Cases Against ENS Domains

I don’t want to have blinders on, and I admit to the fact that nothing is perfect so here are a few misconceptions or “FUD” against ENS Domains and my thoughts on each matter.

In this post, we will be taking a look at the top criticisms against ENS Domains and see if they hold any water.

ENS Domain Names are Trackable

Sorry to break it to you but even with your long unnamed wallet address you can still be tracked. I notice anonymity and privacy are often confused when talking about ENS.

Many are unaware of the fact that crypto can be more transparent and traceable than cash. If you are concerned about privacy then use Monero blockchain, ETH is an open-source PUBLIC blockchain.

People Only Use ENS Domains for Their Twitter Handle

Maybe that can be true in a sense, but it is only because people are choosing to not use their ENS name. I can say the same thing about crypto, it is only useful if most people decide it is and decide to use to.

Remember if you are not early then you are late, the main use case for ENS names atm is naming your wallet address, and hate to break it to you but even that is more useful than 95% of JPGs out there.

Well, here are some other things you can do RIGHT NOW with your ENS name:

• Create a decentralized website
• Create subdomains and put them up for sale, check out @esf_eth
• Create your own community with subdomains check out @PurrnelopesCC
• Visualize all of your NFTs without the need to connect your wallet check out @financeguy74 eth.photos
• Name smart contracts

Yearly ENS Domain Name Renewals are Too Expensive

I see complaints of yearly renewals; I personally feel that the 5+ characters yearly renewals of $5.00 a year is a fair price to pay.

There is an old saying “It’s cheaper to keep an old client than find a new one.” Paying upfront the yearly ENS fee is not the challenge, the challenge comes once the year is up and they must renew. There must be a need for users to feel that the benefits outweigh the cost of continuing the service.

We know that ENS is run by a DAO that has been working for the past 5 years to reach the success it has achieved today. To manage resources effectively you must pay fees and I think not having a transparent way for governance is a bad idea.

To run a successful organization, certain necessities must be paid for such as salaries, legal advice, grants to expand ENS’s success, etc.  If you don’t like it, then use another web3 domain but remember that ETH is a leading cryptocurrency and .eth can be looked at as the premium web3 domain.

“The Ethereum Domain Name Service (ENS) is by far the most successful non-financial Ethereum application, and it can basically be compared to a decentralized phone book.” – Vitalik Buterin

There are Too Many ENS Domain Squatters

Squatters, yes there are domain squatters in Web2 and in Web3 and they are unavoidable. Squatters are individuals/ entities that purchase premium domain names to prevent others from registering them in order to make a profit.

We must hope most squatters are professional squatters/ white hat squatters that want ENS to succeed.

Below is a great summary of white hat vs. black hat squatters.

2/3 So since valuable names will always be squatted in any sizable free market, then, the more professional those squatters are the better for the ecosystem.

We don't need fewer squatters (impossible) we actually need more, professional ones. #ENS $ENS #ENSDomains #Squatters pic.twitter.com/jH7h41LTiV

— foe.eth (@MattGarciaEth) March 10, 2022

My thoughts? I agree with @mattgarciaeth see the video below, I also believe that overpricing names can potentially affect individuals/ businesses from even wanting to obtain their ENS names and can potentially scare them away.

👉This is the truth about ENS Squatters 👈

(teaser of my upcoming YouTube video filled with ENS domaining tips)#ENSdomains #ENSsquatters $ENS #domains pic.twitter.com/yb26cD8sK8

— foe.eth (@MattGarciaEth) March 17, 2022

I have seen instances where individuals offered to gift ENS names to their rightful owners and that can potentially lead to a reward in it itself which is the connection you have created.

I also believe ENS  Domain Names should be priced reasonably. But how do we accomplish this? I always thought if you own a company’s name and want to list it you should check out how much they spend on marketing.

When a company obtains its .eth name it can create a lot of engagement and awareness of the brand/ person depending on who it is. I always thought that in the future owning your ENS name can lead others to view you as a pioneer and you will only be very early or very rich to own “your” ENS name.

There are Too Many Scams & Bad Actors.

All in all, ENS is the leading Web3 domain with over 420k primary names set and various integrations with various applications, wallets, etc. there are other factors that play into the overall success of ENS such as crypto adoption, the success of Ethereum, and the ENS DAO.

I am not going to deny that investing in the ENS  Domains is risky, just like investing in any other Web3 project. We are still early and we have no way of knowing what the space will look like in ten, or twenty years.

I do believe that ENS Domains can emerge as the leading naming service in the future, despite all the criticism.

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