I am always glad to help. Thank you for engendering a tremendous dialogue with your domain space. Thanks also for lending your expertise, knowledge, energy and more importantly your time to such an endeavor. Hopefully, the effort will be fruitful and well-received. Let me know if there is anything that I can do to suppport this movement beyond the obvious.

Dey

**SMO**

Thanks Dey.

Thank you Steve!

The thing about starting from scratch is that you have to start from scratch.

I would LOVE to be able to quit my job, travel from state to state and spend the day on the internet striking deals with all the big investors, registering domains, participating in forums.

I can only dedicate my time and energy to domaining on a part time basis at this time because I am not making enough profit to be able to do this full time. When the moment comes when I can financially sustain my domaining business, I will leave my full time job.

When I achieve my goals as a domainer in this industry, I will personally mentor and help new people who truly want to learn and work hard rather than doubting their commitments based on full or part time status. It’s a little disappointing to keep hearing, especially as a newcomer, that I am not serious because I do this part time. It’s simply not true.

It reminds me of the military, Steven, when the members of the Guard or Reserves were called Weekend Warriors or made to feel that they weren’t “real soldiers/airman/sailors/Marines” because they were not full time Active. Many of the Guardsman and women and Reservists are fighting right now in the Operations in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan!

We are all in this together, full time or part time. I mean this post respectfully and in the highest recognition of all the achievements of the Big Domainers and Businesspeople. Thank you all for inspiring me.

***SMO***

F.B.

I think you may have read the post the wrong way. There are some people who do this as a hobby and even they are serious about it. All part time domainers are serious about this industry, as it takes a good amount of capital to do it part time. No one referrenced part time domainers as not being serious about the industry. That is why it is important for everyone to donate or join the ICA.

Keep up the good work and stay motivated.

“If you consider domaining a hobby, don’t join the ICA. But if you even remotely consider yourself to be a serious domainer, it is imperative that you join this organization. ”

- is because I’ve rarely met a domainer who told me they were in this business as a hobby. Practically every domainer I’ve ever met - large or small - has told me they are serious and passionate about this business.

In Palm Springs, Phil Corwin told me something that hit a nerve. He said that many politicians vote a certain way based upon the last person they spoke with. Especially if it is a topic they’re not too familiar with (like domaining) Phil told me he considers one of ICA’s biggest responsibilities is to stay in front of their faces and keep them informed.

Best!

***SMO***

Hi canadiandomaineer. I agree with you 100%, but you have options. You can donate any amount you choose. I will contact the ICA and talk to them about what they plan on offering to those who do donate and even membership benefits. Every organization has benefits for its members, besides the services they are already providing.

I can not promise anything, but I will raise the questions and see the response I get.

Thanks.

Approximately two-months ago, I suggested to an officer of ICA that ICA consider accepting new membership via domain donations. Briefly, the idea was to kill two-birds with one stone. I thought this a very plausible, feasible and acceptable idea at the time, although I was aware that its implementation would require a bit of work and effort on the back end.

Essentially, I suggested that ICA allow any domainer who wanted to join the ICA to donate a domain equal to or greater than the membership fee which would in turn be auctioned off with the proceeds going to ICA to defend threats to the industry. At the time, I thought that this was a reasonable position especially for those who were still waiting for their first scratch. In essence, most domains would probably have an intrinisic value worth more than the $295 membership fee, so the excess monies could go directly to the ICA pot.

Although a bit speculative, I assumed that ICA would apply quality standards to all domains submitted if the Board liked the idea. I also assumed that most of the submitted domains would have been worth two, to three times more than the actual membership fee to make the concept attractive. Nevertheless, not to belabor the point here Steve, but if I, for example, donated a domain that was worth $500, $1,000, or $2,000 to ICA, wouldn’t that type of mutual benefit donation be more effective than just getting a domain for sale at auction without the added membership component? This is the type of goodwill that ICA seems to underestimate or are over-looking.

Fast forward to today, and it seems odd that ICA would take the approach of merely asking Domainers to donate a domain, without at least giving this a try because if they tried and there was no response from the domain masses then one might be able to say without equivocation that Domainers are in fact an apathetic group only out for self, but that is not the case. I believe that had ICA introduced this program, whether temporary or long-term, it would have had the potential to bring all industry participants together in a show of solidarity against the challenges that lie ahead. Instead, the industry remains divided, splintered, etc., etc.

Finally, I agree with you and also believe that we should all aspire to something greater than ourselves no doubt about that; however, leadership starts from the top, and in my experience leaders lead by example. Over the years, I have learned that sometimes in dealing with others, it is better to meet them where they are rather expect them to meet you where you are living. Perhaps, my idea was a bit too novel and/or naive–feel free to digitally slap me back into reality if it in fact was, but hey, it was a start at trying to engender a dialogue, and build a bridge at the very least.

Regards,

Dey

***SMO***

Dey,

Thanks. We will become a professional member. The reason why we have failed to do so up until this point is because we wanted to see the facts come out in the wash through all the postings about the ICA. If there were faults, and major hidden agendas, they would have surfaced by now. So we will lead by example, like so many already have. The first step was to conduct research and learn about their mission. The second step was to educate others on ICA. The third step is to join and encourage everyone to join collectively. If we were members already, all our readers may have thought that we had a hidden agenda being apart of the ICA encouraging membership. This is the truth. That is why I found it very important to promote it as a non member after obtaining all the facts, so we could all collectively move forward and either donate or join the ICA together. People would rather hear something and make a decision about an organization from a neighbor than to hear it from the company sales man/woman.

Your idea to donate domains is not bad. But it is not efficient for ICA. They have much work to do to concentrate on selling names for revenue. I will promote your idea and create a page for domains for sale for ICA. Of course I will list decent domains at affordable prices to generate revenue. The proceeds will be donated to ICA by the owner of the domain and they must become a member or donate the full proceeds to ICA.

In return I will list the names of all members we have inspired to become members of ICA on the blog. Of course proof must be provided. This may be a far fetched idea, but at least we can give it a shot and see if it works. Thanks for bringing this idea to the table.