.SUCKS in Practice

A primary value of the dotSucks platform is that the use of the word cuts through the incredible amount of noise we hear everyday. That’s not just our view, but the view of the people who are using a dotSucks domain to express a point-of-view and rally others to it. This is the fuel for sites like www.logging.sucks, www.theinternet.sucks and www.aircanada.sucks. Every day, we see more and more evidence that what used to be considered profanity becoming a point-of-view. This is especially true for those trying to reach a younger, more inclusive, more mobile audience. Every day, we are learning the value of taking a little risk. Last Tuesday was just such a day. In reading an article in Canada’s leading news magazine McLean’s, I was introduced to Indiana University Professor of English Michael Adams. Here is what caught my eye: “Profanity is socially useful because it is socially risky.” He added: “We need linguistic boundaries to transgress in order to register objection, pain and social solidarity, and it’s precisely the transgression, not the words, that matters.” It was clear I needed to talk to Professor Adams. He had just published a new book, “In Praise of Profanity,” an outgrowth of his work as a historian of English. He noted, as do we, that “profanity is expressive speech” and a “sign of familiarity.” For anyone seeking to reach that wider audience, it may be that taking a risk might not be taking much of a risk at all. Not only does “trust require some risk” but Professor Adams noted that while once “profanity might have been forbidden and shocking, it may still be shocking, but not forbidden.” Perhaps it might be that casual business dress introduced in the ’90s might have just been a precursor (pun intended) to more casual business language. Professor Adams, who looked first at slang (he called it a “poetic language”) soon after turned his attention to profanity. As if one were the gateway to the other. Profanity began, he said, as a way to defame God, both directly and eventually in more sanitized versions. I had no idea, for example, that one of my favorite exclamation points, “Geez, Louise,” is just a cleaned up version of such defamation. But soon, profanity became less about the deity and more about the ins-and-outs (nod, nod, wink, wink to all my fellow Monty Python fans) bodily functions. I am sure you can think of one or two that qualify. Of keen interest to me is Adams’ take on the origin of “sucks.” Neither defamation nor excrement, Professor Adams assures it originated in the 19th Century, either as “sucks wind” (debilitating, at the least) or “sucks eggs” (a task of some difficulty). Ultimately, for those of us who seek to use language to teach, advocate, seduce or motivate, profanity may not be vulgar at all. Especially as the demographic of those we seek to reach changes. As Professor Adams wrote in his book: “Were I younger, I might not think to examine the problems of vulgarity at all.” That’s because, I think, profanity is no longer a problem, it may, in fact, be part of the solution.

Last month, Vox Populi Registry implemented a new policy to keep the dotSucks platform current. Going forward, it is our plan to regularly update both our Market Premium and Reserved domain lists. At this point, monthly. As noted on our website, www.registry.sucks, Market Premium names are those that have been curated from a broad set of sources indicating a persistent and high interest in their use. Reserved names affected by this change are those that are held by the Registry, initially, for its own purposes and use, as in marketing. I don’t know of other domain name registries that are taking the time to curate their lists, but here is why we’re doing it. It is clear to us that the new gTLD program has yielded some fresh insights into the way we want to live online. It is a powerful human urge to let the world know who we are and what we think. We want to be seen as ourselves. That’s why identity has been a key driver of the new Internet landscape. Whether .doctor, .lawyer or .indianchief, the rapid adoption of new gTLDs has been fueled by their ability to effectively represent who we are in all the worlds we inhabit. We want to influence our world. That’s why comment and criticism have accelerated Internet growth. Whether a good review or bad, a question or an answer, a quick take or thoughtful suggestion, the urge to be heard – combined with identity, to be recognized — is undeniable. The new gTLDs help there, too. When the public Internet was made real 20 years ago, it gave us a start. A company’s email address was a “welcome mat” for conversation. The rise of eCommerce then led companies courting consumers actually to begin listening, but selectively and on their own channels. Now, just as the new gTLD program created the opportunity for all to be ourselves on line, it offers greater assurance that we will be heard – on our terms. An essential element of our identity and our passions is context. At work we can be a boss or an employee. At home we can be a husband or a wife. In polite society, we can be a Republican or a Democrat. We can love the new restaurant or hate it. The movie may be fabulous or perhaps it just sucks. The new gTLD program has given each of us a chance to be and say each of those things. This was the rule of human behavior that led us to create Vox Populi Registry a year ago and the dotSucks domain names. It strikes us that, as events occur and passions wax and wane, a list of names, either Market Premium or Reserved, ought to change with the times. Moving forward monthly, once a name is removed from the Reserved list, it will become instantly available for registration. In the same way, a domain removed from the Market Premium list will become instantly available for registration at the standard price. Our Registrar partners will be able to help Registrants navigate the changes as they occur. Vox Populi Registry has worked hard to be true to our mission: “dotSucks is designed to help consumers find their voices and allow companies to find the value in criticism.” By being sensitive to the issues and events of the day, we intend to stay in tune with what people are talking about and keeping dotSucks current.

Listening today to the U.S. Congress’ House of Representatives Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing on ICANN governance reminded me just how often Vox Populi Registry, the company bringing dotSucks names to the Internet, is a guest at parties to which it has never been invited. Sometimes, like today, we are able to view it all from a distance and mostly we have refrained from trying to correct every misstatement or argue each odd point. That approach will hold here even though, once again, the dotSucks domain names were cited as an example of failure and bad faith. The Internet’s plumbing has never been a point of popular discussion. With the advent of such consumer friendly devices as the iPhone and services like Twitter, broad awareness of the intricacies of the domain name system was low and likely to stay there. That changed when the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its intention to move oversight of one particular, technical (if you can call a spreadsheet technical) contract — the one governing the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority or “eye-ann-uh”. The matter now popped into view and those long-pressing a particular point, whether practical or legal or organizational — caught a second wind. To win to their cause those newly arrived, now focused and worried about this transition, there was the natural rise of rhetoric and analogy. Both are useful devices. Each can help advocates on every side of the issue create the understanding they seek to promote of hard-to-grasp or obscure activities. It becomes a bit more pointed when you, as we have, become a part of the story and misleading point-of-emphasis based on deliberate misinformation. Whether it is about our policies, pricing or business model, the “facts” are more likely culled from industry and lawyers’ blogs than from the source material that can easily be found at our website. And if questions do persist, we have been available to all who have called. But, again, not many have. Even the briefing document prepared by Congressional staff for today’s hearing cited only news reports. Here are a few of the things this leads us to think: We think it is wrong to say dotSucks names are evidence of a lack of ICANN accountability. In fact, our path to market is evidence that ICANN is accountable in this case. There were three companies vying for the right to operate this particular registry, with applications publicly filed more than three years ago. There were public comment periods and the government advisory committee asked ICANN multiple times for enhanced safeguards. At each turn, the applications progressed. More important to us is that the Vox Populi Registry application never needed to be amended from its initial filing because it had already committed to those safeguards. We think cybersquatting (a crime in the U.S. and so a label that ought to be carefully pasted on anyone’s wall) and trolling won’t survive in the dotSucks registry because of the rules established to defeat such purpose. We think the current controversy is rooted in the likelihood that dotSucks domain names will be deployed for the purpose we proposed in early 2012, to rally and give voice to consumers and advocates. We think the criticism of our suggested pricing comes from those who see a dotSucks name as just another address on the Internet. We are priced higher than mass-market domains because dotSucks is not just an address, it is an activity that can yield benefit for both consumer and company. It is on the basis of this real value that we have suggested the pricing plan. With 600 new gTLDs approved, is it really a surprise that some might create new types of business models and approach their markets in new ways? Our goal is not to flood the Internet with names and serve as a platform for phishers, pharmers and malware. We think a bigger problem for us is that some of our competition offers space on the Internet for free. Visit Facebook and search for a company along with the word “sucks.” A hit almost every time. If we did not think we were offering a better approach – delivering real value — how could we hope to compete with free? And, if we are wrong, we will fail. What could be more market driven than that?

It is pretty clear that if you spend any time on the Internet, you will quickly discover that everybody doesn’t like something. The Internet is awash in criticism; some of it unfounded, some of it outlandish, some of it obvious but all of it valuable. The problem so far is that there has been no way to corral, curate and collaborate in a way for anyone — a company, a celebrity, an institution, a cause or a government — to draw insight from the onslaught. Until now. Vox Populi Registry has launched a new set of Internet domain names ending not in .com or .org or even .net, but with an emphatic, .sucks. The goal is to create a designated and well-populated new landscape so that not only will people have the opportunity to speak (we have that now, all over the Internet) but the likelihood of being heard. Got a cause? A passion? A product? A point-of-view? Plant your flag at https://www.get.sucks.