What led to the downfall of new gTLDs?

IT.com

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I've been reading through the threads here over the past few days and it seems like the new gTLDs started out with a lot of promise. Both investors and end users were snatching them up. But now, it feels like the rush has fizzled out and rather quickly at that. In your opinion, what led to the downfall of the new gTLDs?

I primarily blame it on two things. First, too many new gTLDs were released at once, so the supply was much greater than the demand. Second, some companies held back the high-value domain names instead of releasing them to the public. Even the companies that promised not to reserve domains did so which hurt their reputations.
 
I primarily blame it on two things. First, too many new gTLDs were released at once, so the supply was much greater than the demand. Second, some companies held back the high-value domain names instead of releasing them to the public. Even the companies that promised not to reserve domains did so which hurt their reputations.
I agree with both of these statements. If you keep the best names for yourself, don't be surprised if noboby wants your junk. The third reason could be that the dot com has been ingrained in comsumers and businesses for so long that it will take years to reverse those opinions. My first instinct when typing a domain name into a web browser is to use the dot com extension and I am in the domain business. How more so for people who are casual users of the internet and don't follow message boards or trends. And then there are so many spam emails from extensions like .xyz and .top that most people would be afraid to go to a website with those extensions and that is just 2 examples of heavily used spam extensions. If registries want their extensions to become more widely used, they must police themselves and clean up their act. Just my opinion.
 
I agree with all the above and would like to add that jacking up the prices sure didn't help. I know there were sales on some of the extensions like .xyz and .life, but I can't fathom why some companies thought their gTLD could command a higher registration fee than a .com, .net, or .org. Also, the owners failed to market their new gTLDs to the average person. Yes, I realize that most people aren't looking to buy domains, but if you want the average Joe to click on your site or read you email, they have to know that it's legit. I don't believe end users and investors aren't going to pay for a domain that will be ignored by the general public.
 
Thank you for replying and adding your insight. I saw the article where the gTLD owners think ICANN should give them millions of dollars for marketing purposes which sounded insane. Do you think it's even possible for the gTLDs to recover? Which ones do you expect to hang on? I think .blog, .vip, and a few others might stick around, but I think the majority will shutdown at some point.
 
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As a longtime internet user, I still see GTLD's as spam extensions. Why? Because at no time has a GTLD ever shown up in my regular, social or promotion mailboxes. They always go to Spam. Always.
 
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Companies are still trying to sell the average person the benefits of a website. You are still at the stage of convincing people to register .com/.org/.net and ccTLDs. Then pay for web hosting. :)

I agree with all the above and would like to add that jacking up the prices sure didn't help. I know there were sales on some of the extensions like .xyz and .life, but I can't fathom why some companies thought their gTLD could command a higher registration fee than a .com, .net, or .org. Also, the owners failed to market their new gTLDs to the average person. Yes, I realize that most people aren't looking to buy domains, but if you want the average Joe to click on your site or read you email, they have to know that it's legit. I don't believe end users and investors aren't going to pay for a domain that will be ignored by the general public.

Why does ICANN need to bailout stupid?

http://www.inforum.in/threads/no-17...ling-new-gtlds-colin-campbell-comments.21770/

Thank you for replying and adding your insight. I saw the article where the gTLD owners think ICANN should give them millions of dollars for marketing purposes which sounded insane. Do you think it's even possible for the gTLDs to recover? Which ones do you expect to hang on? I think .blog, .vip, and a few others might stick around, but I think the majority will shutdown at some point.

Pretty much. :)

As a longtime internet user, I still see GTLD's as spam extensions. Why? Because at no time has a GTLD ever shown up in my regular, social or promotion mailboxes. They always go to Spam. Always.
 
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