• LI.tv domain name is available for acquisition: LI.tv

(Thanks Cole!)

Scouring the web for money saving coupons, here are this week’s discount codes for all of your developing and domaining needs. Name.com is running a special this month on their dotCOM, .net and .me extensions. When you register get special price of $8.25 and you’ll automatically enter to win a $50 account credit, five weekly winners will be announced. Wait, but that’s not all, you’ll also enter to win the grand prize drawing of $500 to be held at the end of March. A total $750 in prizes! promo code : chefpatrick

Simply insert code at time of checkout.

GoDaddy.com

• gravity2 : new dotCOM for $5 (one time only with credit card)
• cjcPRESDAY : dotUS $5.69 registration
• yhkw105a : dotCOM registration $7.17 icann fee included
• goaz2001ai : dotCOM $6.99  +icann fee
• gda315as : SAVE 25% on your order of $60 or more
• gda312pl: 20% OFF on your order of $40 or more
• BTPS101 – 20% any order of $50 or more
• ROCK8 : 10% off any GoDaddy purchase
• ROCK9 : $5 off any order of $30 or more
• ROCK10 :  Domain Names for only $7.49
• ROCK20H1 : 20% off hosting plans
• AUCTION12 : 50% Off Auction accounts
• FUNSSL : $12.99 SSL ( 56% Off )
• FUN1 : 10% Off Monthly hosting accounts
• FUN3 : 30% off dotCOM domains
• FUN20 : 20% Off Hosting (1,2,3 yr accounts)
• FUNOFF : $10 off order of $40 or more
• FUN15 : 15% off order of $75 or more
• RAD7 : 30% off dotCOM domain renewals

Will update as new codes come in so check back during the week.

Be sure to look at last weeks domaining codes, some may be still active.

I got an idea today from a web hosting forum I post at about a new idea. In a discussion of web hosting pricing and packages and plans, somebody threw out the idea that those webmasters who actually use the open source applications should pay a per usage microfee. Minimal per-usage fees could lower the overall hosting charges big ticket hosting companies use.

Since actual hosting is much cheaper without the heavy code files and directory trees of hosted open source and brand apps, why not introduce the idea of microfee licenses per user per site? One of the biggest blocks to new domain websites is the hosting fees that inflate any domain name investment. The price of some web hosting plans, even the lower end ones, could come into a realistic perspective for fledgeling domainers.

The hosting company usually offers an array of open source and trademarked applications. These applications are offered because they make it easy to install and compose websites with ease. But if the real price of hosting was nothing more than fixed electricity and rackspace, bulk development of even the largest domain portfolios could happen.

Low-rent hosting plans usually spell disaster because experienced domainers know the company will fold or crimp its sever management and take a powder at the worst possible time in the webmaster’s timetable. If the reference community of active websites was graduated ten thousand fold, imagine what the link building and article directory possibilities could be.

Of course, there is always the hope that one renegade reseller will purchase a monster account and sweep the hosting industry….and domainers along with it.

What happens when a site which is suppose to be giving out unbiased reviews of products is accused of changing it reviews based on ad dollars?

Welcome to the world of Yelp.com, which was hit with a second class-action suit this week, alleging that they “extorted” companies by offering to hide bad reviews and promote positive ones in exchange for advertising.

The suit, filed by D’Ames Day Spa, in the federal district court for the central district of California, alleges that Yelp removed 13 of 14 positive reviews of her business from the site after she refused to purchase advertising on the site.

The suit goes on allege unfair and unlawful business practices and further allege that Yelp acted in violation of the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act.

Yes that a RICO allegation, serious stuff.

Late month, a veterinary center in California alleged that Yelp had offered to bury bad reviews in exchange for a $300-a-month ad buy.

The CEO of Yelp, Jeremy Stoppelman said on Yelp’s blog: “This suit, like the other, is without merit, we will fight it aggressively and we believe we will win”

Of course there are always conspiracy theorist and business owners looking for explanations of  why there services are rated low or their competitors are rated high.

Such is the danger of any any site that rates businesses while accepting ads.

It seems that lawsuits maybe part of the cost of doing business for such “rating” sites.

On the other hand with eyeballs comes a lot of power to make and break businesses especially restaurants which depend greatly on reviews and word of mouth.

There are those, including an article in the EastBayExpress, which claim these Yelp takes advantage of its power to get establishments to increased their advertising to hide bad reviews or add to good review, or will change reviews on based on the lack of advertising.

We will see how this plays out in the courts, but this is definitely something to think about if your planning on developing any of your domains into this type of site.

About six months after crossing the 30 million domain name mark, The Go Daddy Group is set to surpass 40 million domains under management, most likely on Wednesday. So if you register a domain name tomorrow, you might get some extra notoriety if you time it just right.

Ten years ago there were only about 17 million domain names registered, and now there is a single registrar with more than twice that many domains under management. When you do the math, it’s no surprise the company grossed about $750 million last year.

It was on March 10, 2000, coincidentally the same day Go Daddy is likely to hit 40 million domains under management, that the .com bubble is generally thought of to have “burst”, with the NASDAQ topping out at 5132.52. In the period that followed, many people and companies let their domain names expire. It was during this time that the domain name gold rush caught its second wind.

Network Solutions was the biggest registrar at the time. Ten years later it has only about 6.5 million domain names under its umbrella.

Given the role Go Daddy played in bringing domain names to the mass market, I’m somewhat surprised it wasn’t nominated to The .Com 25. But rather than look at the past, I’m sure the company has its eyes on a bigger milestone: 50 million domains under management. At this pace, it could hit that number later this year.

© DomainNameWire.com 2009.

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• Domain Name '3DCameraRecorder.com' is available for purchase!