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I believe that the owners of a custom TLD (like amazon's .pay) have to pay ICANN every year to keep that TLD alive. I believe it's over $100k annually. as such

I believe that the owners of a custom TLD (like amazon's .pay) have to pay ICANN every year to keep that TLD alive. I believe it's over $100k annually. as such, a forever registration would have to be a quasi-pyramid scheme where the initial users keep their domains only so long as there are more new users coming in each year than existed in all the past years combined (or something similar depending on charges). also, what good is a forever domain when it doesn't also have forever hosting? You die, the domain continues on forever, your hosting provider stops hosting and now no-one else can ever use that domain. Kind-of a jerk move in the end.

quintushoratius 4y ago
> You die, the domain continues on forever, your hosting provider stops hosting and now no-one else can ever use that domain. So not that different than today. You stop paying for your domain and squatters make sure no one can ever register that domain, for a reasonable fee, ever again.
- lalopalota 4y ago
  but they are using it. for some definition of "using".
  - ctxc 4y ago
    That's...worse. Isn't "using" it to make sure it's unused till you get paid worse than it not being used right now but open to being usefully used by someone who intends to fully use it in the future?
est31 4y ago
> as such, a forever registration would have to be a quasi-pyramid scheme where the initial users keep their domains only so long as there are more new users coming in each year than existed in all the past years combined It doesn't have to be a pyramid scheme. The registrar can also invest the money, and use the interest as revenue. So instead of paying 40 USD annually you pay 1000 USD for the initial registration. 4% interest of that would be 40 USD.
- powersnail 4y ago
  What happens if the investment fucks up, and the registrar goes broke? Where does the domain buyer get the next renewal for free?
  - saulpw 4y ago
    insurance
syrrim 4y ago
If they took your fee then invested it in some reliable asset, they could theoretically continue to earn an annuity on it indefinitely, which they could use to pay ICANN's fee, any server fees, etc. A hosting company could do the same.

quintushoratius 4y ago

> You die, the domain continues on forever, your hosting provider stops hosting and now no-one else can ever use that domain. So not that different than today. You stop paying for your domain and squatters make sure no one can ever register that domain, for a reasonable fee, ever again.

lalopalota 4y ago
but they are using it. for some definition of "using".
- ctxc 4y ago
  That's...worse. Isn't "using" it to make sure it's unused till you get paid worse than it not being used right now but open to being usefully used by someone who intends to fully use it in the future?

est31 4y ago

> as such, a forever registration would have to be a quasi-pyramid scheme where the initial users keep their domains only so long as there are more new users coming in each year than existed in all the past years combined It doesn't have to be a pyramid scheme. The registrar can also invest the money, and use the interest as revenue. So instead of paying 40 USD annually you pay 1000 USD for the initial registration. 4% interest of that would be 40 USD.

powersnail 4y ago
What happens if the investment fucks up, and the registrar goes broke? Where does the domain buyer get the next renewal for free?
- saulpw 4y ago
  insurance

syrrim 4y ago

If they took your fee then invested it in some reliable asset, they could theoretically continue to earn an annuity on it indefinitely, which they could use to pay ICANN's fee, any server fees, etc. A hosting company could do the same.