OnlineDomain.com Domain Name News & Opinions
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. announced the Nominees for the 2014 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. AWARDS today.
Here a few thoughts I had after I read the nominations list:
- People seem to be tired of awards. Not a lot of votes were sent. And just 2 months back the Domainers Choice Awards were given out. Especially in a small industry like the domain name one anything more than 1 award ceremony per year is too much.
- Maybe it was that the nominations had a small time window to be submitted (just 3 days) and a lot of people are on vacations at this time of the year.
- I forgot to vote. I admit it. I am on vacations so I have some small excuse. It was Saturday when I realized it.
- There are some people and companies in there I have never heard of. Were people voted by their colleagues in some of the these companies? Were people voting for their own companies? These should be banned.
- .XYZ nominated in 2 categories? BEST MARKETING OF NEW gTLD? Who voted for .xyz? Network Solutions? lol
- I believe the .fail nomination on the “Most promising New gTLD” category was meant as a joke.
- Are there some people missing from the nominations. But I can only blame myself because I forgot to vote.
- I got 1 vote. I know because the person that voted for me told me. So I know that all other people didn’t vote for me. 🙂
- Companies that are giving out free domains are voting for themselves.
- OK Daniel. Nominations are now over. Please stop voting for .xyz.
PS1: A reader suggested that since escrow.com is counting the votes it should not be nominated. I agree.
(Update: Escrow.com has since withdrawn their name from voting. Company President Brandon Abbey said, “As a previous winner, Escrow.com is very honored to have been nominated in multiple categories for the 2014 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Awards. When Rick and Howard asked us to counts the vote it was never our intention to be eligible for an award. However, as the keeper of the ballots we need to be completely transparent and impartial. It would be inappropriate for us to be eligible to win this award. Thanks to all for your continued trust and support.”)
PS2: Rick is doing a great job regardless. I just think a few more days were needed including a Monday.
The only award .XYZ should be up for is Most Delusional.
There would be fierce competition for most delusional from the .COM is dead and .COM is meaningless crowds.
Brad
Nominations weren’t based on a single vote; if that’s not the case, I’d have concerns as people I nominated didn’t make the cut.
Nominations required 3 votes.
I think only people who have assisted at TRAFFIC can vote, this is why after so many years I never received a singlle email suggesting me to vote for awards. If you add the vote was asked during summer and within a very short timeframe then the number of voters is probably too low.
But it has always be the same, I really not understand with all the time there is between each event why Rick is so impatient. A vote in a larger time frame, well promoted, and opened to everyone will probably better reflect the domain industry appreciation.
To be fair everybody could have voted. Here are the instructions.
IMHO Here’s the problem..
The TRAFFIC awards are traditionally given to TRAFFIC attendees because that was all there was when TRAFFIC started. This system worked when the industry was a handful of people. There are some pioneers in the early winners.
To be clear, you used to be able to nominate yourself. That was a problem so now it takes 3 people to nominate you. Everybody can essentially be nominated with very little effort. That system should change so only the top three should be nominated and it should be clear why they are nominated. Since it was started you don’t even know why they won the award since that fact is not part of the process. Very vague award.
There are a lot more people out there now and they are not included in the process. IMHO Look at this year’s Domainer of the Year award to see how far out of touch with the broader domain community it has become. One of the nominees has not contributed to the Domain industry other than attend TRAFFIC. The continuance of the system is eroding the quality and prestige of winning.
Update: Escrow.com has since withdrawn their name from voting. Company President Brandon Abbey said, “As a previous winner, Escrow.com is very honored to have been nominated in multiple categories for the 2014 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Awards. When Rick and Howard asked us to counts the vote it was never our intention to be eligible for an award. However, as the keeper of the ballots we need to be completely transparent and impartial. It would be inappropriate for us to be eligible to win this award. Thanks to all for your continued trust and support.”