edd (OP)
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May 17, 2011, 03:46:36 PM |
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I've seen this issue come up in certain threads and was wondering what the overall feeling is concerning Domain Name squatters.
Personally, when thinking of a website or business name, I assume that the best ones will already be taken unless I have some very specialized niche I'm hoping to fill. I consider it a challenge to come up with something catchy, descriptive, short, and unique. Of course, it can be a bit irritating seeing domains sitting idle when I could be putting them to good use.
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Still around.
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The grue lurks in the darkest places of the earth. Its favorite diet is adventurers, but its insatiable appetite is tempered by its fear of light. No grue has ever been seen by the light of day, and few have survived its fearsome jaws to tell the tale.
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SgtSpike
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May 17, 2011, 04:33:17 PM |
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It's annoying as heck. Oh well, at least bitcoinfeedback was still available.  |
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SgtSpike
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May 17, 2011, 04:52:05 PM |
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squatters gonna squat. the respective owner came first and made the choice to pay for the domain instead of buying something else. it's their choice/right ... potential buyers may not buy, may negotiate hard the price of a domain or wait for a timeout / not renewed domain reservation.  The problem is, squatters always want ridiculous sums of money for their domains. Sure, it's their choice, but I never had that much money just to pay for a name! It might be worth it, or the business/website might flop, and them I'm out several hundred dollars for a domain name. Too much money to take a risk on, so then I look for a less useful domain name to use. |
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NghtRppr
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May 17, 2011, 06:15:14 PM |
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The problem is, squatters always want ridiculous sums of money for their domains. That's just your opinion. Obviously, there are other people that are willing to pay those higher prices, otherwise squatters wouldn't do what they do. However, it would be interesting to see what the situation would be if TLD's weren't controlled by governments. |
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SgtSpike
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May 17, 2011, 06:39:09 PM |
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The problem is, squatters always want ridiculous sums of money for their domains. That's just your opinion. Obviously, there are other people that are willing to pay those higher prices, otherwise squatters wouldn't do what they do. However, it would be interesting to see what the situation would be if TLD's weren't controlled by governments. It is my opinion, yes. I can't argue with it being a reasonable thing for squatters to do in a free market system, and I wouldn't want to see regulations in place to prevent it, but that doesn't mean I can't hate people who do it.  |
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FatherMcGruder
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May 17, 2011, 06:40:48 PM |
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They're not really squatters. They bought the rights to the domain name from a governing registrar. Squatters occupy spaces for which they do not have the legal right to occupy. But, as far as I know, you can only use a domain name by buying the legal right to do so. Therefore, squatting domain names seems impossible.
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NghtRppr
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May 17, 2011, 06:46:53 PM |
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I can't argue with it being a reasonable thing for squatters to do in a free market system, and I wouldn't want to see regulations in place to prevent it, but that doesn't mean I can't hate people who do it. You're quite right and in fact, that's one of the most powerful tools consumers have at their disposal. If we all refused to buy from domain squatters then they wouldn't have a market. |
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SgtSpike
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May 17, 2011, 06:47:26 PM |
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They're not really squatters. They bought the rights to the domain name from a governing registrar. Squatters occupy spaces for which they do not have the legal right to occupy. But, as far as I know, you can only use a domain name by buying the legal right to do so. Therefore, squatting domain names seems impossible.
I don't really care what you call them, we're all talking about the same thing here. Squatting is a nickname for it, whether it is the proper "technical" definition of the word or not. |
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FatherMcGruder
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May 17, 2011, 07:44:49 PM
Last edit: May 18, 2011, 12:04:28 AM by FatherMcGruder |
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I don't really care what you call them, we're all talking about the same thing here. Squatting is a nickname for it, whether it is the proper "technical" definition of the word or not.
It's a miserable nickname. Domain name "squatters" are essentially the opposite of meatspace squatters. The former operates in accordance with authority, the latter operates against it. Domain-lord would make more sense as a nickname. EDIT: An even better nick name is domain-troll. It works like patent-troll or copyright-troll. |
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Andris
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May 21, 2011, 04:38:52 PM |
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It's a miserable nickname. Domain name "squatters" are essentially the opposite of meatspace squatters. The former operates in accordance with authority, the latter operates against it. Domain-lord would make more sense as a nickname.
EDIT: An even better nick name is domain-troll. It works like patent-troll or copyright-troll.
When someone else actually legitimately owns the name in question (e.g. the guy who grabbed the .com for 4chan) squatting is the appropriate term, and was the initial source of the problem, before 'buy every name that could possibly be relevant' came into vogue. The latter is mostly a reflection that names may be a bit underpriced and possibly too easy to monetize. The former is actual squatting. |
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Anonymous
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May 21, 2011, 04:46:15 PM |
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Some guy is sitting on bitcoin.com  |
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FatherMcGruder
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May 21, 2011, 05:46:48 PM |
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When someone else actually legitimately owns the name in question (e.g. the guy who grabbed the .com for 4chan) squatting is the appropriate term... If you own the rights to the domain name, you're not squatting that domain name. Squatting is when you occupy something without the authority, the property rights, to do so. A troll, on the other hand, has the property rights but doesn't really use the property other than to exploit others. Think of patent or copyright trolls. |
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Andris
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May 21, 2011, 09:06:13 PM |
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If you own the rights to the domain name, you're not squatting that domain name. Squatting is when you occupy something without the authority, the property rights, to do so.
A troll, on the other hand, has the property rights but doesn't really use the property other than to exploit others. Think of patent or copyright trolls.
The domain squatter in fact does not have the rights. All 4chan has to do to get the .com is pay ICANN $4.5k. Is that a problem in and of itself? Sure. But no, it's not given that someone who owns a domain name actually has the rights to it. You can lose them if it's shown that you are abusing trademarks (or are just too little for the trademark in question - e.g. Nissan) |
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kiba
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May 21, 2011, 09:15:05 PM |
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Is that a problem in and of itself? Sure. But no, it's not given that someone who owns a domain name actually has the rights to it. You can lose them if it's shown that you are abusing trademarks (or are just too little for the trademark in question - e.g. Nissan)
Namecoin essentially made domain names property by the virtue of its codebase. No need for messy human conventions, judges, courts, etc. |
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BCEmporium
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May 21, 2011, 10:01:21 PM |
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The only kind of "squatting" I've to complaint about is when I came up with some new idea, browse for the domain and, a few weeks or days later when I decide to register it find some squatter already filled the place with a simple ad site.
Never come to realize if it is just my luck, conspiracy theory, or whatever... but looks like someone is watching whois look ups to register ahead domains that may be usable...
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Andris
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May 21, 2011, 10:09:52 PM |
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The only kind of "squatting" I've to complaint about is when I came up with some new idea, browse for the domain and, a few weeks or days later when I decide to register it find some squatter already filled the place with a simple ad site.
Never come to realize if it is just my luck, conspiracy theory, or whatever... but looks like someone is watching whois look ups to register ahead domains that may be usable...
Yep. This is a known phenomenon. It's not as bad as it used to be, but if I have an idea I'm going to register it that day. Companies also sell failed dns query data. This was really bad when domain sniffing was allowed - you ping a domain somehow, it could be registered within the minute. Namecoin essentially made domain names property by the virtue of its codebase. No need for messy human conventions, judges, courts, etc.
I don't think Namecoin s the exact answer to the DNS problem, personally. |
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lacedwithkerosene
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May 21, 2011, 10:59:59 PM |
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I would be considered a domain hoarder. You can see my thread on the subject here where I listed a bunch of available second-level domains related to bitcoin. No one replied, presumably because I irritate them or they had no use for the information. See thread at http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=8891Notes: - I am not making any money on ads. The ad-parking program costs a monthly fee that I doubt I could recoup (at current demand for bitcoin). There is no serious market for bitcoin advertising yet, and additionally I have a hunch that bitcoiners would be less willing than normal people to click on generic ads. No sense in putting up a bum website, either. - I plan to develop as much as I can but need more funds before I can move on. Right now the bitcoin economy is looking stagnant, and makes it harder to justify going broke over, and harder to find investors for. If the pace of growth can kick back up, I would love to pay skilled developers with a hefty share of anything earned, perhaps all of ad revenue until they get their "principal" (agreed project price) back but for that to happen, they would have to rest assured of longer-term viability to be willing to develop for free in the short-term. If anybody actually is interested in registering a site and thinks they are all taken, I can list some more (better?) options that I didn't list in the thread that you might want. I doubt I will be buying more domains, or likely, if a better forecast incites me to want to, they would be taken by then. Just ask if so. |
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Andris
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May 22, 2011, 12:28:09 AM |
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Hoarders are not people with a few dozen domains. Hoarders are people with thousands of domains. My yearly domain budget is around $1k, personally.
...and you're paying to display ads?
...and you bought through Godaddy?
I'm sorry. You're not a hoarder. I'll be generous and just say that you're new at this domain thing.
The only reason a domain name is important these days, is that it needs to be memorable. Hoarders, as annoying as they are, just interfere with that. The domain name itself isn't terribly relevant to search engines since Microsoft dropped Live search and went to Bing.
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speeder
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May 23, 2011, 01:52:01 PM |
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I once checked the whois of a domain... Then while trying to remember my password, someone else bought it (coincidence? the name was a made-up word that was my business name, and the word do not even looked like my language), I did a new whois, called the guy, and he blurted out: 50.000 USD. I replied: Ok, stuff that domain in your ass.
Now I register domains without whois-ing them first (I attempt to register the names I want, if they fail, I try another one, and so on, until it works).
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▀▀▀███▄▄▄███▀▀▀ | | | ..PLAY NOW.. |
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Andris
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May 23, 2011, 03:44:19 PM |
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The lesson, of course, is that in order to avoid domain sniping
- do not 'ping' your domain
- do not 'whois' your domain
- do not try browse to the url
- Searching the root word with Google is safe, but don't click on links
Just go to your registrar, and look it up there.
Again, this is less of a problem now that domain tasting is no longer allowed. But this was a known scam for awhile.
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