4 ms·

> With uncommon domain extensions I always fear that they might jack up the rates at some point in the future, going from $20/year to $250/year or even more. I

> With uncommon domain extensions I always fear that they might jack up the rates at some point in the future, going from $20/year to $250/year or even more. I sincerely wish that this would happen with all domain registrations. Maybe not $250/yr, but $100/yr would be OK. It wouldn't bother anybody that owns a few domains for business or even personal use. It would slow down spamming techniques that rely on registering lots of different domains. It would almost entirely halt domain squatting.

mden 13y ago
But then a lot of people wouldn't be able to afford owning a domain, which to me seems more evil than domain squatting. Artificially raising the prices hardly seems like a fair solution.
- thaumasiotes 13y ago
  I'm not advocating this, but you could always have cheap registration for a .poverty domain, or some such.
  - eropple 13y ago
    I'll bet you just don't understand why the tech crowd is becoming vilified in San Francisco, too.
    - jamesbritt 13y ago
      I'd really like to think it was a clever, self-aware, parody comment. (The "I'm not advocating this" part seems to weaken this, though. )
      - thaumasiotes 13y ago
        Well, I tend to agree with you that this a political impossibility. But I think it's worth thinking a bit about why you find it so outrageous. If the problem is "domain name registration might be unaffordable for the impoverished", what's the negative side to letting anyone at all have extremely cheap registration just by claiming to be poor? It's hassle-free price discrimination. Is it morally offensive to you when e.g. a company lets you use their software with prominent branding attached for cheap, or the same software, whitelabeled, for dear? If the problem isn't "domain name registration might be unaffordable for the impoverished"... maybe it's worth thinking about what the problem is?
        eropple 13y ago
        It's outrageous because the argument is that it would be really cool to brand poor people with a big red letter because you couldn't get pets.com when you wanted it. Most of the world can't seriously afford $100/year for a domain registration. Get out of your bubble.
eropple 13y ago
Are you kidding? I know, and in the past have hosted, portfolios for a number of artists. People making $20k a year pre-tax. $100 is a lot to a lot of people. Comments like this are why this weird social closure that so many tech people delight in is so disturbing.
- thaumaturgy 13y ago
  Well, this has been an enlightening thread. Free or cheap health care? HN will debate the shit out of that. Cheap domain names? Sacred cow. There's a lot I think I could say about this. I've been a pretty poor dude in the past, and not terribly wealthy now, even if it is in one of the richest countries in the world. But I don't expect I could have a good conversation about it here.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
MarkTee 13y ago
$100 is a lot of money to some people. You'd be preventing even more people from the developing world from using the Internet.
icebraining 13y ago
You should travel a little, even if virtually ;) $100/yr is a lot of money for millions of people.
- tunap 13y ago
  "You should travel a little, even if virtually ;) $100/yr is a lot of money for <strike>millions</strike> billions of people." Sorry for the FTFY, validity of your comment understated by a large magnitude.
arjie 13y ago
Jesus. When I lived in India as a kid, I'd never have been able to afford that. What a horrific idea! You live in some rich-country-bubble.
dragonwriter 13y ago
> It wouldn't bother anybody that owns a few domains for business or even personal use. I think roughly an order of magnitude increase of price is going to bother a lot of people who have domains for other than profit-earning businesses. (OTOH, people who have a profitable business model, including spammers, might well not be all that bothered. So I think you've got the impacts basically backwards.)
TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago
Seriously? I like that, as a teenager, I'm able to afford one or two domains for my personal websites. Jack it up like that, and I'd be able to afford none.
nathanstitt 13y ago
Well, in fact domains used to cost $100 per year. This was back when Network Solutions was the sole registrar. Some of my older domains date back to then. It really didn't stop speculation at all, in fact Robert Grant (well known domain speculator) made most of his money back in the days when domains were priced at $100. However, I do believe that the current cheap domains have made the "register expired page-ranked domains" SEO scheme work, and it probably wouldn't be going on if it wasn't for cheap domains.

mden 13y ago

But then a lot of people wouldn't be able to afford owning a domain, which to me seems more evil than domain squatting. Artificially raising the prices hardly seems like a fair solution.

thaumasiotes 13y ago
I'm not advocating this, but you could always have cheap registration for a .poverty domain, or some such.
- eropple 13y ago
  I'll bet you just don't understand why the tech crowd is becoming vilified in San Francisco, too.
  - jamesbritt 13y ago
    I'd really like to think it was a clever, self-aware, parody comment. (The "I'm not advocating this" part seems to weaken this, though. )
    - thaumasiotes 13y ago
      Well, I tend to agree with you that this a political impossibility. But I think it's worth thinking a bit about why you find it so outrageous. If the problem is "domain name registration might be unaffordable for the impoverished", what's the negative side to letting anyone at all have extremely cheap registration just by claiming to be poor? It's hassle-free price discrimination. Is it morally offensive to you when e.g. a company lets you use their software with prominent branding attached for cheap, or the same software, whitelabeled, for dear? If the problem isn't "domain name registration might be unaffordable for the impoverished"... maybe it's worth thinking about what the problem is?
      - eropple 13y ago
        It's outrageous because the argument is that it would be really cool to brand poor people with a big red letter because you couldn't get pets.com when you wanted it. Most of the world can't seriously afford $100/year for a domain registration. Get out of your bubble.

eropple 13y ago

Are you kidding? I know, and in the past have hosted, portfolios for a number of artists. People making $20k a year pre-tax. $100 is a lot to a lot of people. Comments like this are why this weird social closure that so many tech people delight in is so disturbing.

thaumaturgy 13y ago
Well, this has been an enlightening thread. Free or cheap health care? HN will debate the shit out of that. Cheap domain names? Sacred cow. There's a lot I think I could say about this. I've been a pretty poor dude in the past, and not terribly wealthy now, even if it is in one of the richest countries in the world. But I don't expect I could have a good conversation about it here.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

MarkTee 13y ago

$100 is a lot of money to some people. You'd be preventing even more people from the developing world from using the Internet.

icebraining 13y ago

You should travel a little, even if virtually ;) $100/yr is a lot of money for millions of people.

tunap 13y ago
"You should travel a little, even if virtually ;) $100/yr is a lot of money for <strike>millions</strike> billions of people." Sorry for the FTFY, validity of your comment understated by a large magnitude.

arjie 13y ago

Jesus. When I lived in India as a kid, I'd never have been able to afford that. What a horrific idea! You live in some rich-country-bubble.

dragonwriter 13y ago

> It wouldn't bother anybody that owns a few domains for business or even personal use. I think roughly an order of magnitude increase of price is going to bother a lot of people who have domains for other than profit-earning businesses. (OTOH, people who have a profitable business model, including spammers, might well not be all that bothered. So I think you've got the impacts basically backwards.)

TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago

Seriously? I like that, as a teenager, I'm able to afford one or two domains for my personal websites. Jack it up like that, and I'd be able to afford none.

nathanstitt 13y ago

Well, in fact domains used to cost $100 per year. This was back when Network Solutions was the sole registrar. Some of my older domains date back to then. It really didn't stop speculation at all, in fact Robert Grant (well known domain speculator) made most of his money back in the days when domains were priced at $100. However, I do believe that the current cheap domains have made the "register expired page-ranked domains" SEO scheme work, and it probably wouldn't be going on if it wasn't for cheap domains.