Thread

I don’t see how unused domains have any effect at all on content, except on their own domains. The only way a domain with no content has any impact on finding content is if a person types domains into the address bar without already knowing what’s there. I’m pretty sure most people search for content by more efficient means than that.

I can’t help but continue to think this is really about wanting a domain that someone else owns and isn’t using to your satisfaction.

Well, if sites were more aptly named, cold addressing (just typing in the site you think it should be) would produce more relevant results and be more beneficial to all. But google’s not going anywhere. I know it’s frustrating to try to find a decent domain name these days, but I also kind of like it this way.

I’ve heard the same complaints from bands. All the good band names are not only taken, but if you want your new band to be successful, the URL, myspace, and facebook (and whatever else the kids are doing these days) also have to be open.

It is more challenging, but I think having a good domain name becomes more valuable now. When someone types in the first guess they have for a site name, and gets parked ads, they then hit google, and that’s the true problem.

Searching for for “graphic design magazine” http://www.smashingmagazine.com isn’t in the first three pages of results. Not sure another URL would serve them better.

I think if somehow the no content people were forced to part with their pages, the best ones would be snapped up right away, so we’d still be in the same situation.

I can’t help but continue to think this is really about wanting a domain that someone else owns and isn’t using to your satisfaction.

Not at all, I was able to find one and I am quite happy with it. I am trying to address a larger issue that is costing all of us greatly.

My issue stems from having to waste time, energy and money to register a domain name that really shouldn’t be that hard. Take for instance what JT said

But I do things thoroughly some times. For instance, I own and operate http://www.e-referrer.com but just to make sure I 1. don’t get copycats repeating my steps I purchased the following domains and use them as aliases:
e-referer.com
e-referrer.com
ereferer.com
ereferrer.com
ereferrer.mobi

I understand his reason for this and for many people this costs them a tremendous amount of money to cover all of the possible extension and common typos of that domain.

Lets say he bought just the .com that he wanted, with an increased fee to register the domain he would not need to worry about using his own money to prevent someone else from owning those. Set the cost at $40 to register the domain (The amount is trivial) it no longer becomes a viable business model to squat on a typo domain for $10 worth of ad revenue. When you can register it for $5/yr and you generate $10/year in ad revenue its a simple way to earn money, multiply that by a “Portfolio” by 1500 domains you have a significant income.

We are already paying a higher fee by having to register all of the domain variations to prevent squatters from profiting from our work. If we raise the cost to register a domain we effectively destroy their business model and open up the pool of domains to use. If it becomes $40/yr and you get $10 in ad revenue its not going to be worth their time and money.

Not at all, I was able to find one and I am quite happy with it. I am trying to address a larger issue that is costing all of us greatly.

My issue stems from having to waste time, energy and money to register a domain name that really shouldn’t be that hard.

Quite frankly, that’s just too bad.

Yes, it’s frustrating that the most obvious domain names are hard to come by, but the same is true for prime real estate—even if you can afford it, it’s not usually on sale. It’s even more frustrating when the domains are hogged by the search engine crowd or outright squatters, but you forget that your proposal prices domain names out of range for many private users. Yours is a knee-jerk reaction that I don’t support. In fact, I’d give up on EE and all but our family domain if the registration prices were hiked to the levels you suggest.

Quite frankly, that’s just too bad.

Ok, last time, I’m not whining about my recent domain search as proposed by a prior poster.
I am trying to address an issue that is frustrating all of us.

Yes, it’s frustrating that the most obvious domain names are hard to come by, but the same is true for prime real estate—even if you can afford it, it’s not usually on sale. It’s even more frustrating when the domains are hogged by the search engine crowd or outright squatters, but you forget that your proposal prices domain names out of range for many private users.

That’s not my intention and I had stated in a prior post that the dollar value is trivial and could be priced anywhere, the point was that currently you can register a domain for less that you can make on a poorly performing PayPerClick site which makes it almost always a profitable ROI.

Yours is a knee-jerk reaction that I don’t support.

Does anyone have a better/any idea? Rather than being complacent towards the issue we all feel is frustrating we might actually be able to come up with a viable solution.

I’ll just dive in here, but that sounds like a certain veep’s idea that paying more taxes is a patriotic duty. Paying more doesn’t solve anything, it just makes it a bigger pot.
I get ideas for domains, and they are available, stuff with acronyms mostly. But I’m not going to register a hair-brained domain on a whim for $100 bucks. Think acronyms, buzzwords and short phrases, there’s plenty out there still.

How is it suggested that people are making $20 bucks on parked domains, I’ld like to make that on the ones I have parked? Is there an easy way.

Does anyone have a better/any idea? Rather than being complacent towards the issue we all feel is frustrating we might actually be able to come up with a viable solution.

I just don’t agree that there’s a problem. There are still plenty of good domains out there, but if you want the very best you’ll need to pay some $$$ for it. What’s wrong with that?

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed most about the internet is that it’s largely unregulated. At $10 a year, the low cost of entry gives everyone a voice who wants one.

I don’t think raising the minimum domain price to $100 will have impact on domain market other than giving small timers a harder time. Because $100 is still $0 in the eyes of the corporations. Domain squatting is not done by small timers, but corporations to begin with.

Personally I think that a scheme like yours to really up the price of a domain would put people like me out.  Not the ones you seem to have an issue with.  It took some time to find my domain, I didn’t find it frustrating though, kind of interesting really and no I do not have any ‘parked’ domains.  Still, so what if someone does?  Who are you to say that your use is better than someone else’s?

I set my site up to communicate primarily with my family and friends when I go OS.  When I first set my site up a $100 price tag would have blown me out of the water.  Why should people like me be priced out of the ‘market’ because you are a little peeved right now?

Perhaps it is seen as an issue by professionals in the industry.  That I can not really comment on however I think that jacking up prices will not improve the content of the web.  I think it would be its downfall.

Just raising it will cause 20x more problems.

I’m with you Lee, but I think we’re surrounded.

I don’t think raising the minimum domain price to $100 will have impact on domain market other than giving small timers a harder time. Because $100 is still $0 in the eyes of the corporations. Domain squatting is not done by small timers, but corporations to begin with.

Huh? Only corporations can buy domains?

Just raising it will cause 20x more problems.

Thanks for the enlightened contribution.

I just don’t agree that there’s a problem. There are still plenty of good domains out there, but if you want the very best you’ll need to pay some $$$ for it. What’s wrong with that?

I often wish that I could pay, but I’ve tried to contact the owners of a few squatted domains and haven’t had a response.

How many .tv domains are out there? hardly any. because it’s 50 bucks a year. That’s half and the extension is almost unused.
I own more than I can honestly remember. I have to tick them off in my head. None are squatted (ok, one kinda sort of. heh!).

1. “.tv” is not “.com”.
2. “.tv” is for television.
That is why there aren’t many registered.

You admit to being a squatter. Would you still be a squatter if you had to pay $100 per? Just maybe Lee is on to something?

Brand protection is huge, even for the smallest of sites. When I start a site, I don’t just buy the .com, I buy the .net and the .org as well. I also buy variations of my site’s domain in .com, .net and .org. All told, I normally buy about 15 domains for every site that I start to protect my brand.

If you have a commercial offering, and you’re buying the “.org”, then shame on you. That is not what “.org” is for, and maybe if it cost you $100, you’d leave it for an unrelated non-profit to use. Just how important do you think your “brand” is? Even google didn’t register the “.org”. Have you ever mistakenly typed google.org?

…but you forget that your proposal prices domain names out of range for many private users.

I’m thinking that only top level domains need to cost more. How about a “.family” domain for private users?

Paying more doesn’t solve anything, it just makes it a bigger pot.
I get ideas for domains, and they are available, stuff with acronyms mostly. But I’m not going to register a hair-brained domain on a whim for $100 bucks. Think acronyms, buzzwords and short phrases, there’s plenty out there still. How is it suggested that people are making $20 bucks on parked domains, I’ld like to make that on the ones I have parked? Is there an easy way.

Man, you’ve just made Lee’s point. You have parked domains doing nothing. You, my friend, are a squatter.

 

You admit to being a squatter. Would you still be a squatter if you had to pay $100 per? Just maybe Lee is on to something?

 

I guess stopping me from having one domain that I will hopefully be able to develop is the goal. in fact, it’s a perfect reason why it’s a bad idea. Seems to be your goal there since my example affirms your backing the idea.  🙄

It won’t happen anyway, so it really doesn’t matter. The whole system will be changed long before hand.

“.tv” is for television. That is why there aren’t many registered.

Actually, last time I checked .tv was for the island nation of Tuvalu.

You admit to being a squatter. Would you still be a squatter if you had to pay $100 per? Just maybe Lee is on to something?

Sorry, what exactly does “squatting” mean in this context? With a few exceptions, domains are assigned following a first come, first served scheme. Who’s to say that my use is necessarily inferior to yours? If I’d be leeching off a valued brand (variations in spelling, typos, etc.), fine, I’d lose in court anyway. But apart from that, the whole proposal smacks of elitism, trying to raise the economic barriers so the “unwashed masses”, once again, would not get in the way of the enlightened few who’d actually “do” something with the domain, and therefore, quasi by definition, must be “more worthy”.

I’m thinking that only top level domains need to cost more. How about a “.family” domain for private users?

Not quite sure you understand what a “top level domain” is, actually? .family would definitely be one. That said, why should my church, local non-profit, whatever, be lumped in there together with families?

Meh. Why is this debate still going on? Both sides have valid points. It annoys me when people buy domains and then sit on them. I had one picked out for five years, but didn’t have the knowledge or resources to obtain and develop it. Someone picked it up 3 months before I figured out what I was doing and then just sat on it. I was pretty upset… But I got over it and went with a different name.

Just out of curiosity though, how many of you would be in this business if the cost of entry was really that high from the outset? I know I can’t be the only self-taught person here. I’ve never had any handouts and have worked hard for everything I have, so hearing this kind of talk is a little more than frustrating for me. Sure a hundred bucks isn’t a lot, but couple that with another hundred for hosting and you’ve got a pretty expensive play/training ground. Do you really think that raising the cost to a benji is going to stop these fools? If anything we’d just have a bunch of perfectly useful domains that are nothing but link directories and ad dumps, because the “little guy” had to give it up. At least right now we’ve got decent content out there to balance it all out.

You would see a lot of sites that you enjoy visiting disappear because nobody small and independent would want to spend that kind of money. I don’t run ads on my site and the users appreciate that. I don’t mind taking the expense to the face. You make me take two hundred and fifty to the face every year and watch how fast the ads go up and the donate button gets created and given prime real estate. That doesn’t seem to fall in line with what the internet is and should continue to be. A great way to communicate as well as a great source of information.

The idea is so close in nature to what you’re trying to avoid that it would certainly backfire. I would suggest thinking outside of the box. Like finding a way to spin this activity as unlawful and then put the pressure on the registrars to report people who unnecessarily park domains or set up link farms. They could then be fined or jailed for fraud. They did it with spam. Why not this garbage? Surely that would be a better approach.

I would suggest thinking outside of the box. Like finding a way to spin this activity as unlawful and then put the pressure on the registrars to report people who park domains or set up link farms. They could then be fined or jailed for fraud. They did it with spam. Why not this garbage? Surely that would be a better approach.

How on earth could that be unlawful? As I’ve said, if your leeching off on other brands or typo domains, fine. But a genuine, somewhat creative, generic domain name? If I decide to mainly use one of my domains for email, why can’t I have a webserver there, too, serving up some ads?

Email spam is a completely different issue: it sends content to people, potentially costing them money. On the web, it’s the other way round: You go out and search content. If my site’s not what you are looking for, so be it, but that’s hardly illegal.

I should have been more clear (I’m about ready for bed). What your talking about is fine, I was vague - my fault. 

People who buy hundreds of domains with the intent of creating link farms is, in my mind, not fine. It’s annoying and spammy. Those are people who need to feel the squeeze.  Google is already banning people from using adsense and freezing accounts for just that very thing. I think that it’s a step in the right direction too.