By James Stewart and David Kramer
Following the publication of the article titled .SUCKS: A Questionable Future?, posted on April 13, 2015, the author received an unsolicited email from John Berard, CEO of Vox Populi Registry, Ltd. (“Vox”), the registry responsible for the controversial .SUCKS gTLD, responding to the article. In an email, Berard shares his perspective on the launch of the .SUCKS registry and the controversy that has ensued. In particular, Berard notes:
“The mission of the Vox Populi Registry is not to just sell names, but to help create a new destination, one where criticism can be heard and engaged. And, if they arise, errors corrected. Right now, companies don’t always get the chance to correct the record. Heck, a lot of what shows up in search results can’t even be run to ground.
From the beginning I have said there is no need (it is certainly not mandatory) for a company to register its dotSucks domain. Just be willing to engage. In 2015 with 20 years’ experience of the Internet as a business platform, I would not have thought this to be so radical an idea.” (emphasis added)