2014 – The Year Of Dishonesty

On Friday, Rick Schwartz featured an Interview with Daniel Negari that was supposed to address the free .xyz registrations that Network Solutions has been giving to some .com owners since the .xyz General Availability without their consent. I say supposed because we didn’t get a single answer from Negari. Of course it is not Rick’s fault. Daniel Negari’s lawyers have instructed him good not to answer any questions regarding his Network Solutions deal. It doesn’t matter anymore. We all l know the truth.

My views are pretty much known by now: .XYZ is DEAD – DISASTER! Daniel Negari Exposed! .XYZ down to 34th place! Where is Deals.xyz? There are over 150 comments in this post.

My extreme writing tone came as a reaction to Danie’s continuing bullshit feeding and a blog post he made called .XYZ is LIVE – SUCCESS!. I can see a few people have bought some .xyz. Good luck with that! Thank god these are cheap and not a lot of money will be lost on the worst New gTLD. If you liked .xyz wait until I launch .GDFA in 5 years!!! The most generic extension ever! GDFA: “Generic Domains For All”. I could buy disaster.xyz that is free today but I won’t even spend a dime to support bullshit.

.XYZ have spend A LOT of money and they are not earning anything. How long until the registry folds? I bet it will be the first registry to go under.

I made a short comment over at Rick’s blog:

Negari never even mentions Network Solutions. I guess his lawyers have instructed him good. Not a single reply in this interview.

Q1: Absolutely no reply. Copy/paste from the .xyz FAQ. Q2: Joe Parvin said it well above. Does the registry or Negari or any other entity associated with the above have any deals with Netsol? Yes or No?

You are right Bulls: “Answer all questions under oath.”

The other questions are not quite relevant.

And some food for thought: Why do you think a registrar chose the General Availability day to register thousands of free domains. Everybody knows that on that day the most registrations happen so they could only assume that at least a few paid registrations were bound to happen on that day. Why not wait a week or a month to run such a promotion? The only explanation is that it was done on that day so that the .xyz numbers were inflated.

You can read here all the comments, including one from Ron Jackson. Ron’s comment seems to have shifted a bit from an article he wrote the previous day. He said this among others: “That being said, I think Daniel can learn and recover from this – who among us hasn’t made a mistake or two along the way? I am especially saddened by the personal attacks I have seen written by people who don’t know him. I’ve known him for years, like him and respect what he has accomplished at such a young age. In my opinion (and that of many others who know him well) he is a good guy who is totally passionate about his product. Like the rest of us, he has probably said some things he regrets – it happens – but I’ll be surprised if it continues going forward. It’s the right time to tone down the rhetoric and focus on the job ahead.”

I am not sure if Ron is referring to me above but I sure hope you do. I am more saddened by dishonesty than by personal attacks. I have made mistakes and I have and will admit I made them. Daniel Negari is hiding his head in the sand like an ostrich. He had plenty of opportunities to come clean but he didn’t. Ron, I too know you for a long time. Don’t you think we had enough of this?

But the best comment of the year came from Joseph Peterson:

Evidently Mr. Negari is on unswerving autopilot. In the video above, he proudly announces to his team (but mainly to the camera), “We are now the number 1 new TLD in the market place!” And, after several enthusiastic cheers from his hangers on, he ends the video with, “I really look forward to hitting a million names.”

Not one shadow of a scruple nor any concession to reality. Posted June 6th, long after he would have been fully aware of the backlash against him. By that time — even if he were somehow innocent of rigging the numbers — he would have learned about the irregularities being publicly condemned. So he would have known that the counts he brags about are nonsense. Yet he continues according to plan.

This .XYZ CEO has here patronizingly explained to us the ABCs of our own industry — “registry”, “registrar”, “registrant”. For the benefit of us domain resellers, he has expounded on the difference between wholesale and retail. And he has emphasized (as before) a technicality — namely, that his company has arranged to be “paid the ENTIRE wholesale price” from Network Solutions.

Does he deny orchestrating or approving the forced freebies? No. With a slippery sleight of hand, he distracts us with irrelevancies. He didn’t see the email itself beforehand. He doesn’t know all the prices or all promotions at all registrars. So what? He knows what he’s accused of. It seems odd for an innocent person not to deny the actual accusations.

Although he goes through the motions of apologizing for our perception of his arrogance, he won’t deign to apologize for his actions or admit that the numbers he continues to boast about are ludicrously false. And that’s as arrogant as ever.

If Daniel Negari really didn’t know that the inflated numbers were coming, wouldn’t he be curious what had happened? Wouldn’t he spend some time investigating the secrets of his own company’s remarkable success? Wouldn’t he have spoken with Network Solutions and bring us a fuller account of what went on?

On the other hand, if Daniel Negari planned for the dubious numbers and has since been coached by his lawyers on how to evade admissions of culpability, wouldn’t he answer next to nothing at all? Having arranged for the cemetary to get up and vote for .XYZ, wouldn’t Mr. Negari confidently predict a record turnout? And wouldn’t he continue to count all votes from the walking dead — even after the zombies were detected by us — all the way to his million registrations?

He doesn’t seem bothered at all that his registrants are mostly zombies. Not even a lifted eyebrow.

Daniel Negari is charmingly boyish. But don’t let that distract you from what he has done and continues to do. In point of fact, he is asking thousands of people — mostly people who aren’t as wealthy as himself — to invest in his company and his self-absorbed vision of an .XYZ future. And he’s selling them his “gift to the world” primarily by pointing to registration numbers that he definitely knows to be deceptive and which he probably arranged in order to deceive. Where is his apology for this?

He predicted massive registrations. And he seems to have cheated his customers in order to create the illusion of success.

Strange that his “gift to the world” turned out to be a freebie … purely by coincidence and without his knowledge.

Thanks Joseph.

Sold.Domains

About Konstantinos Zournas

I studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London, UK and I am now living in Athens, Greece. I went online in 1995, started coding in 1996 and began buying domain names and creating websites in 2000. I started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.

43 comments

  1. There are 80k NetSol XYZ domains in the zone file currently. What percentage of it should be considered freebies?

  2. Doesn’t say much about the integrity of Network Solutions either………

  3. I read the interview on Rick Schwartz blog.
    I cannot believe Schwartz accepted shit like this and placed on his blog.
    He even mentioned that he had a two hour chat with Daniel on the phone.
    He probably cannot catch that Daniel simply manipulated and treated him like a old fool to get what he wanted.
    In business I had contact with many top guys and none of them treated domainers seriously, probably Daniel has the same attitude.

  4. I’m sick of these old farts club that protects these Fraudlent actions of their friends. I don’t care for bs interviews, it was so scripted.

    I don’t see Morgan linton changing his website to xyz, but will pump closed comment articles. So far so many trusted people in their industry have sold their reputations for gtlds.

    Xyz seems to keep putting out bullshit headlines on domaining.com, Daniel do you think anyone believes you, they are actually amusing.

    Anyone remember Rick Latona, Toby Clements, this was a great industry, with great people, lately just feels like snake oil salesman. We aren’t buying your bullshit, go sell it to end users.

  5. I’m glad to see an honest blogger who isn’t bought and sold by the domain name industry.

  6. The funny thing is that all these older “.com” people/fanboys that were crying for the past year about how the new gTLD’s are crap and how they would be a complete failure – they are actually the ones defending this Negari idiot the most right now…..what a bunch of sellouts!

  7. I’ll admit some of the geo and real estate TLDs sound interesting but I know from experience selling non-.COM domains at four-figure prices is rather difficult. So how does a domain investor justify paying what seem to be end user prices for a new TLD plus premium renewals and think they have a good investment? To emphasize again Godaddy’s IPO filing, they are the largest registrar by far and yet the average user only generates just over $100 annually in revenue. The typical domainer customer is quite a few standard deviations away from the mean. So this means most end users could care less about new TLDs and certainly aren’t looking to pay serious money for them anytime soon.

  8. I too was “awarded” a .xyz domain by Network Solutions, which I will be deleting from my account soon. It is interesting to see people like Morgan cheerleading on behalf of .xyz, although he claims he really believes what he says and is not being compensated in any way for it. And Rick’s behavior was surprising too. He is such a no-BS guy but there is a lot of BS going on with the .xyz launch that involevd him and he seemed to go along with it all. And running that “interview” with Negari on his blog? Cmon, hardly tough questions and almost pointless responses to the questions. Not to mention Negari’s choice of wording – the guy tweeets that he “popped” Rick’s “cherry”? That’s pretty disrespectful language to use toward the Domain King (and Negari’s elder). Is that the type of talk the domain industry wants the rest of the world to see? Hardly professional to my ears and probably downright offensive to other people. I haveheard terms like arrogant and snake oil salesman thrown around with regard to .xyz and its leadership. Actions speak louder than words and we have all witnessed a mockery that is still ongoing.

  9. KZ: It doesn’t sound like you read my post in the thread on Rick’s Blog. The comment from the earlier post on my site (before it was confirmed Network Solutions had stuffed the ballot box) saying ” It’s the right time to tone down the rhetoric and focus on the job ahead” was meant for Daniel not you – along with the warning to him that ” you have to stop short of saying things that are demonstrably false”. It was the next day when the regs NetSold regs were proven to be bogus yet we saw Daniel continue the “we’re #1” charade. He blew the second chance I think people were willing to give him and proved my expectation that he would not go down that road was a false hope. Hence, the far more negative commentary that I posted on Rick’s Blog in response to his interview with Daniel. Updated information often leads to new conclusions. I think by taking that path he has harmed himself far more than he apparently realizes and at this point there is probably no going back. XYZ and NetSol will forever be regarded as the regsitrar/registry tandem that feels they have to cheat in order to compete.

    • Yes I did and that is why I said that your view shifted.

      This is what I thought that was meant for me:
      “I am especially saddened by the personal attacks I have seen written by people who don’t know him.”

      • I see I put this in the wrong place (a separate post rather than a reply) so I will re-post here:

        The “personal attacks” comment was not aimed at you either. I saw comments on some of the blogs (may not have even been here) making fun of his personal appearance for example – things that were completely irrelevant and took away from the serious question of whether ethical boundaries had been crossed. Now, we know they have. I’ve always known you to speak from your heart. The most recent developments in this situation are showing your initial instincts were more on target than those of many others including myself.

      • Hello Ron,

        I think some people did took little more in depth. The comments should have been about ethics/business and approach, but not about personal appearance.

        But you are right, he blew the second chance and I am also saddened to see, Morgan is still supporting his buddy with (comments being closed on his new .xyz posts), instead should help him correct his mistake.

        I am so waiting for .college, but Daniel is hurting his future business as well.

      • .College is nice but I am not touching it after this.

      • “I am especially saddened by the personal attacks I have seen written by people who don’t know him.”
        I have to say that I thought this was also directed to me, since I was definitely outspoken from the beginning (here, on TheDomains and on Mark’s blog) on defining how xyz is a joke and how Negari was manipulating the whole situation, with words like “scam ” and “fraud” 😀 …
        It’s 20 + years that I’m analyzing cyclical scandals and frauds in the financial industry, and 15 years working in it, so, as I said before, I was not surprised about Negari’s modus operandi …
        Compared to many sharks I’ve seen and I still see in the financial industry he’s an amateur … lol

        Ron, I’m sure you were in good faith, even if we haven’t met in person I think you are a great professional and a good person.
        As regards Negari, let me tell you that, unfortunately, the fact of knowing somebody personally for a number of years does not represent a guarantee of really knowing him/her … scammers can be very cunning … and with multiple personalities …

  10. Can I have your backend password because that’s what I need to read the link. I promise I won’t tell anyone 🙂 As I said before you’re still my favorite blogger. Don’t hate Aaron on I because we took the money. We have kids to feed

  11. The “personal attacks” comment was not aimed at you either. I saw comments on some of the blogs (may not have even been here) making fun of his personal appearance for example – things that were completely irrelevant and took away from the serious question of whether ethical boundaries had been crossed. Now, we know they have. I’ve always known you to speak from your heart. The most recent developments in this situation are showing your initial instincts were more on target than those of many others including myself.

  12. and for the record although the record is clear, I’m the one who figured out what was going on with XYZ and Netsol and forced the actual email out.

  13. The xyz numbers are skewed. At the end of the day, that has little to do with the potential of the extension. Calling a foul is one thing, wanting to see the guy hang for it is a little over the top in my opinion. Certainly this controversy has stifled xyz’s numbers as many investors have backed away. Apology or not a price has been paid. Maybe it’s time to move on.

    • .Xyz is a bad extention. Have been saying that since January.
      This is no foul. He thinks we are stupid and he keeps pushing these fake numbers. I won’t stop until he gets out of my face.

      • I might consider some of the real estate TLDs but have no plans to reg a .XYZ. However, it is true that one’s feelings toward an extension don’t dictate its results. I’m sure .CO surprised some folks so you never know. However, even with .CO registry success does not equal domain investor success.

      • .Co had some good things going for it. A lot of cctlds were and still are using it, such as .co.uk.

  14. Yawn..time to talk about something new. You aren’t Deep Throat and this isn’t Watergate. Domainers (i.e. the only ones who care about this $hit) will not determine the success of this or any other gTLD. End users will either accept the new extensions as an alternative, or they will not. In the meantime, .xyz will pay a price. Daniel has potentially lost some of the short term domain speculator money flowing into his extensions but at the same time, I think keeping premium domains available for the potential end users can only help an extension. (ala .club which appears to have real people building real sites)

  15. I may have bought….w.xyz or is that a radio station.
    Anyway…Konstantinos has the best site going now, never a dull moment here.
    He never backs off and is never afraid to battle with the best in the industry.
    I’m going to have to get my popcorn delivered, I’m afraid if i leave the house, i’ll miss something good.
    You keep talking Konsta, that’s why we all are here.

  16. Aren’t they only giving away .xyz names to owners of crappy .com domains. Well at least the The recipients of these .xyz domains got a free appraisal from Network Solutions.

  17. The thing that surprised me most is not what this Negari boy used as a tactic but the platform he chose to advertise on.I am old enough to distinguish a cheater from an entrepreneur.But man top spot Domaining.com for days???

    Are you kidding???! Who gave you that advise??

    Good job if you are trying to make all of the domaining community swear on you.

    If you want to fool people and earn money there are tons of media out there and you chose the platform where there are domainers like Michael Berkens or Rick Schwartz.

    There are 2 options.1 is this guy is a blind idiot that thinks everyone is idiot.2nd is this guy thought that domaining community will accept what he did.

    either way. .xyx FAIL !!! Blow the horn now.

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