Although he probably won’t read this as he’s en route to Colombia for the ICANN conference, I want to give props to Mike Berkens and his blog on this third anniversary of its existence.

Mike really has no need to spend his time blogging. His company has one of the top private domain portfolios in existence. Dan Warner published a report that revealed the domains in Most Wanted Domains’ portfolio had the most (or top 5) Whois lookups of any privately held company. Mike’s company’s nameservers were also named one of the “cleanest” in terms of trademarks out of the nameservers with the most domain names.

In other words, not only does Mike own a lot of domain names that are coveted by others, but his portfolio is unarguably made up of generic/descriptive domain names. He also sells domain names from time to time, and when he does, he gets top dollar for them.

Clearly, Mike isn’t blogging to make money.

Mike writes one of the most thoughtful and insightful blogs (if not the most insightful) I read, and I really appreciate his thoughts and ideas. Not only does he have the domain experience, but he also has legal experience as well, which allows him to analyze issues and write them with clarity I wouldn’t get elsewhere. I can’t tell you how many times there was something I didn’t understand until reading about it on his blog.

In addition to this, Mike is one of the most approachable people in the domain space. If you’re at a domain conference, you’ll see him surrounded by friends and colleagues, and he’s always willing to give his time to chat. If Mike isn’t attending a domain conference, it probably isn’t worth going.

When Mike revealed that he had 2,400 posts in 3 years, my jaw dropped. I think I started my blog about 4 months before he did, and he has over 500 more posts than me. Knowing how much time it takes to blog, one really needs to give kudos to Mike’s wife, Judi. I am sure there have been plenty of dinners and events put on hold briefly while writing posts.

I want to say “thanks” to Mike in a blog post for all of his contributions. There aren’t a lot of people who would be willing to share as much as he does (time and insight), and it’s genuinely appreciated.

Mike Berkens has written three interesting posts that are important for all domain owners to read and understand. When you have an opportunity today, please read Mike’s posts and the accompanying commentary. The issues that are discussed could potentially impact all domain owners

ICANN Releases New gTLD Guide Book: Still Includes No Price Caps: Your Domains Are At Risk

ICA: Trademark Holders Attempting To Greatly Expand Their Rights Through The New gTLD Process

Thinking About Applying For Your Own gTLD? It Could Cost You A Lot More Than $185K

The Internet Commerce Association is working on some of the issues, but I know they need our support (if you own a domain name, you are part of the collective “our”).  As soon as my tax bills are taken care of in a month and a half, I will be making my annual contribution.

Mike Berkens wrote an important post today about keeping your Whois information current and updated. ICANN regulations require that Whois information is accurate, and if the information isn’t accurate, there is a chance that your domain name could possibly be taken. There are also many legal reasons to do so, which Mike outlines in his post. It just makes sense to keep your information updated, and if you are worried about spam emails or privacy, just buy the privacy guard.

In this vein, I think it’s also important to note that some UDRP panels have ruled that a change in registration information can be seen as a brand new registration. One recent case (although it didn’t really impact the decision) was on the BME.com case, which the respondent lost. The respondent had changed his Whois information (between his own entities), and they still cited this changing Whois information.

In addition to this issue, Godaddy also seems to still lock domain names for 60 days when the Whois information is updated.  While this can usually be remedied somewhat quickly if you contact them, it is a nuisance.

Yes, maintaining your valid Whois information is most definitely important – especially if a signficant event has impacted it (ended partnership, bankruptcy, company formation, divorce…etc).  However, keep in mind that changing your Whois information could put your domain name at risk depending on who is monitoring your Whois listing.