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Should Epik be banned from NamesCon as racism debate spills over into domain industry?

Kevin Murphy, June 10, 2020, 20:42:16 (UTC), Domain Registrars

Should GoDaddy-owned domain conference NamesCon ban the controversial registrar Epik from its conferences, after a day in which the domaining fraternity descended into a race row?

The fight kicked off last night when Epik director and noted domain investor Braden Pollock announced he was quitting the board over ideological differences with CEO Rob Monster.

Pollock did not explain his exact reasons for quitting, but the assumption among domainers on Twitter and elsewhere, perhaps due to heightened race awareness during the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, was that it was race-related.

Pollock’s wife is the civil rights attorney Lisa Bloom, who is currently representing victims of police violence during the BLM protests.

Monster is a conspiracy theorist and Bible-bashing Christian who has been accused over the years of racism, antisemitism, and worse.

Even if Monster is not a racist (and plenty of his associates, even his critics, believe he is not), Epik is certainly friendly to racist registrants.

It caused controversy in March last year by publicly offering to host gab.com, the Twitter clone most often used by right-wing refugees escaping Twitter’s ban hammer.

It also took the domain business of 8chan, a forum site frequented by racists, though it refused to actually host the site.

The registrar is also very popular with domainers, due to its low price and domainer-friendly services.

Before long, Pollock’s tweet had spawned a thread of domainers expressing support for either Pollock or Monster, as well as casually throwing accusations of racism at each other.

Pretty much the same thing was going on over on NamePros and Facebook.

Epik all but confirmed that race was at the center of the disagreement by tweeting out the names of a couple dozen employees, whom I can only assume are not white, with the hashtag #diversity.

Monster himself posted a short video in which he appeared to denounce racism.

Later today, Epik posted a screenshot of a Facebook comment by NamesCon CEO Soeren von Varchmin, in which he suggested Epik had been banned from the conference, which the company has previously sponsored.

The tweet tagged both GoDaddy and the US Federal Trade Commission.

While the von Varchmin comment is genuine, I’m told that he was speaking in a personal capacity and it’s not current GoDaddy policy to ban Epik.

But should it?

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Comments (24)

  1. Everything about Rob is questionable.

    How he ‘bought’ his way into namepros, with epik mods trashing it everywhere. Same with DNF. He’s a sponsor there too. Everything he has touched turned into dust!

    Epik grew ~40% in DEC 2019. All .TOP registrations – while the price was $44.95 each! I seen him saying on namepros, if one guy gets ‘a deal’, everyone does. Well either someone spent MILLIONS on the .TOP domains, or Rob didn’t do as he said.

    Also, he advocates for the Bible so much, yet embraces BTC, even accepting it at his registar…Isn’t the USD bad enough? New flash, bible says – gold/silver alone is money. Anything else is EVIL. Rob does embrace the evil…

    As a personal example, he sen’t some shill out to ‘befriend’ me over skype. Suggested he could help sell my domains. Things turned weird though, he asked for my email…my real name etc. He was obviously digging – an ulterior motive.

    After some time talking, him feeling me out – radio silence. After about a month, I msg him, asking what’s new. He said that they ‘just found’ the article (https://lifesavings.online/rob-monster-laundering-money/) I wrote questioning Rob. So ‘my deal’ fell through.

    Yea right! My site is tiny. They knew my article existed. He sent his shill to try and collect dirt on me!

    Guy is SO manipulative!

    And what about this thread, being asked if he BOUGHT namepros?

    https://www.namepros.com/threads/rob-monster-bought-namepros-without-paying-a-dime.1167267/

    Look at him smugly kick the can and mess around. He’s shady AF. Why couldn’t he just denounce it? Don’t trust.

  2. Yakov says:

    I dont know about Robert’s deep believes but Epik is certainly innovative with its Forever Registration. I wish Epik succeeds and Robert stays, rather than exits.

    We all are highly imperfect.

    BTC may go to zero.

    NamePros has become a spam outlet, which is why I left. Domaining.com too. Too much advertising of garbage offerings.

    • Forever reg is only one of his scams! I have so much dirt and things to point out about him, your head would spin.

      You go around and LIE on other blogs. I even featured you on my newest website, that I built last night: https://domaining.lol/no-traffic/

      That’s you. You’re the one spreading lies. Shill.

      When/If .com goes up to $30, $40, $50+ yr (inflation – I guarantee it’ll happen), he’ll never uphold his promises. 100% scam. Thanks for pointing it out.

      It’s a scam to fill his pockets today. It will NEVER work. There are 10-year limits FOR A REASON.

      • Brad Mugford says:

        Without the registry being on board, a “forever registration” is essentially a ponzi scheme.

        You are merely paying an upfront cost for nothing more than the promise to pay the registration fee down the road.

        There are way too many unknown factors.

        Brad

  3. best registrar says:

    I love how “Best registrar on a random Namepros poll where the margin of victory was lower than the amount of staff votes” gets turned into “Best Registrar 2020”

  4. Mark Thorpe says:

    Yes, they should be banned from NamesCon.

  5. Rubens Kuhl says:

    I believe is NamesCon discretion to ban, or not ban, Epik, I don’t think that being owned by a registrar prevents image considerations such as NamesCon might be doing.

    Balancing free speech and guilt by association is not easy for any company, but they should be allowed to make a judgment call.

    • If you can believe Rob Monster took over namepros with $$ and installing a team of shills, let me explain ‘free speech’.

      Every nTLD advocate has been ran off, because of the shills. The biased and inept moderation that allows them to attack us (and domains) out of the blue. I have dozens of examples of the hate.

      Even physical threats of violence and blatant lies (by .comr) being allowed to persist, even when pointed out with proof – falsehoods.

      It is pure propaganda and hate. After my ban, spot-on posts of mine were edited and deleted. If you think altering history to suit yourself is good practice, then by all means, take your chances with namepros.

      I use a static IP. It is simple to ‘ban me’, a novice could do it. In my discussions with mods, they said they “couldn’t”, and told me that they would be using everything I said against me in court.

      Do you want to use a forum, that has all the power in the world to moderate and edit your words against you in court? Then keep using namepros. Lifesavings.online is a BANNED word there. You can’t post it. Free speech? Only if it suits Namepros/epik.

      Months ago I watched the ‘smears’ against dynadot, donuts, godaddy, namecheap…everyone. Lies within. Any critical piece on epik or namepros though disappeared.

      They can dish the BS, but they can’t take reality. They are evil, lying, manipulating snakes.

      They ran most nTLD advocates away, and banned the rest (like me for pointing out too many lies). It ALL kicked into over-drive as soon as ROB got on board.

      • Further, in the past, I have requested that my account be closed to no avail. Yet others are granted the ‘privilege’: “Requested Closed”.

        My ban is 99 years. Not a lifetime. Their bias continues, neglecting my request while closing the accounts of others.

        They are so fake. Biased snakes. Sue me fools. Do what you say for once.

  6. Governor (WA.) Inslee just claimed that he had no idea that a designated terrorist organization took control of a Police Precinct, barricaded 6 city blocks, set up checkpoints with armed guards, barred the media and issued a list of demands.

    Antifa is going to businesses and asking for $500+ for ‘protection’. The business owners are scared to say “no”.

    This is the environment Rob Chose to call home. I do assume he supports these methods, as almost ironically, he employs the same exact tactics in domaining. Except instead of extorting the ‘businesses’, he buys ’em up and brings them into his mighty scheme of lies and hate.

    • Jennifer Santiago says:

      Hello – None of this is true. Source: I live in Seattle.

      • Yeah, right it’s all over the news even with video footage. I find it hard to believe to fake at this point. Source: Everyone other than you.

      • Maybe ‘they’ created a whole fake city and staged all this, like a Hollywood movie – a huge conspiracy theory!

        Funny, that is what Rob thinks about everything! That way, he can distract from the REAL victims and instead, direct the pity towards himself, a victim of these big brother ‘false flags’.

    • Andy says:

      So RM who is a “Bible-bashing Christian” also apparently supports Antifa? Get out of here with this nonsense! RM is totally responsible for what happened last week… by living in the area for years. Duh!

  7. Bul says:

    Now lifesavings.online, I doubt you’re on the rails as you claim to be given your last comment about Governor Inslee and Antifa.

    The article herein is about hate and lies and all that and in the middle of it all, you just drop drop Antifa and then connect Rob Monster and then go just ram your way into saying that someone who is a perceived racist supports an antiracism anti fascism movement? I doubt you knew that a racist and Antifa don’t go together. You can criticize Rob and all the wrongs or grieviences you have with him. I have engaged Rob and he has treated me with respect in our several communications and i am certainly not advocating for him but I think treating him with a little respect (the kind of which we are all trying to get) is the best way to engage him. Now again, Rob might have his personal beliefs like we all do but don’t you think agreeing to disagree with him and living him alone is the way to go?

    • I think the points, similarities went over your head. I can clue you in a bit.

      He takes control of these places and milks them dry. Take his previous endeavor, Digital Town as an example. They are fighting lawsuits. Rob got in, took over as CEO and milked everyone. Investors feel they were lied to, among other things.

      Namepros, same thing. He got his foot in the door, brought in all his goons, put up fences, forced the people out, and then banned many. Probably more than ever in the history of namepros. They teamed up and chastised many members, particularly those that didn’t fall in line. Further, protected the cucks, granting them free reign to be hypocritical liars – even break the rules, with no reprimand.

      The shills and pet trolls have destroyed it. Most everyone, besides the likes of you, sees it. We’re not so dumb.

      Now you have your own echo-chamber of like-minded individuals. It will fall to dust. With or without me. I seen it 10x already. The carebears lie, throw a fit, chronically report and team up on those who could give a FK what they think.

      You’re left parasitic snowflakes whom will too, soon leave, as there’s no actually truth and intelligence left to dispute. They are what we call ‘Betas’, and they get bored when left to their own devices long enough.

      So that’s what’s happening. That’s what the ironfist of Rob has nurtured, and it will fail.

      “they set up fences” “kept us out” “armed guards”…Get it?

      Dust.

    • As far as ‘leaving him alone’, per your request. I don’t think so.

      “If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.” Is likely his motto. Since he is such a follower of Christ, I will let him know too – that is evils ace.

      Was Jesus being nice when he flipped over the tables in the temple? Is the Lord nice by saying ‘fear me?’ I think not.

      That ‘being nice all the time’ is what people like him say in order to get you to shut up and let them operate unopposed. ‘Shut up while we bend everyone over’…more like it.

      I spend most of my time protesting the ignorance of others. I will not turn a blind eye to the plagues perpetuating under a guise of tolerance. I am at war with deception and it is never pretty.

  8. JZ says:

    People like Monster are deluded people who can’t accept reality for what it is. Instead everything is a “false flag” where powerful people play games with the minds of commoners.

    • Cue victimhood. Groups that regard themselves as victims generally retaliate with more evil. They believe they are entitled to be above moral convention. They ploy together (most often unaware of where their leader is taking them) in these self-made ‘echo chambers’ – safe spaces. He will relish over the sympathy the pets provide; blind faith. He will reward them one way or another, as one does for their dog. That’s how he got to where he is today.

      His own little ‘world’, he basks in it, with like-minded company while he can. Soon he will have turned everything around him into dust, and he will never notice that his hands became dirty. It’s his arrogance.

  9. Samer says:

    More divisiveness. Thanks Kevin!

    Answer NO — How about try returning NC, first?

    Samer

  10. Chris says:

    Here in the Netherlands political discrimination is illegal. So I cant help but see it through those glasses. You cant shun people for their political opinion.

  11. Rob sends his right-hand man, Rob Davis (@Intelliname) to LIE about being interested in purchasing domains.

    I have 200+ skype message recorded of him, trying to befriend me, whilst he extracts personal info such as Email, real name etc.

    These guys had no intention of buying or helping sell my domains. Never. He only wanted dirt.

    I’m not the only one he has done this to, apparently.

    I’m telling you – Rob is a SNAKE.

    Here’s how he introduced himself to me: https://361856-1125667-1-raikfcquaxqncofqfm.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/rob-davis.png

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