Sqwark.com - Afternic Forum [Paperback]

Jasmin Jackson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2006

Thinking of registering a domain? Don't! Not before reading this startling and graphic insight into the madness and pitfalls of domain name ownership and trading.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The AN forums redefined the concept of terrible customer service... -- Patrick O'Keefe Sitepoint July 22

From the Inside Flap

'A thoroughly offbeat book documenting the last two years of the Afternic forums - in the retreating wake of the dot com frenzy when Business.com sold for $7m and the prospect of high returns for small investment still lured a disparate collection of entrepreneurs, opportunists and wishful thinkers under its toxic spell. An unlikely conglomeration - often ugly, sometimes shocking, frequently hilarious - the forums are open slather - bursting with the frustrations of an oversupplied and stagnant market rife with corruption and hype, as Register.com posts massive losses every quarter, and ignores the resellers forums entirely. A narrative dynamic emerges from the vacuum with the attempted takeover of the forum by a madman, and the collective movement to contain him results in a highly original smorgasboard of parody, satire, slapstick and send-up of laugh out loud calibre. But amongst the mayhem is much valuable information covering the development of the domain naming system and its illicit convolutions. Examined in detail by real life speculators are cybertheft, cybersquatting, reverse cybersquatting, the controversial release of new top level domains, trademark confusions, the domain name root system challenge by new.net, the botched Affilias .info release, the questionable activites of ICANN and Network Solutions (Verisign), registrar scams, and Afternic's own malpractices.

A bizarre mix of sophistication and backwater, subtelty and carnivale, the dynamic is increasingly engaging as the book jaunts to its final conclusion - the abrupt termination of the forums, as Afternic is beleagured by bad publicity, shill bidding, stolen domains, raucous complaints, and the appearance of sites such as afternicsucks.com.

Overall, it is one hell of a read and excellent value for money. A book which draws you back again and again to savor the rich morsels of information, black comedy and high nonsense, in this unique insight into greed culture.

Something for everyone here.' review by Richard Moorecroft, New York

Product Details

• Paperback: 820 pages
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing (July 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1553950704
• ISBN-13: 978-1553950707
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,859,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The first book from Amazon I've ever returned., May 7, 2007

By 

M. Jeftovic "markjr13" (Toronto, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sqwark.com - Afternic Forum (Paperback)

I've probably bought about a thousand books from Amazon over the years and this is the first one I've ever returned.

It just looks like a verbatim printout of a flamewar that took place on the Afternic forums back in 2002, like anybody actually cared then, let alone now.

Piece of garbage, $70?

I'm going to print up and bind the archives of my system logs from 2003 and sell them for $25. More interesting, better price.

Give me a break.

1.0 out of 5 stars This has to be a joke!!, March 15, 2007

By 

P. Hamidi (Orange County, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sqwark.com - Afternic Forum (Paperback)

This book was back in its box on the way for a refund in less than 5 minutes. It must be a joke.

Stay away from this. It would have been better if all the pages were blank.