Soon you’ll be able to talk about what really upsets or irritates you by registering a quirky “dot-Sucks” domain for your website. But only if you can afford it!
Vox Populi will start selling the “.sucks” website names on March 30. The company has a complicated pricing policy with fees reaching up to $2,500 for organizations. Domains will be registered with the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), MarketingLand website reported on Sunday. Non-trademarked or personal usage will cost $199 until June 1, at which time the price jumps to $249.
“Dot-Sucks is designed to help consumers find their voices and allow companies to find the value in criticism,” the Vox Populi website explains. “Each dot-Sucks domain has the potential to become an essential part of every organization’s customer relationship management program.”
The company added that the price of new domains, estimated at hundreds or thousands of dollars, will be an obstacle for trolls and ill-wishers, dissuading them from buying them.
“Most of the great changes in our planet’s history come from less than one percent of people. For many changes in our country and in the world it is a lot easier than we think,” consumer advocate Ralph Nader said. “The word “sucks” now is a protest word. And it is up to people to give it more meaning.”
However, the controversial domain, which will certainly raise some angst among troll-scared companies, has already caused some negative feedback. As US Senator Jay Rockefeller was leaving office, he called Vox Populi’s pricing plan “little more than a predatory shakedown scheme” and said that it had “little or no public interest value.”
An option for consumer advocate groups – a subsidized “dot-sucks” domain – will cost only $9.95 per month. But there will be a ban on using the website to criticize a company and a compulsory link to a discussion forum, hosted on Everything.sucks –Vox Populi’s website.
Dot-Sucks is just one of hundreds of new top-level domains recently introduced. Domains such as dot-app, dot-space, dot-guru or dot-adult are designed and promoted to website owners whose businesses are directly connected to the domain name.
