Brad, a few questions for you.
Preamble -
Our industry is far from being ethical. There are many threads right here on NP where the stuff like spamming, frontrunning, bidding on own domains, unethical brokerage, fake sales, auction games etc. is discussed/disclosed, together with the identities of the folks involved. As a matter of fact, each particular thread tends to be forgotten after some time. Moreover, anybody with experience may dig further - and he will find a lot more "interesting" things. I, for one, did - and as the result stopped visiting some blogs/websites/twitters belonging to allegedly ethical and prominent industry participants, as I'm no more interested to hear their opinions on anything.
There are issues with ethics in the domain field? That's news to me.
On a serious note, it seems like there is scandal after scandal involving shady behavior.
Questions -
Have you ever had a temptation to go over to the dark side? If so, how you dealt with it?
I think everyone has been tempted at some point. It can be frustrating to see people being rewarded for doing unethical things.
There are certainly ways you could game the system to your advantage. I won't go into details here, because it might give some people ideas.
I try to let my morals and ethics guide me.
You only have one reputation. It is one of the most valuable things you have.
You're ICA member. As a matter of fact, not all ICA members share the same ethical values. Don't you have some sort of internal conflict here?
Sure. I don't agree with the ICA or members on everything.
The ICA is composed of many different members with different interests. It is not a monolithic group.
I have had disagreements with the ICA in the past on various issues.
I have made public comments on some. I have addressed some privately.
I think the ICA serves a role, but is not perfect by any means.
One real world example is I brought the Brent Oxley situation to the ICA. His domains were locked by GoDaddy.
Brent was getting nowhere dealing with GoDaddy directly.
The ICA dealt with GoDaddy and helped resolve that situation.
Now Brent is someone I might not agree with on many issues, but it was a registrant rights issue. That is what mattered to me in that situation.
This thread has enough views and questions from new members. What can you recommend them - do they still have a chance not to fall into the traps (= lose money and go offline) as a minimum, and to build maybe small but stable and ethical own domaining business as a maximum?
I think everyone is likely to lose money at the start. The key is learning from your mistakes.
Even if you make all the right decisions, it can take a long time to show a proof of concept.
You also need realistic expectations. This is a business, not a lottery.
Brad