6 ms·

I don't understand why domain squatting in general isn't considered more of a problem. I tried a couple different times to get a .link domain for my blog and j

I don't understand why domain squatting in general isn't considered more of a problem. I tried a couple different times to get a .link domain for my blog and just about anything short/meaningful on the obscure tlds are taken, but none of them are actually used for anything. They wanted $5k for sym.link...WTF?!? I actually sort of appreciate the logic behind the .sucks tld managers if not the intent. You can't squat everything if the registration actually costs something semi significant.

pan69 9y ago
I agree with you. But what do you expect from a system that allows you to create real-estate out of thin air?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- EADGBE 9y ago
  Insert "cash" for "real-estate" and we have a very ironic statement.
  - dwaltrip 9y ago
    It isn't really comparable, as domain names are the epitome of non-fungible.
FussyZeus 9y ago
I recently had a communique with a domain squatter who held myname.com, wanted $100k for it. I actually asked if he was on drugs. According to the wayback machine that domain has been parked since 2002. 15 years of annual renewals, never been sold apparently, never actually held a website (or seemingly any services) yet somehow that equals $100k. Domain parkers should be booted from the Internet. It's the most useless, scummy form of business.
- ChuckMcM 9y ago
  If you are friends with a registrar 15 years of renewals is less than $150. So $100,000 against $150? I expect that if you offered them $10,000 for it they would take it, but they want to 'set the bar' high so that you'll not waste their time offering them a few hundred dollars for it. And to put that in context, if you said "Invest this $150 and 15 years from now it will be worth $10,000!" you would jump on that right? Even if it were only worth $1,500 it would be 10x on your money in 15 years.
  - anigbrowl 9y ago
    There is nothing good about the way f doing business that you describe. Like the GP, I have neither the time nor the desire to negotiate with people like that; I'll just ignore them and do something else, and they'll never get anything. I'm not altogether against domain squatting - it is a scummy practice but I don't blame people for taking advantage of the opportunity. But this business model of huge asking prices and 'make me an offer' ? Fuck that. I'm in favor of a Georgist approach to domain names, use it or lose it, either by fiat or a tax on speculative investments. This way of doing business is shitty and has to go.
    - pbhjpbhj 9y ago
      If I use it, but you want it, then it seems reasonable for me to want to be compensated for that loss. The utility value can be much greater than the cost - like if I had livery for that domain, commercially that could make replacing it a multiple £10k cost.
      - FussyZeus 9y ago
        Except the whole reason it's outrageous is that the domain is not being used other than to market the domain as a for-sale product.
  - IncRnd 9y ago
    To start with $150 and 15 years later have $10,000, the principal would need to double 5 times to achieve 64 times return. How could you possibly convince a registrar of that?
pbhjpbhj 9y ago
How would you manage it? I have a domain I'm using and someone wants it ... Would you stop them from paying me (then I could make a company to sell it), how do you see it working?
- snarf21 9y ago
  I think the way to fix domain squatting is just to enforce a larger annual ICANN* fee. I would set it just above what someone can likely make a year via a link farm. Say for instance $500. If you really want a domain for your business, etc. that isn't an unreasonable amount. If you want it as a link farm, you are de-incentivized. If you have the next twitter.com, then speculate if you'll get your $100K or more. I would then take this extra money would get used to support research and development for internet related things like protocols, exploits, etc. so it is a net win for everyone. Also, we then have less companies with names made up of bad spellings.
  - pbhjpbhj 9y ago
    That would wipe out any chance I could buy a domain without being guaranteed to make money on it - like the domain I use for my blog. I'm probably relatively well off compared to internet users as a whole. It seems anti-democratic to do this to me, it may solve the problem but the cost being that ordinary users can't afford domains is too high IMO.
    - pdelbarba 9y ago
      I don't think you need a $500 buy in. Most register for less than a dollar, so maybe a fee in the $20-50 range? You won't discourage everyone but the number of domains squatted will be a fraction of the current number (something like 80% of the new TLD domains registered are for squatting) The amount people can pay to get a business domain off of a squatter won't increase (since this is all artificial anyway) but you cut into the profit margin of maintaining millions of registrations pretty quickly.
    - snarf21 9y ago
      Yeah, I don't know what the right amount is but it could also be by suffix. Maybe make .com more expensive like $1K and .blog cheaper like $50 a year or something. This might be a better mapping to real life. Most people can't afford ocean front property (.com) but can afford a house in the suburbs (.blog or .info) and you could also make .org even cheaper (but maybe require tax exemption status documents to buy). I'd just like to see there be a higher barrier to entry to squatting. The cost is so low right now that there is no reason not too. It is already hard to find "word1"+"word2"+".com" for any pair of words and this will only get worse.

pan69 9y ago

I agree with you. But what do you expect from a system that allows you to create real-estate out of thin air?

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
EADGBE 9y ago
Insert "cash" for "real-estate" and we have a very ironic statement.
- dwaltrip 9y ago
  It isn't really comparable, as domain names are the epitome of non-fungible.

FussyZeus 9y ago

I recently had a communique with a domain squatter who held myname.com, wanted $100k for it. I actually asked if he was on drugs. According to the wayback machine that domain has been parked since 2002. 15 years of annual renewals, never been sold apparently, never actually held a website (or seemingly any services) yet somehow that equals $100k. Domain parkers should be booted from the Internet. It's the most useless, scummy form of business.

ChuckMcM 9y ago
If you are friends with a registrar 15 years of renewals is less than $150. So $100,000 against $150? I expect that if you offered them $10,000 for it they would take it, but they want to 'set the bar' high so that you'll not waste their time offering them a few hundred dollars for it. And to put that in context, if you said "Invest this $150 and 15 years from now it will be worth $10,000!" you would jump on that right? Even if it were only worth $1,500 it would be 10x on your money in 15 years.
- anigbrowl 9y ago
  There is nothing good about the way f doing business that you describe. Like the GP, I have neither the time nor the desire to negotiate with people like that; I'll just ignore them and do something else, and they'll never get anything. I'm not altogether against domain squatting - it is a scummy practice but I don't blame people for taking advantage of the opportunity. But this business model of huge asking prices and 'make me an offer' ? Fuck that. I'm in favor of a Georgist approach to domain names, use it or lose it, either by fiat or a tax on speculative investments. This way of doing business is shitty and has to go.
  - pbhjpbhj 9y ago
    If I use it, but you want it, then it seems reasonable for me to want to be compensated for that loss. The utility value can be much greater than the cost - like if I had livery for that domain, commercially that could make replacing it a multiple £10k cost.
    - FussyZeus 9y ago
      Except the whole reason it's outrageous is that the domain is not being used other than to market the domain as a for-sale product.
- IncRnd 9y ago
  To start with $150 and 15 years later have $10,000, the principal would need to double 5 times to achieve 64 times return. How could you possibly convince a registrar of that?

pbhjpbhj 9y ago

How would you manage it? I have a domain I'm using and someone wants it ... Would you stop them from paying me (then I could make a company to sell it), how do you see it working?

snarf21 9y ago
I think the way to fix domain squatting is just to enforce a larger annual ICANN* fee. I would set it just above what someone can likely make a year via a link farm. Say for instance $500. If you really want a domain for your business, etc. that isn't an unreasonable amount. If you want it as a link farm, you are de-incentivized. If you have the next twitter.com, then speculate if you'll get your $100K or more. I would then take this extra money would get used to support research and development for internet related things like protocols, exploits, etc. so it is a net win for everyone. Also, we then have less companies with names made up of bad spellings.
- pbhjpbhj 9y ago
  That would wipe out any chance I could buy a domain without being guaranteed to make money on it - like the domain I use for my blog. I'm probably relatively well off compared to internet users as a whole. It seems anti-democratic to do this to me, it may solve the problem but the cost being that ordinary users can't afford domains is too high IMO.
  - pdelbarba 9y ago
    I don't think you need a $500 buy in. Most register for less than a dollar, so maybe a fee in the $20-50 range? You won't discourage everyone but the number of domains squatted will be a fraction of the current number (something like 80% of the new TLD domains registered are for squatting) The amount people can pay to get a business domain off of a squatter won't increase (since this is all artificial anyway) but you cut into the profit margin of maintaining millions of registrations pretty quickly.
  - snarf21 9y ago
    Yeah, I don't know what the right amount is but it could also be by suffix. Maybe make .com more expensive like $1K and .blog cheaper like $50 a year or something. This might be a better mapping to real life. Most people can't afford ocean front property (.com) but can afford a house in the suburbs (.blog or .info) and you could also make .org even cheaper (but maybe require tax exemption status documents to buy). I'd just like to see there be a higher barrier to entry to squatting. The cost is so low right now that there is no reason not too. It is already hard to find "word1"+"word2"+".com" for any pair of words and this will only get worse.