I respect Rick Schwartz. I work every day to achieve what he’s already achieved. What bothers me is that over the last year I feel he’s turned into the preacher that’s always on the corner at Macy’s. Like the preacher, he may be right in what he’s preaching, but they both keep having to turn up the microphone a little every day to get our attention.
What I’ve seen in my last two years of paying attention to this industry is that behind the scenes it is very divided. There are the old school guys that don’t like many of the new people that have entered the industry and view them as pompous young people. There are the new domain investors that don’t care for or respect the old guard thinking they got in early and couldn’t do it again. Both are mostly incorrect. And of course there is Switzerland, Morgan Linton, whom everyone loves. The bridge between the two worlds. Me, I don’t judge anyone until I meet them and then I judge my ass off. I have to admit that other than Ron Jackson, most of the older domain investors are not outwardly friendly. That is not to say they are not friendly people once you meet them, I’m just saying they are certainly not going to approach you and introduce themselves. But I never expected them to. Until I do something to deserve their attention I don’t expect it and we’re right back to Rick.
He deserves our attention for what he’s done over time. He doesn’t need to be over the top and grab the headlines each and every time…..but that’s who he is. It’s what got him where he’s at so why change? But there is one problem. As the amount of domain blogs grows and noise in our industry increases, the attention span and duration of that span is decreasing. With all the craziness on the net, it takes more and more to shock. The latest shock headline about Chef Patrick showed the divide and the “that was so last month” attitude. Hardly any one chimed in. Half the responses are Rick himself. It told me a lot about our industry and much of it was positive.
I was impressed how the industry decided to keep their feelings to themselves rather than bash someone before they know any facts. Good or bad they didn’t give Rick the pleasure of using his blog as forum to say if you are for or against. He wanted an open discussion and he didn’t get it. Two, anyone who cared already knew the news and like me, felt it wasn’t worth talking about. Even Scoop left it alone (edit he did an article about not doing an article) . This also told me that the industry is forgiving. We all have done things we regret and made mistakes. With my big mouth, I’m glad to know that I can make a mistake and not be blackballed by everyone.
I do have a bias. Patrick is a friend. A guy that helped me get started. Introduced me to people that have helped me make money in this industry. He spent his time at a domain conference to introduce me to everyone he knew at the show. It didn’t benefit him in any way other than being kind. It’s these kind of people that I will give the benefit of the doubt or stick with them when they screw up. This isn’t about money in my case and I understand the person that was financially affected would be upset, as well as his friends. That’s something that they will have to work out.
In short. Rick has one great piece of advice. Dot com is king. Put all your money in dot coms. And there’s been no better piece of advice if you want to make money in this industry. We domain bloggers have our blogs for a voice. How we use that voice is completely up to us and our perogative. I am going to still read every post Rick writes because there is some great stuff among the emotion and over the top presentation. It just seemed in this case to be a post because enough people weren’t mad. When they weren’t mad, he brought out the megaphone and turned it up. We were accused of having blinders on , when in reality we all just had earplugs.
Shane, there are more people mad than you think. People have come out and said things on forums and other places. It surprised me because some of these people have no interaction with the blogosphere and are really into other extensions.
This does come down to friends of Patrick and not friends, not old school vs new school IMO. I think this fall out is going to be more of a problem than expected for Moniker. I am one schmuck and have a couple friends who have started transfer of over 1000 domains from Moniker since Rick posted yesterday.
I think what Acro posted was true that a lot of people knew who it was the day Rick posted the first time, with no name. One domainer called me and said “Do you believe what Chef Patrick did ” I had not even read the story yet.
This is one problem I see in this industry, friends stick up for friends (which in theory is a good concept) but if your friend did something that is clearly wrong then they deserve their lumps and nobody should be writing about how “yeah, he made a mistake but he’s a good guy” just because you are friends with him. Someone made a horrible DECISION (not mistake) and they must bear the aftermath, and whether someone was nice to you or not has no relevance to the topic of what happened.
Stick up for a friend who made an honest mistake, made a small white lie, or something very minor… but when someone made a DECISION that was just plain dumb and wrong the friends should have no comment.
TLD.
I appreciate the comment. It was a horrible decision. A decision that made him lose his job. He is/will pay the repercussions. They are the times that you need your friends. The times where you fucked up so bad you hurt yourself, your family, and some others. I take it that’s when you walk away from your friends. I am not condoning his actions, I am saying that I still support his path to recovery.
I been around this industy since 1997 and have done well with lot’s of hard work. I met Rick at Traffic years ago and he was very helpful. If I had to pick 5 people to listen to it would be Rick, Michael Berkins, Monte Cahn, Ari Goldberger, Larry Fisher. All have been mentors to me whether they know it or not and all have been around for a while. There numbers speak for themselves.
I also respect many others including newcomers as well. I love stories of people who entertered the industry in the last 3-5 years and have done well. However, follow the actions, follow the numbers, ignore the hype and talk, and you will save not only time but money. It’s a great industy but be careful who you follow, because many of these so-called experts, some that speak at domain conferences can lead you down the wrong path. I won’t mention names, but like always, numbers don’t lie, people lie, as Rick would say and that is so true!
Thanks, Jim
” I have to admit that other than Ron Jackson, most of the older domain investors are not outwardly friendly.”
Mike Berkens, Frank Schilling, Chris Hartnett, Rob Grant, Sahar Sarid, Monte Cahn, Ammar Kubba….just to name a few, know your history if you are going to blog.
On to Patrick…
What Patrick did was wrong, and covering it up was even worse. If he is your friend or not, Moniker assisted in the coverup so there is good reason for people to be outraged.
How do you know any names you own on Private are not being breached? It an important issue that needs to be addressed.
What?
Anyone with a blog doesn’t have much to hide. When I post a comment, I use my real name (unlike yourself) . If I am going to dish it out I expect to be personally responsible for my words. As does Patrick. I do believe in privacy and I understand the severity of the actions but as I said I’ve had my talk with Patrick and we’ll move on. Everyone else will have to make that decision on their own.
Also, add Ron Jackson and Howard Huffman to the list of mentors as well who I hold in very high regard.
You rip apart some poor chat roulette kid, yet you stand up for someone who violated company policy, has no respect for rules or regulations, because he helped you achieve financial enlightenment, you know the financial industry, what does that sound like? Chef Patrick, maybe you should take a long cruise along Somali waters.
John,
At no point did I rip him apart. I simply said he was “screwed” . Turns out I was right. I apologized for saying it but turns out my apology was making it worse so I took it down to help him out. I am not condoning any actions. I am forgiving. That’s a personal decision. One you don’t like. You Somali death wish says a lot about the type of person you are as well.
I am a neutral observer in this incident. I like Rick Schwartz, and respect his business acumen. The guy is almost a prophet in my opinion. And everyone of in this industry will do well by giving him his due.
I don’t know Chef Patrick very well, but he also comes across as a great guy, with lots of friends and activities. A lot of my friends tend to trust the Chef. I read somewhere he was going to post a response today, therefore I will withhold judgement on this issue for another week or so. In any event, this incident is NOT benign; there are serious ethical and business trust issues involved. Let’s get it handled respectfully and move on to the main focus: Google!
The transparency of any Burgeoning Industry needs to be welcoming more transparency which allows for the creative process to weave its magical silver bullet of sucess seeking active creationism. Yes this is a messy creation period we are all going through has repurcussions some favorable but some, most disruptive to current Business Models – WELCOME THE FUTURE !
Alliances are changing with warp speed. Whistle Blowers need to be supported in order for level playing fields to be maintained, for optimal expansion.
Jeff,
Well said. Whistleblowers need to be able to safely bring the truth to the surface.
I agree we all make mistakes, we are all flawed. I can understand the human aspect of someone said you sucked, who said that ? Still wrong to look, but calling someone’s employer is way off the chart IMO if that’s true.
certainly domainers are friendly but there are a lot of cliques and plenty of people who plain don’t like one another. I twice when modding at Namepros talked two individuals who pmmed me out of showing up at someones door. All over opinions about an extension. Look at some of the heated language over say .co for example. I have been surprised to see people even dislike Morgan who comes off as very likable to me.
The other thing Shane what is your take on saying I left because I could not handle having a boss when you know in this small industry people will find out you got fired.
Thanks RH,
That’s the only part that got me. The lie of why he left. That is all ego. Even friends piss me off sometimes.
I like to stay out of these public fights and it’s because of one reason, FACTS.
Two sides to every story and you have to decide the BS, motive etc. of those telling the story.
There is no way I would know the true facts unless I was present. For me to say it was wrong for Rick to out Chef, I couldn’t. I was not there to know the facts of the story.
For me to say Chef did wrong, I couldn’t. I was not there when he did what he has been accused of doing. Was Rick next to Chef when he did X? Not likely.
Things get added to stories, emails can come across the wrong way, anger can add to things and so on.
Did Chef do something wrong? Maybe, but I wasn’t there to see it.
Did Rick do something wrong? Maybe, but I wasn’t there to see or hear how it played out.
Domain Shane, once again you have proved your blog should be called ‘Domain Shame’… Shame on you for sticking up for a questonable character who has not changed his stripes. Shame on you for writing an article just to try and get into the ‘good book’ of the big domainers & SHAME on you as you are not a child anymore but need to GROW UP.
Robert
How am I supposed to take you serious when you have a hotmail email? If you dislike me so much why do you continue to come back to berate me? Is this like grade school when the girls put glue in my hair because they secretly loved me? I’m getting the same vibe.
The one thing that became immediately apparent when I entered this industry is how fractured it is.
Everyone seems to have an “Everyman For Himself” attitude. Like someone that commented on Chef Patrick’s blog, the facts are not all there and there are parts of this story that will never be revealed, so it’s hard to make an assessment for or against either party without knowing the the whole truth or specifics. The way I see it there were (are) breaches of trust on both sides of the pond.
It’s too bad though, because it seems that those in a position to influence and whose opinions and decisions have the most persuasion are often so self involved and only focused on their own personal gain, that they neglect the better good of the industry as a whole.
First time I met Rick he used a megaphone. The man only has one volume setting, this is nothing new and it does go up to 11.
Think you’re being too kind to one, too harsh to the other. What was done should not be taken lightly, should be outside personal feelings.
Don’t think he helped himself with his ranting post either. As his friend, you should have advised him against it.
Cheers…
“How am I supposed to take you serious when you have a hotmail email?”
Even in a heated discussion you can fire one off! Thats funny…. thanks for the laugh.
I agree about the Hotmail comment. That is a pretty idiotic statement to make. I have so many e-mail addresses associated with more than a dozen sites, that I can’t even keep track of them. I choose to use a Hotmail address because of the anonymity. How does having a Hotmail or any other non website associated e-mail trivialize your opinions or statements?
I think what Shane is saying is that if people want to post they should not post anonymously. I think that was his point.