I have gotten so used to the transparency of blockchain that I forget the outside world runs differently. I am not happy right now, and I feel like punching someone in the face for having to resign to a fate that isn't of my making.
A few days ago, I had stumbled upon a premium domain(the owner didn't renew his subscription this year). It was cool because it has a name that can be widely searched for by a large amount of audience. I could easily use this domain and re-route their audience and visitors to my blog.
GoDaddy gave us the price of the domain, but it was placed on bid. Anyone who bidded the highest gets the domain. So I asked my manager to bid higher, and he did.
We encounter obstacles, we were told to sign up for a membership program. A program that is supposed to qualify us to bid. My manager wanted to stop, but I asked him to continue. I wanted us to see what happens next, and probably learn.
Once we crossed that bridge, he was happy that we did, because according to him, he hasn't been in such a scenario before, and that he had learned a lot. I was pleased that I didn't give up easily.
So, after getting the membership access, we placed our bid. As at the time I saw this domain, we only had two days left before the end of the bid. When the bidding hours were over, they told us we were the highest bidder, and that we should wait for 11 days before we can gain access to it.
I thought, maybe, they are just buying time to see if another bidder will come around and bid higher. So I told my manager to wait, but, that we will be keeping an eye on it so that if someone bidder higher, we go up by a few percentages.
Two days later, I received a message from him saying that the domain has been given to us. I was surprised because they said 11 days, yet, it wasn't up to 10 days. We were asked to pay a certain fee, plus the fee for the renewal of the domain.
It was getting suspiciously costly, so I asked my manager to explain why we are paying the extra cost for it. Once he explained, I discover, first, we had to pay for bidding membership access, then, pay for the domain renewal for this year, but, still pay extra charges(I figured maybe this was GoDaddy's cut in all of it)
We were still talking when my girlfriend visited, and I asked him to wait till the next day when we can look into it with clear eyes and finalize the purchase.
Last night, I left him a message concerning the domain, and this morning, I woke up to a message telling me, the domain isn't ours anymore, and that it has been taken, but, there was a disclaimer, telling us to pay for a broker, who is supposedly going to help us get the domain back..... wtf?
I had thought since they had given it to us, it meant no competition. I tried thinking about how someone would have taken something that was clearly stated to be ours. I have been trying to analyze what games GoDaddy is playing with us.
You know if there was another competition, they wouldn't have told us it is ours the previous night. They would just go and ahead and tell us someone bid higher and let us know what we can do. Telling us something is ours, one minute, and no more ours the next minute without a proper reason, instead, bringing up more ways to charge us doesn't seem right to me
At this point, I wanted to know what happened, I wanted to find out if someone else bought it right under our nose and why?. I asked my manager to send them a mail asking for answers. This morning I am so angry, I don't even know what to vent my anger on.
I was beginning to think this was blockchain where all transactions will be visible. It dawns on me that it wasn't. I would have found out what happened exactly. I would be able to know if GoDaddy was trying to mess with our minds and our money.
Blockchain is way better than a traditional business portfolio. I wouldn't need to talk too much about this. Everything would have been plain, visible, and clear.
I am waiting for their response, I am hoping that they have valid reasons for pulling this stunt(this feels like a stunt to me). If truly the domain has been taken by someone else, why would I be needing a broker to get it back from the rightful owner, who might have gone through the tedious processes and gotten it?
At this point, I am beginning to see the integrity, sincerity, and transparency that comes with Blockchain, and here is my vote of confidence.
Lead image source
I feel there's something fishy about that. I wouldn't even like to begin what might the scenarios be.