4 ms·

.com domains really need to be more expensive. If the price was $100 or $200 a year, that would significantly decrease the amount of squatting.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
skissane 7y ago
Ideally, you'd pay more for a domain you weren't actively using than one you were. That way, squatters pay extra but real users aren't disadvantaged. Of course, determining whether a domain is really in use or not is hard, and whatever criteria are adopted, squatters will try to game them.
- davchana 7y ago
  Yes, agreed, many domains are just used for email only, for redirects, for in-code variables or data collecters.
- franga2000 7y ago
  Determining that is not hard at all. Is there a big buy button and a million ads on the front page? Then it's not being used. Done. But of course, ICANN and registars make way too much money from these people to do anything about it. Isn't capitalism just wonderful?
  - skissane 7y ago
    > Determining that is not hard at all. Is there a big buy button and a million ads on the front page? Then it's not being used. Done. It is easy to detect the egregious cases like you describe. But, not all cases are so egregious. I might have no website on the domain, yet still be using it for email. Or, I might be hosting some sort of intranet on the domain and all the public can see is a login page, with no idea of what content lies beyond it. Or, I might not be using the domain at all, and just waiting for someone to contact me with an offer to buy it. I might even hook it up with email that I never really use (but which redirects to my actual email), and a login page with nothing behind it, in order to make it look like I am really using it. How to distinguish these cases?
wolco 7y ago
They have expensive domain extensions for that reason. How much is .io these days?
- franga2000 7y ago
  That is very obviously not the reason. The reason is that tech startups are swimming in money and seem to like the sound of .io domains. Same with .tech and .ai.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

skissane 7y ago

Ideally, you'd pay more for a domain you weren't actively using than one you were. That way, squatters pay extra but real users aren't disadvantaged. Of course, determining whether a domain is really in use or not is hard, and whatever criteria are adopted, squatters will try to game them.

davchana 7y ago
Yes, agreed, many domains are just used for email only, for redirects, for in-code variables or data collecters.
franga2000 7y ago
Determining that is not hard at all. Is there a big buy button and a million ads on the front page? Then it's not being used. Done. But of course, ICANN and registars make way too much money from these people to do anything about it. Isn't capitalism just wonderful?
- skissane 7y ago
  > Determining that is not hard at all. Is there a big buy button and a million ads on the front page? Then it's not being used. Done. It is easy to detect the egregious cases like you describe. But, not all cases are so egregious. I might have no website on the domain, yet still be using it for email. Or, I might be hosting some sort of intranet on the domain and all the public can see is a login page, with no idea of what content lies beyond it. Or, I might not be using the domain at all, and just waiting for someone to contact me with an offer to buy it. I might even hook it up with email that I never really use (but which redirects to my actual email), and a login page with nothing behind it, in order to make it look like I am really using it. How to distinguish these cases?

wolco 7y ago

They have expensive domain extensions for that reason. How much is .io these days?

franga2000 7y ago
That is very obviously not the reason. The reason is that tech startups are swimming in money and seem to like the sound of .io domains. Same with .tech and .ai.