There are many blogs about new gTLDs. Some are interesting, others are not. Some are about domaining in which new gTLDs are included, some are from Law Firms and rather repetitive about the necessity to protect a brand in the Trademark Clearinghouse and how URS is the best (billable) mechanism to protect the brand; some are truly about domain names and remain must-read; very few are about new gTLDs only.

I am partial to those from Law Firms which develop and offer their own gTLD products, with more often than not, many flaws in their offers. In the end, as you will doubtless find out, it is actually their ICANN Accredited Registrar that solves problems for their client for which the law firm bills at three times the price of the registrar.

I think that brand owners, involved in domain name issues, should trust their domain name service provider and reduce the number of people involved in the chain of infringement. I also like blogs that deal with personal opinions: that testimony about this new gTLD applicant who launched his TLD, that amusing expert who keeps saying that the world will collapse because of name collision (just like it happened with IPV4 and Y2k), and finally, these members from a common new gTLD project who inform me about how the project is doing. I like those live and real life experiences.

I recently noticed a new blog about new gTLDs “only”. Surprisingly it was the blog from the Famous Four Media’s team. Here is why I like to read it.

A solid project

The Famous Four Media project was created long ago and I still have printed on my notebook the list of the first TLDs they had selected for their initial investment. Of course, ICANN delays forced every applicant to adapt and to make choices, so the list FFM has applied for today is not the same as the one I have on my notebook. However, they have still managed to apply for probably the strongest portfolio of names of any applicant.

The initial organization had to adapt while ICANN delayed again and again and it is interesting to see that they have built a strong and experienced operational management team and project is now synchronized; the only kinks remaining are string contentions but the path to delegation of their entire new gTLD portfolio is straight ahead.

I will enjoy following the development of this project: the results of launches, once all TLDs are on the market, will be a great source of learning.

A team located in the same region

All information comes from the same place and in my experience, working for top brands at several Registrars, taught me one thing: it works when you can walk to your colleague next door, to ask him or her a question. When you need to solve a problem “fast” and in an efficient way, it is the only way to do it.

I will be following this blog’s posts because all its sources of information are communicated by the core team. In this case, I appreciate the volume of information sent: not too much and only what they think necessary to tell the public.

Posts are written by members of the team

It is always interesting to read how strong someone from a team believes in what she or he does; it is precisely what you will read in this blog: posts from the Chief Marketing Officer, from Account Managers, from Business Analysts, from the Premium domain name manager…

Potential applicants will be interested in reading what insiders from a project think, because it is what drives them.

One will write:

“The greatest shock for me was a few months after starting at Famous Four Media when I looked back and thought to myself, “wow, and I thought I knew this about Internet stuff”. I can now safely say that I know a lot, I can also say that I know how little that is compared to what’s left to learn”.

Another will say:

“j’ai le vertige d’imaginer des noms tant divers que variés tel que astronomie.science, biologie.science, physique.science, chimie.science ou bien plus précis lyceefrancoisrabelaisastronomie.science multiplié par tous les sujets, tous les collèges, tous les lycées, et toutes les institutions de France et de Navarre, ça va faire énormément de noms de domaines et tellement de compétition à nationalgeographic.fr”.

And finally:

“Lo primero que apareció en mi mente fue la página manu.WEBCAM para así no tener preocupada a mi madre con la típica pregunta de qué has comido, te abrigas bien, etc. De esta forma le enseñaría al mundo lo que hago, como una nueva red social.”

You will have noticed, the posts are in many different languages, something I am sensitive to. This team is truly International: so posting blog pieces in native tongue is logical, as its members come from various countries and authentic, it is clear that there has been no sanitizing or censoring of these blogs by the marketing department. Evidently this team trusts in each other.

These sources of information are interesting when they are authentic: there are many blogs on which posts are all about internal promotion. I do agree: it is necessary for dealers to do this; but a true story with no price tag on it, is always 100 times more interesting.