One thing I have seen done in such cases is simply to have a discreet note somewhere on the main page like "Note: Prior to 2022, this domain was used by a different individual. If you've come here looking for the old bookwebsite.com website, which used to be owned by Bookguy, this content can be found in the webarchive at archive.com/bookwebsite" or something like that.
Ask HN: Buying a domain previously owned by a now deceased person
51–53 of 53 posts
Re: Ask HN: Buying a domain previously owned by a now deceased person
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wow, that sounds like a horrible idea. It's like the new owner of an ISBN demanding libraries to burn the book previously sold under that ISBN.
Wait, do you mean an ISBN can be re-used and is not a unique identifier of a very specific book?
It should not be re-used, but it is definitely a thing that happens sometimes, though rarely in my (used to work on library software) experience.
Re: Ask HN: Buying a domain previously owned by a now deceased person
#53I have a side project named CaseYak and for the first year of it we were forced to use thecaseyak.com because caseyak.com was taken. We looked into the whois record for caseyak.com at the time, and it turned out it was owned by someone named Stephen Casey… who lived in Alaska (AK). So it was casey ak dot com (lol). Not sure what happened to Mr. Casey but the domain just opened up this year.
He moved
below ground