new gTLDs Archives – Developed NYC

New domain name endings – hidden motives for and against them

I love thoughtful debate and reflection. I love being understood and then challenged. (Being misunderstood and then challenged isn't so much fun!) I'm comfortable having my mind changed and admitting it. More broadly, it's a great feeling to solve a problem, knowing that all variables have been considered, feedback received, reflections contested and solutions iterated.

In the domain investing world the big issue for the last five or so years has been "What effect will new gTLDs have on the internet?"

If you're new to this topic, in brief, about 5 years ago there was an expansion of the internet naming system - instead of .coms, .nets and .orgs over 1,000 other domain endings (e.g. .nyc, .tech and .guru) were scheduled to launch. This made some domain investors nervous and other excited. Non-domain investors (most of the world) didn't flinch - they're just finding out this happened!

Back then (2014-ish) there were people right out of the gate who…

New domain investors should avoid new gTLDs (including .nyc domains?)

While my intention with this site, developed.nyc, is to promote .NYC usage and discuss news relevant to the geoTLD space - I love learning and talking about domains in general - even .coms which aren't disappearing anytime soon!

For those of you who are new to buying domain names (e.g. .coms, .nycs or .whatevers) - especially considering investing in them, there are a few key resources that you must check out and there are some names in the game who have some great advice.

DomainSherpa.com - A weekly vlog with interesting and entertaining interviews with big and small investors (usually a panel of 3) as well as those in related fields. Media Options (Drew Rosener and Tess Diaz) took over Domain Sherpa after founder Michael Cyger moved on to pursue other projects). I especially like the few interviews with Ali Zandi (his tips helped my sales - gmail Streak extension and concise email wording) and of course the videos with Domain Shane are just entertaini…

Rick Schwartz .scared or .caring?

For readers who do not know Rick Schwartz, he is an early .com domain investor. He started trading adult related 800 numbers and moved into adult related .coms and made millions from premium generic, keyword .com domains.

He was in the right place at the right time and had the experience and skill to seize the opportunity to profit from buying .com domains, holding them for a long time and waiting for the perfect end user to come knocking and buy the domain for top dollar. On his website ricksblog.com he mentions that he has only ever sold 35 of his 6500 domain names, which may give him 6,465 reasons why he is so strongly against new gTLDs - more on this later.

Let me start from the gTLD beginning.

Back in 2014 many new domain extensions were launched, some being geoTLDs (.nyc, .paris, .london), some were generic keyword gTLDs (.toys, .city, .photography) and in some cases businesses launched their own for private use (.bmw, .neustar, barclays).…