Speculators seem to love idn symbols.

[idn]

Since February 14th ☓.com has received 120 visitors.

Pretty crazy for a symbol domain.

Almost all traffic from US.

My other symbols get decent traffic, but not as much.

[IDNCowboy]

Since February 14th ☓.com has received 120 visitors.

Pretty crazy for a symbol domain.

Almost all traffic from US.

My other symbols get decent traffic, but not as much.
what language is that? I can't see it as i must not have that language pack installed

[idn]

what language is that? I can't see it as i must not have that language pack installed


It is an idn symbol

[blastfromthepast]

It is pretty crazy but some of my three character symbol domains actually get a few hits a day.

You figure, the symbols are a set that almost everyone in the world would understand, no matter what language they speak.

Therefore, when people first look for idns, they start with the symbols.

I'm sure pure one character symbol domains are going to eventually hit it big especially when combined with the word spelled out, they make a heck of a statement on your business card. Imagine using your logo as your domain name. Symbol domain names are as close as it gets to that.

[Rubber Duck]

It is pretty crazy but some of my three character symbol domains actually get a few hits a day.

You figure, the symbols are a set that almost everyone in the world would understand, no matter what language they speak.

Therefore, when people first look for idns, they start with the symbols.

I'm sure pure one character symbol domains are going to eventually hit it big especially when combined with the word spelled out, they make a heck of a statement on your business card. Imagine using your logo as your domain name. Symbol domain names are as close as it gets to that.

Symbols may be of interest to naive speculators but I doubt very much if they are going to be even 1% of the total IDN market, which will eventually channel up to 50% of global internet traffic.

Anyone who invest in this sort of IDN is taking unnecessary risk for a very uncertain level of return, when investing in Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Arabic IDN is a No Brainer.

Since February 14th ☓.com has received 120 visitors.

Pretty crazy for a symbol domain.

Almost all traffic from US.

My other symbols get decent traffic, but not as much.

Yes, it is interesting how traffic from US while currently a very significant part of the total does not correlate in anyway with traffic from the localities where IDN actually mean something and also carries no click throughs at all. This is Junk Traffic by any definition. Where does it come from, well perhaps naive speculators, but most likely the majority is generated by computers spidering the internet. In others words it is getting checked out because they have the entire registry listing, or because you have advertised the URL on sites like this, Sedo or Afternic perhaps.

[blastfromthepast]

Considering that there are only a few dozen or so one character symbols to be had, and that most of them are already taken, there's little to debate the merits of buying them, other than speculate on their future potential.

[Rubber Duck]

Considering that there are only a few dozen or so one character symbols to be had, and that most of them are already taken, there's little to debate the merits of buying them, other than speculate on their future potential.

Look, I have the card diamond which I bought a couple of years ago. I had more or less lost it because I didn't even bother to record the punycode anywhere. I actually thought it had dropped. Was I bothered not in the slightest? You cannot type it in on any keyboard in the world so how can it realistically be useful?

There are loads of single characters. Your swastika, I first came across when sifting through the Unicode Hanzi characters. Believe me there are thousands of Single Characters out there if you count Chinese and Japanese symbols. I think you can actually get many ding-bats in IDN if you want them. The only ones that are going to of any enourmous value are those that appear on a Qwerty or Wubi Keyboard, or other keyboards adapted to inputting commerically significant languages.

[touchring]

I think some symbols are going to be worth more. The swastika icon will appeal to Buddhists.

[Rubber Duck]

I think some symbols are going to be worth more. The swastika icon will appeal to Buddhists.

Yes, the Swastika is going to be valuable, because of its use in Asia.

As a symbol for Nazis it is going to be virtually worthless because none of the morons that interested in that sort of thing will actually have any clue how to input the symbol.

Considering that there are only a few dozen or so one character symbols to be had, and that most of them are already taken, there's little to debate the merits of buying them, other than speculate on their future potential.

To prove the point visit:

http://www.idnforums.com/forums/909-novelty-domain-auction-no-reserve.html?highlight=reserve

Nobody is interested!

[blastfromthepast]

The only ones that are going to of any enourmous value are those that appear on a Qwerty or Wubi Keyboard, or other keyboards adapted to inputting commerically significant languages.

Well said.

In OS X, in Japanese, if you type でんわ you then get to select from
1. 電話 =telephone
2. 出んわ
3. デンワ =katakana version
4. でんわ =hiragana version
5. ℡ =punycode=tel
6. ☎ =punycode=xn--y3h
And the order of these changes depending on how often you use each definition.

Think about it, if you owned blackdiamond.com and then you redirected people to an actual ♦.com, you'd have your average web site visitor pretty impressed.

[idn]

Think about it, if you owned blackdiamond.com and then you redirected people to an actual ♦.com, you'd have your average web site visitor pretty impressed.

The only problem is that most of them are so small you cannot make them out in the url bar. I have been attached to my http://xn--84h.com/ for some time now, but mostly from a collector's standpoint.

[Rubber Duck]

More to the point, if these are valuable and the people on this forum have more appreciation of the value of IDN, than anywhere else in the know universe, why can I not get even a $10 bid in 12 days after more than 50 visits?

[idnowner]

I believe there is value to special-character and dingbat domains. Many of them don't appeal to me, but I'd like to have the smiley-faces (☺.com and ☻.com), the ying-yang symbol (☯.com), skull and crossbones (☠.com), telephone (☎.com) and several others. I was tempted to make an offer for Dave's diamond domain, although, I would want the complete set - ♦.com, ♠.com, ♣.com and ♥.com.

True, it may be difficult or impossible to enter many of these characters on the
keyboard, but it's important to realize that these are actually "real" dot-com domain names. That alone gives "some" value to these names - specifically, the SINGLE-character names.

I believe, once you combine a special character with other characters or letters, the value is greatly diminished, with possible exceptions - like I♥NY.com, although I♥NY is a registered trademark, so a better example may be I♥YOU.com (not sure if that would have a trademark too). Also, there are a few variations of the heart character to complicate your choice.

As someone, earlier stated, you can't predict the future possibilities of these
domains, but I can think of a number of ways these domains can be used...

1- As I mentioned in a previous post, a domain name like florida☼.com could be used as a doorway page, depending on how a search engine may treat such a name. As an example, if a search in google for "florida vacations" resulted in a number of listings, and one of those listings was for "http://www.florida☼.com," I think that could attract some attention and some curious people may click on the name, since it is so distinctive. A name like this would not likely be used as a main web address, but could serve as a doorway page to direct people to your main web address.

2- I think it is very possible that someone will create an index site with links to
many (if not every) single-special-or-dingbat-character web address (and possibly other combined-character domains). Its actually something I was considering, and would likely do, if I had the spare time.

3- I also think these names will have certain appeal to teens and could be associated with games and special promotions.

There are likely a number of other possible uses for special-character domains that nobody here has even thought about yet, but because they are "real" Internet addresses, I would not totally discount them. I would not recommend that anyone invest heavily in these either. I own only ten, and, having seen all of the symbols previously, found only about 10 to 20 others that I would care to have.

It's intriguing to think that you can have a picture of a telephone or a skull-and-
crossbones as a real dot-com domain. While you can't type these into your address bar, if these things start popping up in search engine listings, they could be quite valuable.

Symbolic domains are truly INTERNATIONAL domains. They are recognizable across all languages and cultures - some having different meanings to different people, as you may have seen in some recent posts. But with the interest already shown, I think a section in IDN Forums, for "Special Characters & Dingbats," should be considered.

[kenne]

Is there a list of these symbols somewhere? With color if possible :)

[idn]

http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/#links

[idnowner]

Also see (.pdf documentation)...

http://www.unicode.org/charts/symbols.html
http://www.unicode.org/charts/

As for color - some characters are considered black or white (outline or filled), as in the example of the smiley face: White: ☺.com, Black: ☻.com. If you're referring to Dave's example of the red diamond, he simply put color attributes on the text, but I think that would be considered a "black" diamond - I don't recall if there is a "white" (outline) version for that character.

[IDNCowboy]

I can't see alot of these. what pack do i have to install to see them?

[gammascalper]

2- I think it is very possible that someone will create an index site with links to
many (if not every) single-special-or-dingbat-character web address (and possibly other combined-character domains). Its actually something I was considering, and would likely do, if I had the spare time.


If you don't do it somebody probably will. It's a cool idea and niche search like that is relatively easy to execute; I can envision a keypad of symbols below the search bar.

A couple of my faves that I've seen so far are © and ®.

Not sure if you can register the ™ symbol even though it's listed as a valid symbol -- domainsite renders it as ASCII "tm" and it's displayed as unavailable. Not sure why.

[idnowner]

If you don't do it somebody probably will. It's a cool idea and niche search like that is relatively easy to execute;


I agree, I think it would be easy to do. I'd like to see someone do it. You, perhaps?


A couple of my faves that I've seen so far are © and ®.
Not sure why.

Yes, those are two of the best ones.

[gammascalper]

Since about 6 months ago there hasn't been enough hours in the day :-)

It'll go on the backburner with the other cool ideas.

You've helped me convince myself to bid on Dave's auction though!

[thegenius1]

Think about it, if you owned blackdiamond.com and then you redirected people to an actual ♦.com, you'd have your average web site visitor pretty impressed.


I think it may be wise to have a few of these in the Vault, I can see some people paying a hefty prive once things pick up, And like blackdiamond, I think this domains i own travel☼.com Travel with a Sunshine... would be awesome for a travel company because when most people think of travel they are seeking Sunshine and a change of weather.... I also think that some people are sleeping on the potential of SEO traffic with these names, i think click thru will be massive becauese it will be so different people will be attracted.

[IDNCowboy]

I think it may be wise to have a few of these in the Vault, I can see some people paying a hefty prive once things pick up, And like blackdiamond, I think this domains i own travel☼.com Travel with a Sunshine... would be awesome for a travel company because when most people think of travel they are seeking Sunshine and a change of weather.... I also think that some people are sleeping on the potential of SEO traffic with these names, i think click thru will be massive becauese it will be so different people will be attracted.
you'll also have travel.com come after you with a lawsuit

[idnowner]

Domains like music♫.com and poker♣.com might not be practical web addresses you'd promote, but they could be profitable if people find them among search results. To the average Bob, they could be good attention-grabbers.

you'll also have travel.com come after you with a lawsuit

I don't think so.

[IDNCowboy]

Domains like music♫.com and poker♣.com might not be practical web addresses you'd promote, but they could be profitable if people find them among search results. To the average Bob, they could be good attention-grabbers.



I don't think so.
why not? When I registered my trademarks you are protected...

If you register "travel.com" someone else cannot come with travel.com with a symbol next to it...


Another argument> They sound the same as you don't even pronounce the symbol.

It is way too early to tell but most of these big corporations like travel.com will fight these registrations with the Trademark office

[idnowner]

why not?

Because it's too generic.

[IDNCowboy]

Because it's too generic.
Theres something we call the USPTO in the U.S. and people pay money to have these .com's trademarked.. The trademark holders are not going to sit around and do nothing.

[yanni]

travelocity.com
onetravel.com
statravel.com
ontariotravel.net
......

these people wouldn't be in business by now...

[idnowner]

Theres something we call the USPTO in the U.S. and people pay money to have these .com's trademarked.. The trademark holders are not going to sit around and do nothing.

You might have a problem with travelchannel☼.com, but doubtful with travel☼.com.

[IDNCowboy]

You might have a problem with travelchannel☼.com, but doubtful with travel☼.com.
So why would travel.com have a few trademarks in the USPTO? if nobody else can make a travel.com? :-)

USPTO gladly accepts money to give you the right to that particular name

[idnowner]

So why would travel.com have a few trademarks in the USPTO? if nobody else can make a travel.com? :-)

USPTO gladly accepts money to give you the right to that particular name


A dispute with almost any domain is possible, but is less likely with generic names.

[IDNCowboy]

A dispute with almost any domain is possible, but is less likely with generic names.
Theres a whole bunch of these cases on DNForum.com (generics)

[Giant]

Domains like music♫.com and poker♣.com might not be practical web addresses you'd promote, but they could be profitable if people find them among search results. To the average Bob, they could be good attention-grabbers.


I don't think so.

idnowner, what language you chose when you registered something like poker♣.com ? I tried one but unsuccessful.

[idnowner]

idnowner, what language you chose when you registered something like poker♣.com ? I tried one but unsuccessful.

I registered my names a few years ago - back then, I don't recall having to choose the language. I would choose "English," but can't say if there would be any problems today.

[thegenius1]

idnowner, what language you chose when you registered something like poker♣.com ? I tried one but unsuccessful.

Well it didnt work for me @ domainsite but i was successful over at Dynadot... If all else fails i guess i can become a Affiliate of travel.com but i think the term is so generic and that being the reason i regd it, but who know nowadays with companys and there big money

[Giant]

I registered my names a few years ago - back then, I don't recall having to choose the language. I would choose "English," but can't say if there would be any problems today.

I got it. Thanks.

[jose]

I've heard rumours Omega will start using it.

Check the whois on xn--omega-gee ! :o

ωomega.com