6 ms·

The Art of Getting a 3 Letter Domain Name

63 points by bavidar 13y ago

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
Fjslfj 13y ago
Disappointing. There's no discussion of how much they paid, or how they actually got their domain name. From the article, it makes it seem as though they are in a lease to buy situation.
- larrys 13y ago
  Really good point which I had thought of as well. I will try and see if I can find out the price. (Hopefully this thread will still be going when I find the answer). Found this (in the mean time) (doesn't mean it was posted legitimately): https://flippa.com/2939130-ultra-premium-3-letter-dictionary-word https://flippa.com/2939130-ultra-premium-3-letter-dictionary...
GoodIntentions 13y ago
Three things jump out at me in that post: 1. Using any online 'appraisal service' or what have you as a pricing guideline is not something you can depend on. There have been numerous tools like this and sometimes their results are so wrong it is funny. 2. People who own domains get do get a lot of mail, often of the "let me scam you" variety. Standing out from these is the trick. 3. A good domain name is worthless without good content. Don't pick a bad name, by all means, but what lives at that name is much more important than the name imho.
- larrys 13y ago
  "Standing out from these is the trick." It's not hard to stand out. You just have to be realistic about the price you are willing to pay. Domain sellers are all over the map. Some are highly rational and some are gamblers. The gamblers are willing to wait for the big fish to come along and pass up an offer that could be 5 times the amount that another domain owner would accept. Agree with the domain appraisal service comment it can easily mislead you in either direction. The problem is if you know nothing about this you won't know which direction that was.
ChrisNorstrom 13y ago
I sold RebelSpirits.com for $500 to a winery business owner last year. We scanned and emailed each other our drivers licenses and he sent a check for $500 in the mail. I released the domain to him after I deposited the check. His check was from a major bank. Can some one tell me if my method was smart or stupid? What could have gone wrong other than check fraud?
- GoodIntentions 13y ago
  If someone had stolen ID _and_ checkbook, it might not have been the person you thought you were dealing with. I don't know if you looked into the winery / called it or whatever, but I'd have wanted some way to establish with fair certainty who I was dealing with beforehand. ( and probably would have accepted a check like you did given the amount. ) A surprising number of people don't know a check can be pulled back out of your account weeks after the deposit. Paypal or credit cards aren't much better. So far as I know using escrow, wire transfer or bank draft are the only "sure" ways payment can't be revoked
  - kansface 13y ago
    I thought wires can be rewound too?
    - GoodIntentions 13y ago
      I think ( but don't know for certain ) that they can be reversed until the receiving bank disperses the funds. I imagine if you're dealing with enough zeros, all bets are off though. I'd be interested in a "for sure" answer if anyone knows for certain.
  - fsckin 13y ago
    Bitcoin is exceedingly unlikely to be reversed after 6 confirmations (45 minutes or so).
    - GoodIntentions 13y ago
CyrusL 13y ago
It would be cool if you were more reserved with your usage of "squatted" to describe domain names. Amateurs commonly use it to mean "he has something I want," but in domainer lingo, a squatted domain is used specifically for trademark infringement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Protection_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Pro... . I think it's an important distinction to make when describing domain name disputes.
- markdown 13y ago
  In general lingo, domainer = squatter. If you bought a domain name for the sole purpose of sitting/squatting on it until you can find a buyer who will pay significantly more than you did, than you're a squatter.
  - ohashi 13y ago
    Squatter implies no legitimate rights. I've bought a lot of things with the sole purpose of selling it for more. Nothing wrong with that.
    - markdown 13y ago
      > Squatter implies no legitimate rights We aren't talking about land here, we're talking about domain names. A domain squatter has legitimate right to the domain names (s)he owns. Domain squatting is neither illegal, nor contrary to any rules. I happen to despise the practice, and wish ICANN implemented measures to prevent it occurring. > I've bought a lot of things with the sole purpose of selling it for more. Try buying a lot in a modern real-estate development in a developed nation and see if you can sit on it. They won't let you, because your empty lot lowers the value of all the properties in the vicinity. They won't let you just throw up a lean-to and call it a building either. You'll actually have to build a proper house that not only follows all relevant codes but that actually looks good. Generally speaking, domain squatting is a shitty practice by shrewd business-people who found a way to conjure big bucks out of thin air... ie. without creating any value whatsoever. > Nothing wrong with that. That's like, your opinion, dude.
adventured 13y ago
My suggestion would be to seek out a generic tld other than .com (unless you have a lot of money to burn). Here's Google's list of what they consider to be a generic tld: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1347922?hl=en https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1347922?hl=en I recently picked up a useful .fm three letter domain for a new service. It perfectly matched the service, and I think the negatives of alternative generic tld's can be overcome very well these days.
- larrys 13y ago
  Let me put this as clearly as I can. This is very bad advice. I've been in this business since 1996 and I deal with end users and customers on both the buying and selling side. For everything from a standard domain registration (at normal pricing that you can get at your registrar) to high value sales (let's say hundreds of thousands of dollars). Anything but .com is almost always going to be problematic and will more than likely cause problems. You can get a reasonably priced .com you just have to be creative. Let me give you an actual sale today that I handled. I bought both the .com and the .org of the same domain name for a customer (someone who sold their company to google iim).. The .com went for $70,000. I was able to get the .org for $1,500. Domains are all over the place and despite what the OP says (I will try to address that in a separate post) there are domains that can be had and sellers who are reasonable. Getting anything but a .com for a serious site is going to be a problem. If anything makes more sense to tack on a word to what you want (pre or suffix) than it does to get anything but a .com
  - petergreen 13y ago
    "This is bad advice" only until google decides to tweak some rules. (by problems I assume you mean problems with google) For me it's a matter of principle: I will choose common sense over google. Sure if you're selling SEO services, you're google's b*tch, but when you're building a visionary company (yes, blah-blah), to me it's important to get a good name, and not worry about some ugly .com domain. Zerrply Tweekly Songza Vobbler.. etc - that's what this leads to. No thanks.
  - adventured 13y ago
greenyoda 13y ago
Duplicate. Prior discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6048851 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6048851
lnsignificant 13y ago
I have a two letter .ca if anyone is interested.
- jaredstenquist 13y ago
  nobody is interested in garbage. that's why garbage trucks come by once per week.
  - lnsignificant 13y ago
    That's not very nice, dude...
- ted0 13y ago
  ping me. t@teddy.net
- possibilistic 13y ago
  Not sure if I'm in the market, but I'm interested. bt@brand.io
eigenbom 13y ago
I was stoked to get the two letter domain name bp.io a few years ago, and hopefully it'll be my online home forever.
larrys 13y ago
As someone who both buys and sells domain names (and particularly 3 letter .com's since 1996) let me point a few things out. I might also mention that I am the go to guy for a few well known VC's that you have heard of although that is not my main business at all (although it could be it just doesn't pay that well compared to other things I spend time on.) This statement: "Within a day or 2 we started getting responses. All the responses were the same and were in the format of “Sure we are willing to sell, we expect a bid in the mid to low 7 figures." Is total BS and hyperbole. People in the business can be jerks and unreasonable for sure but it would be more likely for someone to "ask" for 100k or simply say "domain is not for sale" than to say "7 figures" (2 letter, possible, 3 letter, specifically "all of the responses", no. Unless of course you emailed the same people (they may have different email address for the same owner) and they were pulling your chain.) Exaggeration. "When the price for a domain you like is really high, consider lease-to-buy options to give you flexibility." I never recommend this it's normally a way to make sure you pay an exorbitant price for a domain. "Don’t get attached to any domain name. " Great advice. This is absolutely true. "When you find something you like, move FAST and close it as soon as possible. Often times you might not have a second chance." I can say that I have closed a number of sales by simply making the buyer feel that someone else wants the same name, coincidentally the same day someone else inquired! Total bullshit. Good leads are extremely infrequent. Possible but more likely you are being played with. "Good domain names get offers many times a week. Think about how you’ll make your email stand out from the rest." In general not true. There is no serious bidding war going on for good domain names every day. There are people for sure that email everyone and anyone with non serious offers and to people who own many names it appears to be that you are getting offers all the time. But you might get no inquires on a particular good domain name in 1 year or 5. The only way you need to stand out is to appear to be a real buyer and act like a real buyer. Unfortunately if you are sending a bunch of emails that's going to be hard to do. "Use domainworth.com to get a rough idea of how much their domain is worth." Totally meaningless. By the way never try to negotiate with a seller quoting any estimate value. With very few exceptions means nothing. Very few exceptions means there are always outlier cases. "Use instantdomainsearch.com and leandomainsearch.com to help you check your desired names or come up with new ones. Both good ideas.
- mietek 13y ago
larrys 13y ago
By the way there are plenty of 3 letter .com's that you can buy in the 20k to 40k range. Anyone who is interested can email me and I will point you in the right direction of people that I know that are selling in that price range. Below 20k gets a bit more difficult. But possible sometimes. Wholesale price for people buying crappy 3 letter .com's (that you probably don't want) is perhaps in the 5k level (but they are not a good set of letters generally). These people will buy any 3 letter .com for 5 to 7k since they know that if a law firm needs those initials (one that has not opened yet) they can triple or quadruple the money.
jval 13y ago
I think the most important advice I saw here was to not get attached. And this is probably a basic piece of advice that applies in all negotiations - always have an alternative (where possible). I recently got my four letter domain for a very reasonable price when I made it clear that the domain seller that I was willing to change the name. When people know that you're an emotional buyer, that's when you get screwed.
TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago
I just searched for my initials, found ajf.net and ajf.com were taken, so I took ajf.me. No squatters. :)
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
cliveowen 13y ago
The domain name market is completely broken. It shouldn't be allowed to register a domain name if a legitimate business isn't going to use it. It's just a corrupt practice and I feel sorry for everyone who plays ball and shells out top-dollar for this things.
bencollier49 13y ago
I wish there was a rule which freed up a domain as soon as it could be confirmed as having been bought for profit and nothing else. Whilst I can get a squatted domain if they're sitting on my trademark, there are so many great company names which haven't happened because some bugger bought all the dictionary word combinations and runs ads and a GoDaddy auction link on them. Goodness knows how you do that in a way which didn't require huge teams of people. It'd have to be automated. Anyone got any ideas?
jtheory 13y ago
There's a problem to be solved here -- is there a way to buy/sell domain names ONLY to people who will actually use them? I have a bunch of domains that I've registered over the years, with plans for side projects that haven't yet been realized. Some of them are probably moderately valuable. Over the years I've let some expire that I was sure I wasn't going to use, and those are all registered nowadays... but NONE of them are actually in use. Just squatted. That's not nice to see. I've sold a few as well, for reasonable prices, once I was confident that the purchaser was going to use them -- e.g., wishmash.com. I've had offers for others where we couldn't work out a deal -- not because I was asking too much, but because I wanted to sort out a way to ensure the domain was actually used, not just resold, and that got too tricky. I'd love a way to have a sort of long-term escrow for a domain name, so I could let someone use it for an actual project... and if they get some traction, I'll sell it automatically for a fairly low price, and if they abandon the project, the domain reverts back to me instead of going to squatters.
- dcuthbertson 13y ago
  How on earth does one distinguish between someone like yourself, who buys a domain name with a plan to use it in a project, from someone who just wants to sit on it until a high bidder comes along? > I'd love a way to have a sort of long-term escrow for a domain name, so I could let someone use it for an actual project... and if they get some traction, I'll sell it automatically for a fairly low price, and if they abandon the project, the domain reverts back to me instead of going to squatters. How is that different behavior from a squatter? You're just sitting on a domain until someone comes along who meets your criteria (project traction and some cash), instead of another's criteria (big bucks, and no cares about how it will be used). I don't think there's any reasonable way to vet people who want to buy a domain. Nor would I want to see a vetting policy established. Part of the beauty of the current system, is that anyone can buy an unused domain on a whim.
  - jtheory 13y ago
    > How on earth does one distinguish between By asking them? > How is that different behavior from a squatter? You're just sitting on a domain until someone comes along who meets your criteria I don't register the domain in the first place unless I have a good idea for what I'd like to do with it. I'm not registering them to sell... but I recognize that someone else may well also have a solid project idea, and the time right now to execute on it. I'd like a way to graciously give way to those people. If there is no such way, then I'll just keep the domain until I have the time to do the project I had in mind. > Nor would I want to see a vetting policy established. I think you misunderstood. I don't want a general vetting policy, just a way for (the minority) of people who feel domains should actually be used, to transfer domains among themselves. > Part of the beauty of the current system, is that anyone can buy an unused domain on a whim. Sure, I'm not talking about changing that. I'm just trying to create a third choice, beyond "I don't have time for my idea yet, so I'll sit on this domain until I'm ready" vs. "I'll let this domain expire and it definitely will be squatted when I'm ready." I want a 3rd option that recognizes that other people have project ideas.

63 points by bavidar 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

Disappointing. There's no discussion of how much they paid, or how they actually got their domain name. From the article, it makes it seem as though they are in a lease to buy situation.

larrys 13y ago
Really good point which I had thought of as well. I will try and see if I can find out the price. (Hopefully this thread will still be going when I find the answer). Found this (in the mean time) (doesn't mean it was posted legitimately): https://flippa.com/2939130-ultra-premium-3-letter-dictionary-word https://flippa.com/2939130-ultra-premium-3-letter-dictionary...

GoodIntentions 13y ago

Three things jump out at me in that post: 1. Using any online 'appraisal service' or what have you as a pricing guideline is not something you can depend on. There have been numerous tools like this and sometimes their results are so wrong it is funny. 2. People who own domains get do get a lot of mail, often of the "let me scam you" variety. Standing out from these is the trick. 3. A good domain name is worthless without good content. Don't pick a bad name, by all means, but what lives at that name is much more important than the name imho.

larrys 13y ago
"Standing out from these is the trick." It's not hard to stand out. You just have to be realistic about the price you are willing to pay. Domain sellers are all over the map. Some are highly rational and some are gamblers. The gamblers are willing to wait for the big fish to come along and pass up an offer that could be 5 times the amount that another domain owner would accept. Agree with the domain appraisal service comment it can easily mislead you in either direction. The problem is if you know nothing about this you won't know which direction that was.

ChrisNorstrom 13y ago

I sold RebelSpirits.com for $500 to a winery business owner last year. We scanned and emailed each other our drivers licenses and he sent a check for $500 in the mail. I released the domain to him after I deposited the check. His check was from a major bank. Can some one tell me if my method was smart or stupid? What could have gone wrong other than check fraud?

GoodIntentions 13y ago
If someone had stolen ID _and_ checkbook, it might not have been the person you thought you were dealing with. I don't know if you looked into the winery / called it or whatever, but I'd have wanted some way to establish with fair certainty who I was dealing with beforehand. ( and probably would have accepted a check like you did given the amount. ) A surprising number of people don't know a check can be pulled back out of your account weeks after the deposit. Paypal or credit cards aren't much better. So far as I know using escrow, wire transfer or bank draft are the only "sure" ways payment can't be revoked
- kansface 13y ago
  I thought wires can be rewound too?
  - GoodIntentions 13y ago
    I think ( but don't know for certain ) that they can be reversed until the receiving bank disperses the funds. I imagine if you're dealing with enough zeros, all bets are off though. I'd be interested in a "for sure" answer if anyone knows for certain.
- fsckin 13y ago
  Bitcoin is exceedingly unlikely to be reversed after 6 confirmations (45 minutes or so).
  - GoodIntentions 13y ago

CyrusL 13y ago

It would be cool if you were more reserved with your usage of "squatted" to describe domain names. Amateurs commonly use it to mean "he has something I want," but in domainer lingo, a squatted domain is used specifically for trademark infringement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Protection_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Pro... . I think it's an important distinction to make when describing domain name disputes.

markdown 13y ago
In general lingo, domainer = squatter. If you bought a domain name for the sole purpose of sitting/squatting on it until you can find a buyer who will pay significantly more than you did, than you're a squatter.
- ohashi 13y ago
  Squatter implies no legitimate rights. I've bought a lot of things with the sole purpose of selling it for more. Nothing wrong with that.
  - markdown 13y ago
    > Squatter implies no legitimate rights We aren't talking about land here, we're talking about domain names. A domain squatter has legitimate right to the domain names (s)he owns. Domain squatting is neither illegal, nor contrary to any rules. I happen to despise the practice, and wish ICANN implemented measures to prevent it occurring. > I've bought a lot of things with the sole purpose of selling it for more. Try buying a lot in a modern real-estate development in a developed nation and see if you can sit on it. They won't let you, because your empty lot lowers the value of all the properties in the vicinity. They won't let you just throw up a lean-to and call it a building either. You'll actually have to build a proper house that not only follows all relevant codes but that actually looks good. Generally speaking, domain squatting is a shitty practice by shrewd business-people who found a way to conjure big bucks out of thin air... ie. without creating any value whatsoever. > Nothing wrong with that. That's like, your opinion, dude.

adventured 13y ago

My suggestion would be to seek out a generic tld other than .com (unless you have a lot of money to burn). Here's Google's list of what they consider to be a generic tld: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1347922?hl=en https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1347922?hl=en I recently picked up a useful .fm three letter domain for a new service. It perfectly matched the service, and I think the negatives of alternative generic tld's can be overcome very well these days.

larrys 13y ago
Let me put this as clearly as I can. This is very bad advice. I've been in this business since 1996 and I deal with end users and customers on both the buying and selling side. For everything from a standard domain registration (at normal pricing that you can get at your registrar) to high value sales (let's say hundreds of thousands of dollars). Anything but .com is almost always going to be problematic and will more than likely cause problems. You can get a reasonably priced .com you just have to be creative. Let me give you an actual sale today that I handled. I bought both the .com and the .org of the same domain name for a customer (someone who sold their company to google iim).. The .com went for $70,000. I was able to get the .org for $1,500. Domains are all over the place and despite what the OP says (I will try to address that in a separate post) there are domains that can be had and sellers who are reasonable. Getting anything but a .com for a serious site is going to be a problem. If anything makes more sense to tack on a word to what you want (pre or suffix) than it does to get anything but a .com
- petergreen 13y ago
  "This is bad advice" only until google decides to tweak some rules. (by problems I assume you mean problems with google) For me it's a matter of principle: I will choose common sense over google. Sure if you're selling SEO services, you're google's b*tch, but when you're building a visionary company (yes, blah-blah), to me it's important to get a good name, and not worry about some ugly .com domain. Zerrply Tweekly Songza Vobbler.. etc - that's what this leads to. No thanks.
- adventured 13y ago

greenyoda 13y ago

Duplicate. Prior discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6048851 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6048851

lnsignificant 13y ago

I have a two letter .ca if anyone is interested.

jaredstenquist 13y ago
nobody is interested in garbage. that's why garbage trucks come by once per week.
- lnsignificant 13y ago
  That's not very nice, dude...
ted0 13y ago
ping me. t@teddy.net
possibilistic 13y ago
Not sure if I'm in the market, but I'm interested. bt@brand.io

eigenbom 13y ago

I was stoked to get the two letter domain name bp.io a few years ago, and hopefully it'll be my online home forever.

larrys 13y ago

As someone who both buys and sells domain names (and particularly 3 letter .com's since 1996) let me point a few things out. I might also mention that I am the go to guy for a few well known VC's that you have heard of although that is not my main business at all (although it could be it just doesn't pay that well compared to other things I spend time on.) This statement: "Within a day or 2 we started getting responses. All the responses were the same and were in the format of “Sure we are willing to sell, we expect a bid in the mid to low 7 figures." Is total BS and hyperbole. People in the business can be jerks and unreasonable for sure but it would be more likely for someone to "ask" for 100k or simply say "domain is not for sale" than to say "7 figures" (2 letter, possible, 3 letter, specifically "all of the responses", no. Unless of course you emailed the same people (they may have different email address for the same owner) and they were pulling your chain.) Exaggeration. "When the price for a domain you like is really high, consider lease-to-buy options to give you flexibility." I never recommend this it's normally a way to make sure you pay an exorbitant price for a domain. "Don’t get attached to any domain name. " Great advice. This is absolutely true. "When you find something you like, move FAST and close it as soon as possible. Often times you might not have a second chance." I can say that I have closed a number of sales by simply making the buyer feel that someone else wants the same name, coincidentally the same day someone else inquired! Total bullshit. Good leads are extremely infrequent. Possible but more likely you are being played with. "Good domain names get offers many times a week. Think about how you’ll make your email stand out from the rest." In general not true. There is no serious bidding war going on for good domain names every day. There are people for sure that email everyone and anyone with non serious offers and to people who own many names it appears to be that you are getting offers all the time. But you might get no inquires on a particular good domain name in 1 year or 5. The only way you need to stand out is to appear to be a real buyer and act like a real buyer. Unfortunately if you are sending a bunch of emails that's going to be hard to do. "Use domainworth.com to get a rough idea of how much their domain is worth." Totally meaningless. By the way never try to negotiate with a seller quoting any estimate value. With very few exceptions means nothing. Very few exceptions means there are always outlier cases. "Use instantdomainsearch.com and leandomainsearch.com to help you check your desired names or come up with new ones. Both good ideas.

mietek 13y ago

larrys 13y ago

By the way there are plenty of 3 letter .com's that you can buy in the 20k to 40k range. Anyone who is interested can email me and I will point you in the right direction of people that I know that are selling in that price range. Below 20k gets a bit more difficult. But possible sometimes. Wholesale price for people buying crappy 3 letter .com's (that you probably don't want) is perhaps in the 5k level (but they are not a good set of letters generally). These people will buy any 3 letter .com for 5 to 7k since they know that if a law firm needs those initials (one that has not opened yet) they can triple or quadruple the money.

jval 13y ago

I think the most important advice I saw here was to not get attached. And this is probably a basic piece of advice that applies in all negotiations - always have an alternative (where possible). I recently got my four letter domain for a very reasonable price when I made it clear that the domain seller that I was willing to change the name. When people know that you're an emotional buyer, that's when you get screwed.

TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago

I just searched for my initials, found ajf.net and ajf.com were taken, so I took ajf.me. No squatters. :)

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

cliveowen 13y ago

The domain name market is completely broken. It shouldn't be allowed to register a domain name if a legitimate business isn't going to use it. It's just a corrupt practice and I feel sorry for everyone who plays ball and shells out top-dollar for this things.

bencollier49 13y ago

I wish there was a rule which freed up a domain as soon as it could be confirmed as having been bought for profit and nothing else. Whilst I can get a squatted domain if they're sitting on my trademark, there are so many great company names which haven't happened because some bugger bought all the dictionary word combinations and runs ads and a GoDaddy auction link on them. Goodness knows how you do that in a way which didn't require huge teams of people. It'd have to be automated. Anyone got any ideas?

jtheory 13y ago

There's a problem to be solved here -- is there a way to buy/sell domain names ONLY to people who will actually use them? I have a bunch of domains that I've registered over the years, with plans for side projects that haven't yet been realized. Some of them are probably moderately valuable. Over the years I've let some expire that I was sure I wasn't going to use, and those are all registered nowadays... but NONE of them are actually in use. Just squatted. That's not nice to see. I've sold a few as well, for reasonable prices, once I was confident that the purchaser was going to use them -- e.g., wishmash.com. I've had offers for others where we couldn't work out a deal -- not because I was asking too much, but because I wanted to sort out a way to ensure the domain was actually used, not just resold, and that got too tricky. I'd love a way to have a sort of long-term escrow for a domain name, so I could let someone use it for an actual project... and if they get some traction, I'll sell it automatically for a fairly low price, and if they abandon the project, the domain reverts back to me instead of going to squatters.

dcuthbertson 13y ago
How on earth does one distinguish between someone like yourself, who buys a domain name with a plan to use it in a project, from someone who just wants to sit on it until a high bidder comes along? > I'd love a way to have a sort of long-term escrow for a domain name, so I could let someone use it for an actual project... and if they get some traction, I'll sell it automatically for a fairly low price, and if they abandon the project, the domain reverts back to me instead of going to squatters. How is that different behavior from a squatter? You're just sitting on a domain until someone comes along who meets your criteria (project traction and some cash), instead of another's criteria (big bucks, and no cares about how it will be used). I don't think there's any reasonable way to vet people who want to buy a domain. Nor would I want to see a vetting policy established. Part of the beauty of the current system, is that anyone can buy an unused domain on a whim.
- jtheory 13y ago
  > How on earth does one distinguish between By asking them? > How is that different behavior from a squatter? You're just sitting on a domain until someone comes along who meets your criteria I don't register the domain in the first place unless I have a good idea for what I'd like to do with it. I'm not registering them to sell... but I recognize that someone else may well also have a solid project idea, and the time right now to execute on it. I'd like a way to graciously give way to those people. If there is no such way, then I'll just keep the domain until I have the time to do the project I had in mind. > Nor would I want to see a vetting policy established. I think you misunderstood. I don't want a general vetting policy, just a way for (the minority) of people who feel domains should actually be used, to transfer domains among themselves. > Part of the beauty of the current system, is that anyone can buy an unused domain on a whim. Sure, I'm not talking about changing that. I'm just trying to create a third choice, beyond "I don't have time for my idea yet, so I'll sit on this domain until I'm ready" vs. "I'll let this domain expire and it definitely will be squatted when I'm ready." I want a 3rd option that recognizes that other people have project ideas.