Dries Buytaert receives Drupal.com domain from OpenDomain.org

but do we /need/ it? I have said this before but I really like drupal.org to be the hub for all drupal sites (we can have a block going to business.drupal.org, conference,drupal.org, association.drupal.org etc).

IMHO it is best to use our "corporate image" (eg drupal.org) to be the hub instead of having content sites all around.

--
groets
bertb

If you would like some advice for domains, feel free to contact me at OpenDomain.Org

Domains are very funny

Some people get VERY scared when you mention selling them. I have never sold any domain, but I do not think it is wrong to do so. Look at some of the backlash I received when I tried to GIVE my domains away. Be very careful!

1. To find your market - cross index your keywords in several searches, including newsgroups
2. Offer the domain for Free, see who approaches you. Also, check your server logs to see where your visitors are coming from.
3. Due to certain rules with domains, if you approach a group yourself, you may get in trouble very quickly. Have a friend of the community introduce you.

Someone pointed out that this profits squatters, and in this way I am doing harm.
BUT - now Dries can do whatever he wants to with Drupal.Com. Is that worth it? I hope so.

Just my 2 cents on this topic...

I've been buying domains for some 10 years now. I've own over 250 (when they were expensive at $35) and I've lost a few very good ones for not renewing them. I currently own some 125 domains in three languages, from 3-letter domain names to pretty long ones .

In every case I bought the domains to develop projects and in most cases, I have never developed those projects. I do have however some 35 active projects using most of the domains and most of the domain point to those projects.

A couple of years ago, I realized that I am more some sort of a domain collector, buying nice names as a hobby when I think them up or return from a conference or read an article, or like for my family name when my dad died or for the girl who is now my wife when I was courting her.

Owning a domain is a perfectly legal activity. And owning a domain and not doing anything with it is also legal. I consider my domain collection part of my personal investment and of the wealth I have built over the years. While my case may be a little different (I have only bought one domain in the "aftermarket" at a US$350 price and the rest I bought directly from regular Domain registrars, I have never registered domains related to trademarks or project names and I have never sold any domain, although I have been offered over US$5,000 for some of my domains), I don't think it's nice to bash someone for buying or owning a domain or offering to do something with it.

I own several domains that could be put to good use by open source and civil society communities and, while I accept that my argument of "I plan to do something with them" is not a good excuse for not doing anything with them, I don't think anyone should be allowed to criticize me for not putting them to better use or donating them to others. A domain does not make or break a community. It hardly builds traffic by itself unless good content is put behind it and if content is any good, the site will build traffic even without a good domain...

OpenDomain did the right thing by releasing the name to the proper stakeholder and we should thank Cedric for doing so, not just because it was the ethical and right thing to do, but because he had no obligation to do so.

I've lost domains to cybersquatters, and before they have fallen in the hands of cybersquatters I've been requested outrageous prices of some US$250 from the registrars to renew them in the so-called redemption ("exploitation" would be more appropriate) period. Offended by this unethical practice I refused to negotiate initially, hoping to renew the domains when it became freely, only to have a cybersquatter grab the domain later and refuse to negotiate since they were doing so well with the traffic I had built over the years.

Anyway, my 2 cents are already running for like US$50 of gibberish...

Point is, domains are a commodity freely available at a price. If you set up a project, skip your daily cup of coffee or your bagel or whatever it is you do for a week and get the corresponding domain before someone does. Because if you don't, someone will and it will be a sad situation when it happens.

The story of Drupal had a happy ending, like so many others -- which is a tribute to the collaboration spirit and natural kindness of man/womankind --, and OpenDomain got a great deal of free publicity from it, which more than pays for the investment they made when they acquired the domain.

Sad but true, everything has a value... As said before, the value of Drupal comes as much from the fact that it is an exceptional piece of software as from the outstanding community constantly evolving around it. This spin of the wheel, it was OpenDomain who cashed in on that value through publicity (not free, since if I recall correctly Cedric paid a bunch for the domain a while ago).

Let's hope that the next time, it is the community or Dries himself who cashes in on the value built by each and everyone of us...

There, my US$50.02 of gibberish on the topic...

------
Con paciencia y calma,
sube un burro a una palma

All I can say is Hip Hip, Hurray, and that about sums it all up.
-Ethan Neuen

Hi Daniel,

I agree that there is an opportunity there...but, I also think it needs to be thought through properly, so we don't end up with what's happened with other open source projects that came to that commercial crossroads and took a wrong turn.

In other words, the real strength of the Drupal project (or any open source project) is it's community, not the code and without mentioning any product names, a common scenario when a project reaches a certain level is that the core community splits and spins off in their own directions.

In other words, you end up with a "them and us" situation..a commercial dotcom community and a more opensource/DIY orientated dotorg community.

Unfortunately, usually all the "good stuff" ends up in the commercial dotcom bit and the dotorg community become reluctant to contribute back into the project - because they see others selling those contributions, or variations of contributions. And it's a downward spiral from there.

The trick is to come up with a framework that encourages those 2 core communities to co-exist instead of living apart and maintaining the status quo on how to contribute back to Drupal.

In that context, I'm not so sure having the Drupal dotcom site focussed on "business opportunities"is such a good idea. I maybe wrong, but, my knee jerk reaction would be to try and blend the 2 communities together rather than seperate them out.

how that is done, is another story.

In the context of this thread...I think it's good news that Roberts canvassing has brought about a change of mind with the guys at opendomain.org.

Well done Robert Douglass. Yet again!

Dub

Hi Cedric,

Just wanted to say thanks to you and OpenDomain for giving Dries the drupal.com domain name.

By the way, you and OpenDomain are mentioned very positively on Yahoo!

OpenDomain Donates Use of Web Addresses to Encourage Online Collaboration
Friday September 29, 9:52 am ET
'Anti-squatter' helps firms use and support open sourcing

MECHANICSBURG, Pa., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- He is the "anti-squatter."

A Pennsylvania entrepreneur who owns registered Internet Web site domain names is allowing individuals and organizations to use many of them for free to encourage people who develop Internet applications to share information and contribute computer codes online.

And here's a quote from Dries:

"OpenDomain.Org acquired Drupal.Com at great expense, and in donating it to Drupal, has shown sincere altruism and generosity and has made a significant contribution to the larger effort of creating a great open-source software product," said Dries Buytaert, founder of Drupal, an open source content management platform. "OpenDomain's generous donation will enable us to extend Drupal's presence and facilitate continued growth of the Drupal project. We are very grateful for this contribution."

Walt Esquivel, MBA, MA
President, Wellness Corps; Captain, USMC (Veteran)
$50 Hosting Discount Helps Projects Needing Financing