19962013
Conflict of Interest or Not? Blogging for $$$
Craig Hamilton, Tucows staffer and one of the better internet retailers I've worked with, has been begging me for a plug. You see, his team launched BlogID and Domain Direct News this week (and did a quite excellent job from what I've seen). Now normally, I'm quite happy to shill for Tucows various initiatives. But Craig is really the first Tucows employee to *ask* for a plug. Not sure if I want to give him one or not.
What's the proper ettiquette here?
See this post as it first appeared on Blogware.
9 comments
Comments are closed - these are kept exactly as they were left.
(name not saved), November 17, 2004
(name not saved), November 17, 2004
Wait a second here. The plug would be fine but isn't Domain Direct and now BlogID direct competition to all of TuCows resellers in these spaces??
I didn't realize TuCows was up to this kind of funny business but maybe I'm not getting whats going on here. Please enlighten me.
(name not saved), November 17, 2004
Craig runs a business on the fuzzy line right smack dab in between Tucows Wholesale and our resellers.
Before Tucows was a wholesaler, we were a content/ISP play that dabbbled in a few peripheral businesses, like domain names. It was our experience with Domain Direct that led us right up to the door of OpenSRS in 1999. When Tucows was spun out of the ISP, Domain Direct tagged along and has been operating as a separate group within Tucows ever since. Craig runs his own marketing and development (a total of five people) and has slowly been adding new products to his line up as the tastes of his customers evolve. As a Trellix reseller, Domain Direct was already offering weblogs and I made it a point to convince Craig to switch to our tool starting 18 months ago. He finally relented resulting in the launch of their BlogID package (its not a separate brand, just a new offering) yesterday.
So yes, it is Tucows competing, but there is nothing new here. Craig uses all of the same resources, interfaces and so on that third party resellers use, so its definitely a fair play. Anyone that participated in the beta, for instance, has a huge lead over Craig.
Tucows continues to be in a sticky spot with this business. Domain Direct is running on momentum it gained 7 years ago - it does a fair bit of business selling domain names - but its not big enough to sell off or spin out.
As a result, we operate it semi-arm's length and try our best to do it fairly and in a manner that doesn't run you up against Tucows in any meaningful way. Hopefully, the playing field is a level as it can be in this type of a situation...
Does this help? Happy to elaborate further if I can...
(name not saved), November 19, 2004
Ugh. Picking at scabs now. After reading the last two comments. I remembered how much I like Craig and how much I hate Ddirect. As Colin fondly named it during its inception "the ISP/webhosting killer" I had almost forgotten that DDirect's physical location is smack dab in the middle of the TUCOWS office. I know you would like to convince me and all resellers for that matter, this is a level playing field but....I'm not convinced. I think any srs reseller that had a desk and a phone in the center of the tucows office would have a distinct advantage over others. As a matter of fact I often think I have an advantage just because, I, as a reseller, operate in the same city. I think you could make an argument that DD is a separate entity but every time I go to tucows.com and see a DD add It makes me think....NOT! As I often say to my children "it's wrong to be naughty, but it's far worse to lie to me, if you do that you loose my trust. Call a spade a spade Ross, lets be honest, get over it, and move on.
(name not saved), November 19, 2004
Hmm...well, let's just say that your version of history and mine differs greatly (Colin's comments weren't made during DD"s inception...he was talking about something that we never released and a market opportunity that has never developed) and furthermore, the insinuation that I'm lying to you is...well, quite insulting.
And the benefits that you speak of? Where are they? We didn't hold back Blogware for DD's benefit, in fact, they are launching almost a full year after we made it available to other resellers. Email? Same thing. What else...actually, you know what...I don't think I need to justify this to you.
Speaking of honesty, you might want to pass on your status as a former employee...sheesh.
(name not saved), November 19, 2004
(name not saved), November 19, 2004
(name not saved), November 19, 2004
I think you need to grow up a bit and find some better things to do with your time than get consumed with the pretty innocuous actions of a former employer and mischaracterizing the comments of someone whom I thought was your friend on their personal weblog.
If I was disappointed before, I'm doubly so now.
Twist it however you want, I think Tucows actions and your experiences bear out my initial statements.
"So yes, it is Tucows competing, but there is nothing new here. Craig uses all of the same resources, interfaces and so on that third party resellers use, so its definitely a fair play"
(name not saved), November 20, 2004
2 cents22 cents worth. I did not intend for the discussion to get personal, which apparently it has. In hind sight I would not have participated in this dialogue. I also think you did not need to portray me as an immature, bitter, vendictive, consumed, X employee who hates all things TUCOWS It's funny how a simple click of a mouse can ruin your day. Should have used the phone I guess.