings fast.  I am not happy with the default templates they currently offer, so I will eventually design a custom one which reflects the type of design that my service offers.  In a week or two I will also establish a blog with a unique concept on business cards, one that will be easy to remember and again allow me to advertise my services while providing insightful information for my readers.

As a creative endeavour I like to use my computer to make music.  I tend to do this as a hobby to keep my creative mindset flowing.  I have come up with an idea to create a new music loop daily.  Although challenging it will allow me to continue to zone in on the skillset I have developed for music.  My alias for music is DJ Rebel Reason and you can view the loop daily blog here:  http://loopdaily.blogspot.com/

This is my chance to share my music with the world.  I have decided to allow other creative mindsets to utilize my music loops for there own projects as long as they credit me for the original creation.  After six months of creating loops, I will start to make the compile the loop daily volume 1 cd and make it available for purchase via different outlets.  The loop cd will feature higher quality versions of loops available on the site and have several different formats available.

And what about domaining Jason?

Ahh yes, that wonderful thing called domaining.  I don’t know if it’s just me but there hasn’t been much excitement in the domaining world lately.  I mean, the market appears to be completely saturated and there really is a limited potential of growth to really exceed in such a market at this time.  I’ve also noticed a limited number of acquisitions occurring lately, that definitely proves to me that the financial issues the world is currently experiencing has definitely hit the domaining sector hard.  There is no middle class in domaining, there are the hobbyists and there are the professionals.  This gap that has been created goes hand in hand with the way the economy is currently emerging.  As the middle class struggles to pay of credit debt, balloon mortgages and still provide for there families you are seeing more people struggling as opposed to progressing.  Most of the forum members on namepros.com, dnforum.com and a few other popular domaining sites are struggling.  The active members tend to be the ones which are trying to sell anything and everything often below market value.  It is a sad site to see, so I have begun to moderate my domain purchases more and shifted some of my focus into development rather then domain registrations.  I ask myself, how long this chapter in history will continue for and I do not see a clear path to a conclusion anytime soon.

Best Regards,

Jason Thompson

What does an ISP and the FBI have in common?  How about a raid on April 2, 2009 in Dallas, Texas.  Recently a raid on Core IP Networks took place early on Thursday morning.  Apparently from a thread on webhostingtalk and a pcworld article, they were either targeting the founder of the company or a customer that apparently doesn’t even co-locate with Core IP!

Shaggy:  This sounds like another mystery for Scooby Doo!
Scooby:  Scooby dooby doo!
Shaggy:  Uh oh, scooby it looks like those FBI agents are placing scooby snacks all over the city to confuse you from finding the true culprit of this so called raid!

I couldn’t help but put a humorous twist on this situation since the FBI is not voluntarily releasing any information.  I also find it funny how such an investigation was taking place without any sort of contact to the owner prior to the raid!  What’s even more puzzling is if they are going after the owner, why was there no  surveillance being conducted to hone in on the owner’s location?  He wasn’t home nor was he at the datacenter, this will make you laugh!  The owner was actually out of town in Phoenix, Arizona!  Talk about some sophisticated intelligence gathering!  So lets see the FBI gets the datacenter, decides to take the entire network down and continues to leave it down as I type this blog posting.  Here is some information gathering I have done myself which has come straight from the horse’s mouth:

April 4, 2009

Matthew Simpson
Core IP Networks LLC

Dear Customers,

Today at 6:00am, the FBI conducted an unwarranted early morning raid of our 2323 Bryan Street     Datacenters, on the 7th and 24th floors.

I received a phone call at 6:05am from our NOC that the entire network was powered off. I called Capstar Commercial and TELX, our landlord, and was told that the FBI was in the datacenter with a search and seizure warrant. I asked that the agent in charge call me immediately.

I received a call 15 minutes later from FBI Agent Allyn Lynd. Mr. Lynd would not tell me why he raided our datacenter or what he was looking for. He also accused me of hiding inside my house in Ovilla, Texas. I was actually in Phoenix, Arizona when this happened. I told him that, and he told me that he was “getting the dogs” after me, and hung up on me. I found out from an employee that there were 15 police cars and a SWAT team at my home in Ovilla.

The FBI has seized all equipment belonging to our customers. Many customers went to the data center to try and retrieve their equipment, but were threatened with arrest.

Neither I, nor Core IP are involved in any illegal activities of any kind. The only data that I have received thus far is that the FBI is investigating a company that has purchased services from Core IP in the past. This company does not even colocate with us anywhere, much less 2323 Bryan Street Datacenter.

Currently nearly 50 businesses are completely without access to their email and data. Citizen access to Emergency 911 services are being affected, as Core IP’s primary client base consists of telephone companies.

If you run a datacenter, please be aware that in our great country, the FBI can come into your place of business at any time and take whatever they want, with no reason.

I can be reached for further comment at: mnsclec@gmail.com
Further information will be given as it becomes available.

Yours,
Matthew Simpson
CEO, Core IP Networks, LLC

Now I will play the devil’s advocate here.  If you were the CEO of such a company is it wise to publicly showcase your feelings about a certain occurrence without the proper representation of a lawyer?  Further more you are going to criticize such an entity known to have such immense power to do whatever they want to do, with the exception of walking on water!  My advice to Matthew Simpson is to play this event a little more secretively because simply showing you distaste for the FBI will eventually destroy your case when you are due one in the rightful eyes of the law.  In other words, shut your trap Matt and play it safe.  The members of webhostingtalk and readers around the world are watching you.  To put it further, we are on your side bud as no one likes to see such an occurrence happen, especially during these times.  From what I have read, you seem to have established a successful operation and I would hate to see anything happen which will further incriminate you from what you have already stated in your defense.  Best thing to say is nothing at all, I am sure you’re company will be impacted severely by such an occurrence and if you are innocent I surely hope that you will be fully compensated for any losses and damages that have taken place.

Best Regards,

Jason Thompson