It’s very cool to see a friend launch a new website on a great domain name, especially when it has a greater purpose than to generate revenue. Arabs.com is a new forum-themed website that was recently launched by Future Media Architects and its founder, Thunayan Khalid al-Ghanim.

Thunayan took some time to write a thought provoking post on Arabs.com, which explains the forum’s purpose, touching on the historical significance of current events in the Arab world:

Though conscience is a concept difficult to define in general, it is quite easy for the person to credibly define their individual conscience. Individual conscience is the standard of credibility to which we subscribe and express ourselves. At Arabs.com, the human conscience, consciously defined by human individuality, is our source of credibility.

The greatest space of freedom is the one between a person’s ears. Arabs.com is concerned with safeguarding the independence and integrity of this space.

It is Arabs.com’s profound belief in the maturity of the Arab consciousness—which has transcended the stagnant political process and overturned historical convictions—that compelled us to lay the foundations for this forum. This is a forum for Arabs, by Arabs, from every dissent, without bias or preference for one voice over another. This is a forum to create a reality for Arabs without censorship or guardianship, where each person is responsible for their exercise of free choice and expression.

History is made not by super-powers of heaven or earth, but human-made, through the collective exercise of humanity expressing its self freely, and that is our strategic philosophy in contributing to the creation of a new reality in the Arab world and the world at large…”

FMA has tens of thousands of domain names, and likely hundreds of top quality domain assets like Arabs.com. Development is time consuming, especially when you consider the moderation that must go into operating a forum such as the one on Arabs.com.

Although I don’t speak Arabic (some might say I am still trying to master the English language), I want to wish Thunayan and FMA, bettawfeeq – good luck on this new venture.

I also look forward to seeing the launch of one of my favorite FMA domain names, Ibiza.com, which is expected in April. Hopefully I will get to celebrate the launch of the site with him in Ibiza (wife permitting of course).

In the UDRP decision for the domain name Miki.com, (which was defended by Kenyon & Kenyon and won by Future Media Architects), the company announced its plans to launch a vanity email service on some of its domain names. People will be able to choose email addresses from the portfolio of high value domain names owned by FMA, including Cool.com, Party.com, Falcons.com, Monsters.com, Jackass.com, and many other generic domain names in its portfolio.

Tucows’ NetIdentity portfolio of common surnames offers something similar, but FMA has a portfolio of hundreds of fun domain names that will surely be in high demand. The company is still working out the interface, but according to Thunayan Khalid Al-Ghanim, President of FMA, the company hopes to begin offering the service sometime in the near future.

This is another corporate attempt at wrestling a generic domain name from a legitimate domain owner. How many more victories will Thunayan and FMA need to have before outsiders see this as a losing cause?

This morning, Future Media Architects announced the launch of Jackass.com and Jogging.com, two of its hundreds of generic domain names.  As you may recall, Jackass.com was involved in a UDRP dispute last month, and FMA prevailed over the complainant, Viacom, parent company of MTV.

Jackass.com has been developed into a resource site about donkeys.  In addition, there is a search functionality on the site allowing visitors to search the web for information about donkeys, mules and other jackass-related topics.

Personally, I am most eagerly looking forward to FMA’s launch of Ibiza.com, which is expected to happen later this year.

I’ve seen several Internet blogs, articles, and forums where people refer to my friend Thunayan as a “cybersquatter.”  From my own personal experience in launching several websites, each one takes a lot of time, effort, and energy, and it’s no easy task.  I know Thunayan is involved with many projects other than domain investing, so it’s not fair to label him simply because his company owns so many great domain names and is taking its time in launching websites.

It’s always easy to criticize others from a far, but timing is everything when it comes to web development.

LH.com is back online.

As you may recall, Lufthansa Airlines won a highly criticized UDRP decision for the name, but Future Media Architects, the owner of LH.com immediately filed suit to prevent the transfer of the domain name. FMA owns a tremendous number of great domain names, and they have a policy of never selling a domain name.

While a UDRP prevents the transfer of a domain name or changes made to it, a lawsuit generally stops the website from working.

As of this morning, LH.com is back online.