racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

photo credit: walknboston

I’m selling a few of my blogs and domains. I intended to run a small blog network from these, but often find myself too busy to manage the extra load. Most of the domains have WordPress running, and most have about two years’ worth of original content. Email me your best offers.

• newgreenthoughts.com – Blog on environmentalism
• greenliter.com – Blog on hypermiling and green motoring
• yourhealth1st.com – Blog on health
• startripping.com – Blog on entertainment and showbiz
• parentingthoughts.com – Blog on parenting
• maritalblitz.com – Blog on married life
• theproductivemind.com – Blog on productivity. I plan to use this domain for a new venture, so it has a relatively high reserve price (compared to the rest). But please feel free to make offers if interested.
• techspottr.com – Blog on gadgets and technology
• hypertensioninfo.net – Blog on hypertension
• koobten.com – Blog on netbooks and portable devices (“koobten” is the reverse of “netbook”) SOLD
• bigidealist.com – I was planning to set up a web app for a task list or an idea list. The domain can also mean “big idealist.”

These ones are theme-related domains. I originally intended for these to feature a WordPress theme that a colleague and I were planning to build. However, we were both quite busy at that time. These domains can also be used for reviewing WP themes using affiliate links.

• switchthemes.com
• themefortress.com
• wedothemes.com

I have a new blog, and it’s called Study Driving. It has a great domain, too: studydriving.com .

I’m still gathering bits and pieces, but the blog is now live. And I just recently uploaded a new theme, the Blogging Pro Wordpress Theme.

If you’re interested in automotive stuff, then I suggest you head on there right now. Okay, there’s not much to see but a few tips, tricks, and some videos. I originally planned it to be an info site, but I thought that would be too much work for me, so a blog format would instead be ideal.

Perhaps you’d like to contribute. Just contact me and let’s see what we can do.

I hear the domain has good intrinsic value. I’m open to offers.

There’s an ongoing discussion at the “SEO Philippines eGroup”:http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/seo-philippines (and quite an impassioned one, too) about the pricing of .PH domains. Having worked for dotPH, I’m aware of the issues and the arguments from all sides. Of course, with this disclosure, I also cannot just divulge any information I know of that other people might be interested in.

Still, you might find the thread over SEO Philippines a good read (membership to the e-group is required, but is as simple as sending email to seo-philippines-subscribe AT yahoogroups DOT com). Abe has also posted his response on his blog, and it’s from the perspective of his being a .PH reseller.

Also, another bit of disclosure: the company that I currently work with, “Enthropia”:http://www.enthropia.com , has also been active in advocating the “Use com . PH”:http://use.com.ph campaign. And part of this is our giving “free com . PH domains”:http://racoma.com.ph/archives/the-conditions to eligible bloggers. We do recognize the need for Filipinos to be able to carry the com.PH name with pride.

My response to the issue

Here’s my response, below.

Those of you know know me would be aware I used to work for dotPH. While I can’t divulge the exact details about the issue, I’ll share some general insights (the little that I actually do know of what’s been going on).

To tell you the truth, it’s a stalemate. Gov’t wants to take control–or even just reassign–the .PH ccTLD, but dotPH maintains that gov’t can’t just do that since they were first to be assigned registry status by ICANN. The Philippine government can’t do anything unilaterally since it’s also through ICANN that these issues have to be resolved, as it’s ICANN that assigns the administrative and technical management of the registry.

Frankly, dotPH claims ICANN will take their side on this matter. If the gov’t decides to sue, then it will take years and years for the issue to be resolved, especially given the slow pace of the legal system here and the lack of really solid electronic-commerce and IT laws (and do consider that one of the main proponents of e-commerce laws here is Joel Disini’s brother, Atty. JJ Disini–so there might be some difficulty trying to interpret the laws to gov’t's advantage. Though arguably they’re not always on the same side when it comes to IT stuff, when it comes to business they seem to be a strong team).

Perhaps as IT professionals and businesspeople, we can lobby for better dialogue between gov’t and the .PH registry, if what we want is to have more competitive pricing. Do consider that other ccTLDs around the world also still charge $35 per year. The market is different. You can sell CNO domains at $5 and still earn, because of the sheer volume; in contrast, the market for .PH is considerably smaller. Of course, there’s also the basic concept of supply and demand–if dotPH sells for lower then there will be higher demand for .PH domains. The thing here is to find the optimal price at which everyone’s a winner ( i.e., domains are priced competitively and are affordable, and the registry/registrars earn even better than with the $35 prices).

(End of quote)

A bigger issue

Other SEO Philippines members who have far better background on the matter than I have pitched in their two cents’ worth, and there seems to be bigger issues cited, particularly about the .PH namespace not being a “business” and that the registry should be treating their appointment as a trusteeship. If you’re interested in reading about this, then I suggest you head on to the “e-group message archives.”:http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/seo-philippines/messages

I’ll be out for most of this evening. (Am I not out busy almost every day this week?) Will be attending the much-awaited Bloggers’ meetup sponsored by Globe Innove. Globe is supposed to showcase its latest offering in mobile broadband connectivity, and we’re hoping for more than just a sneak peek (hint, hint!). It’s sort of a press junket, but for bloggers (a.k.a. non-traditional media people).

I’m lucky to be among the 12 “Apostles”–hopefully I will not be the Judas of this group!

On a related note, if your emails to me have been bouncing or not being responded to lately, it might be due to my racoma.net domain’s expiring. Boy, was I surprised when people told me my .net address was redirecting to a parking page.

My domain has been registered anew, but it seems we’re still waiting for nameserver propagation to complete. In the meantime, please send me emails to my jangelo (at) gmail (dot) com address.

Wasn’t that a catchy title?

Okay, so we have the initial details. And I’ve half a dozen people on our list already. As usual, the perfectionists we are, we’re still sorting out some fine details, but we’re just about ready to register the free domains for those who have signified interest and who made it to the list.

Half a dozen seems a mighty small number, don’t you think? We think so, too. And we’re just waiting for more people to signify interest in what we have to offer.

So if you’d like your very own free .COM.PH domain, one year blog hosting, and a bunch of other stuff (mostly free tech support and SEO assistance), do send me an email with the following:

* Your real name
* Your existing blog address
* Your existing blog’s traffic levels for the past couple of months (screenshots would be great)
* Passport-sized pic (Okay, kidding here! But my Man-Blog co-bloggers might just feature you and it could be your shot at fame!)
* Your desired .com.ph domain name
* A short note on why you think you should blog over at a .COM.PH site (a free one at that).

My email addy’s jangelo (at) gmail (dot) com.

I might have missed a few emails the past days (either buried in my inbox or my host did not redirect to Gmail), so in the rare case I haven’t been getting back to you lately, do drop me a line.

We’ll be waiting.