Even though I was on a vacation at a place with horrible internet connectivity on my data card, I could not resist myself playing a few pranks on April Fools Day. What I had only done for a few laughs revealed some really interesting things to me.

If you have ever been on WickedFire then you’d know how much we hate “get-rich-quick” eBooks and how swiftly we take actions against them. The last thing that you’d want to see is a WickedFire Staff Member and Domaining Section Manager writing a Get Rick Quick eBook.

But yes, I did! I claimed to be writing an eBook revealing all my domaining secrets and made an offer to people to pre-order it for just $7. You can see my thread and the funny-comments people made there by clicking here.

Another thing — when Jon had started a crusade against these quick-buck eBook authors, he had done so by openly posting a copy of the crap that these authors were selling. So to take the joke further, I asked a friend to post a fake download link for what I was claiming to sell. The link was a Rick-Roll!

The tone of comments in the thread was enough for anyone to see the joke. However, I was shocked when over 20 people contacted me via private messages, eMail and instant messenger asking for payment details for the eBooks.

I was even more shocked to see the key-phrase “lord brar ebook” in my search referral stats!

Com’on guys. I have not written any eBook and neither do I plan to anytime soon. However, this validated the fact that a fool and his money don’t stay together for long.

Remember - What Works For One, Doesn’t Work For Everyone and you have to find out what works for you by hit and trial.

I made this post claiming that DomainingTips.com has been sold. A lot of you saw through the joke and posted in the comments or ribbed me via IM or PM about it.

However, I actually received a few offers in high x,xxx range trying to out-do the current bidder or in case the sale doesn’t go through.

No folks, I don’t plan to sell DomainingTips.com anytime soon but it was pretty interesting to see the offers rolling in!

I hope you had a nice First April. Do tell me about your experiences and pranks in the comments.

Hey — I need a favor from you! Can You Please Vote for DomainingTips.com as the Best Blog and DNForum.com for the Best Forum. Here’s the Link? =)

Thanks!

One thing which has been perplexing me for long was finally solved today. I finally understood what Twitter is and got addicted to it!

The issue that I had with twitter was that everyone was talking about how great twitter and microblogging was and getting addicted to it. However, whenever I would log into twitter.com and see hundreds of text-messages from people which I could not even imagine reading — at least without wasting half of my day — I just could not get my head around it!

Did all the top guys who had started twittering love wasting their time or was there more to it!

And the mystery got solved yesterday — when I downloaded a twitter client called twhirl. The moment I downloaded it, I realized how powerful twitter can be and how addictive it actually is.

The main reason why I could never understand and get used to twitter was because it was a headache to keep visiting twitter.com to check my tweets. The moment I downloaded twhirl, it turned twitter into an instant-messenger — or a big chat-room, if I may.

Yes, that’s right. Twitter is actually a Chat Room on Steroids!!!

You may call it a micro-blogging platform or anything else but if you think of it in the most simplistic terms, it is actually a chat-room where you can add people to your chat and start chatting. The difference is that all your chats are logged and shown on your twitter profile.

And one advice, don’t even try to use twitter without having Twhirl on your system.

PS: Follow me on Twitter.

I am on a 10 Days vacation to my state of Punjab. You can see my photos from the trip on my flickr page. More when I am back!

Something interesting happened to me yesterday — I came across four different people who don’t have any instant messenger. I say interesting because I am not so habitual of this happening to me daily — not just one but four different people.

Saying words like AIM, Skype, GTalk, MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messeger did ring some bells — however, that is not the point.

The point is — IMs are no longer the tool to chat up with random strangers in the other parts of the world — the days of ICQ and chat-rooms are long gone except. Today IMs are a killer and highly profitable business-utility and an excellent way to build relationships with people. I know I have done it!

Instant Messenger = Perfect Blend of Phone + eMail

Remember the time when you had to write letters on paper and wait for weeks, if not months before you could get a reply to it.

Then came telephone. It was a smashing success because people to get a reply instantly. But still phone had one flaw — you could not multi-task with phone, which meant that you had to give your full attention to the person on the other end.

After phone, there came email. You could get your message delivered instantly AND you could multi-task, meaning you could take your own time to respond to the other person. I don’t think I need to even mention the popularity and utility of this killer-app.

Instant Messengers were next and they can be considered a perfect blend of phone and email. You get the speed of phone in interaction and the utility of multi-tasking of email when you are using instant messengers.

When it comes to domaining, instant messengers are the killer-app which let you network with fellow domainers, sell more domains, learn from others and build long-term relationships with others.

One opposition that you may hear about IMs is that they are a waste of time and they lower your productivity. Sure, you have to spend some time when you are talking to people. However, I prefer to consider it an investment into myself and my business.

I can spend thousands of dollars going to conventions to build contacts with people so why can’t I spend a few more thousand in time-value to make the most of those and other contacts. Heck, I have made thousands and thousands of dollars because of IMs.

So, what are you waiting for? Grab a copy of Trillian and Skype and make your accounts with Skype, AIM, GTalk, MSN and Yahoo.

Once you have done that, add me as a friend –

Skype - lord_brar
AIM - lordbrar
GTalk - lord [at] lordbrar.com *
MSN - lord [at] lordbrar.com *
Yahoo - lord_brar

* replace [at] with @.

Catch you on IM. Rock on!

Finally. They had it coming on them.

I raised this issue at ICANN New Delhi atleast 5-6 times. Even Steve DelBianco from NetChoice raised an issue similar to mine.

I would have loved to see Mike Rodenbaugh’s proposal for non-refundable ICANN Fee being adopted instantly but it seems no one was interested in taking any action about it as they needed more time to “think” about the issue.

Let’s hope that NetSol stops this unethical and unfair trade practice.

Related: Big Boo to Network Solutions.

There really can’t be a crazier way to spend your Saturday than investigating a Retard Scammer. I can’t get into details right now since we are still working to find more about this retard but till then you can have fun by seeing all the drama that took place on DNForum.com.

1. DNM.com For Sale. The guy has balls trying to sell a name worth xx,xxx for just $600! I mean com’on, anyone can see through this.

2. 007.com For Sale. This name is owned by Sony. Hey Mr. Scammer — Will you sell Sony along with this domain for $50?

I wouldn’t leave you without some inside dirt. Here’s the last PM he sent me at DNF –

Ok,

Sorry,

I will not repeat.

Pls forgive me.

I am very scared now.

Please reply.

Tell me how to resolve it.

Sorry

Sir,

Please reply.

I am really sorry.

Also My exams are near the corner.

I am waiting.

Sorry

Story Developing. Stay tuned for updates.