I didn't pay to post, I was grandfathered. I have bagged about a dozen sites that started charging because I could always replace them with something roughly equivalent. One of the things that bugs me about the deal is what turns most people on - that's the untapped market for connections. Whatever the percentage of the world's population that's online is a fraction, right? Every one of those connections becomes a potential competitor to every internet business already online. The barrier to entry is a $500 computer and about $100 worth of software. ISP's etc being an exception since they obviously have an investment in hardware. Even that cost is being pounded down by new technology. Why can't somebody in China say, with government backing or at least encouragement, with nil labor costs etc. do the same thing as aol or yahoo? It's just an IP address to us. Unless some kind of weird language syntax or funny writing gives it away, there's no hint where it originates from. So, if CBS news want's a cheaper online forum, they buy one of the real turkey companies I hopefully own, give them one quarter of what it currently costs now, and everbodies happy.
Mind all, this is an academic exersice for me, I don't have a firm set of convictions on this topic. But, unless you can provide something that nobody else can replicate either at the same price, quality, features, or without serious backing, you have either a market so small nobody cares, or enough competition to obliterate your margins. I haven't been able to identify that unique, dynamic, unchallengable product yet. Except maybe a niche like that company that registers domain names. Now those suckers did some serious business last year. Anyway, thanks all for entertaining the discussion. I miss that about this thread.
Mike
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