Interesting discussion on domain names

admin · August 17, 2017

It’s always interesting to me to see domain names get discussed by non domainers. Most of the times there is only 1 or 2 comments on a website outside the industry. There was an interesting Reddit thread that has quite a lively discussion.

There were more pro domaining comments than I expected, vs the usual all domainers are squatters.

There were plenty of squatter comments and thoughts on how to restrict domaining.

This one is not in public view due to being voted down so much:

I have a fairly straightforward proposal to end domain squatting. We really just need to adopt “step rate” pricing with respect to renewals. It’s easy really — here’s an example for .com domains;

initial purchase price is $10

each renewal year price is twice the current price

system caps at $160/yr

First year is $10, second is $20, then $40, $80, $160/yr. If your website is successful or important in some regard, $13/mo isn’t going to break you. But at $160/yr there won’t be any meat on the bone left for serial domain squatters. And obviously the numbers aren’t set in stone. Start with $15/yr and max to $200. Whatever formula works.

In addition, domain sale/transfers would not break the chain. The only way the domain returns to $10/yr is if it goes back into the pool of available domains. And at that point we could have a lottery system for anyone who wants it after it expires (we should already have this part anyway, regardless of my proposal).

The thread started off by someone who got an email about purchasing a domain.

Some wrote about standing up to corporate entities trying to intimidate them:

[–]DCorboy 10 points 2 days ago

I own a domain that is very similar to a large international corporation. One day, I got a note from their lawyers saying that my owning of the off-by-one-character domain was an infringement on their trademark and that I was cyber-squatting.

I did a bunch of web research and responded with the fact that it wasn’t for sale, it was regularly updated and that my use of it could in no way be misconstrued. My use, therefore, met none of the criteria for cyber-squatting.

They never wrote back and I still own the domain today.

You can read the whole thread here

*Tip of the cap to Adam Yamada-Hanff