In short the domain name system is a racket.
If ICANN only charges 18¢ per domain name, why am I paying $10? (2014)
51–60 of 118 posts
Re: If ICANN only charges 18¢ per domain name, why am I paying $10? (2014)
#52Ignoring the fact that the revenue goes to a private company there's one good reason why 18¢ would be a bad idea - already too many domains are hoarded by a small group just for resell; I imagine it would be even worse then.
For .dk domains they simply disallowed reselling domains. I think this has mostly solved this problem. I think I remember having heard cases where companies would contact domain owners with an outrageous offer and use their acceptance to 'steal' the domain from the owner.
Re: If ICANN only charges 18¢ per domain name, why am I paying $10? (2014)
#53An idea I've been tossing around: What if domains cost $100 if more than one person wants it? The idea here is to squeeze the squatters with 000s of domains. Whenever I want a domain, most of the ones I want are taken. Not by people who are making use of it, but by people who are squatting in hopes of extorting anyone who would actually use the domain to produce value. I'd actually be happy if Verisign or any other p…
If I remember correctly, domains used to cost around $78 to register. When the price dropped dramatically, there was discussion on Slashdot about the effects. Most thought it was great ("hey, I, a poor college student, can get a domain now!"), but there was speculation it would lead to more domain parking.
In late 1990s it was $100 and a 1 month grace period before you need to pay in full.
Re: If ICANN only charges 18¢ per domain name, why am I paying $10? (2014)
#54An idea I've been tossing around: What if domains cost $100 if more than one person wants it? The idea here is to squeeze the squatters with 000s of domains. Whenever I want a domain, most of the ones I want are taken. Not by people who are making use of it, but by people who are squatting in hopes of extorting anyone who would actually use the domain to produce value. I'd actually be happy if Verisign or any other p…
There isn't a domain name shortage.
Re: If ICANN only charges 18¢ per domain name, why am I paying $10? (2014)
#55An idea I've been tossing around: What if domains cost $100 if more than one person wants it? The idea here is to squeeze the squatters with 000s of domains. Whenever I want a domain, most of the ones I want are taken. Not by people who are making use of it, but by people who are squatting in hopes of extorting anyone who would actually use the domain to produce value. I'd actually be happy if Verisign or any other p…
A simpler deterrent would be to linearly increase cost of the next domain you buy. This is the opposite of bulk discounts, and should make squatting unfeasible (at least not in large numbers).
Re: If ICANN only charges 18¢ per domain name, why am I paying $10? (2014)
#56Ignoring the fact that the revenue goes to a private company there's one good reason why 18¢ would be a bad idea - already too many domains are hoarded by a small group just for resell; I imagine it would be even worse then.
The solution to this should be simple. Every n years, domains are put up for auction. To keep the domain, the original owner must pay x% of the top bid, otherwise the top bidder acquires the domain for his bid price, maybe add a year or two of grace period so the original owner can migrate.
Go home gruez - you're drunk.
Re: If ICANN only charges 18¢ per domain name, why am I paying $10? (2014)
#57An idea I've been tossing around: What if domains cost $100 if more than one person wants it? The idea here is to squeeze the squatters with 000s of domains. Whenever I want a domain, most of the ones I want are taken. Not by people who are making use of it, but by people who are squatting in hopes of extorting anyone who would actually use the domain to produce value. I'd actually be happy if Verisign or any other p…
You're in luck. All the new gTLDs cost $30+. Many are a couple hundred dollars or even a couple thousands per year.
The main reason is that most companies don't think it's necessary to pay thousands of dollars per year as a recurring REGISTRATION FEE.
Re: If ICANN only charges 18¢ per domain name, why am I paying $10? (2014)
#58Ignoring the fact that the revenue goes to a private company there's one good reason why 18¢ would be a bad idea - already too many domains are hoarded by a small group just for resell; I imagine it would be even worse then.
For .dk domains they simply disallowed reselling domains. I think this has mostly solved this problem. I think I remember having heard cases where companies would contact domain owners with an outrageous offer and use their acceptance to 'steal' the domain from the owner.
I'm having trouble fact-checking this, do you have a source?
Re: If ICANN only charges 18¢ per domain name, why am I paying $10? (2014)
#59Why do we even need domain names? I mean unless it's a brand, we rarely type in a domain name, it's usually bookmarked or linked.
> Why do we even need domain names?
Let’s assume that we retain the level of indirection by assigning UUIDs instead of domain names. If you used Tor, you may have caught a glimpse of how randomly looking domain names feel.
How nice would it be if we could make the domain a technical detail? Let’s say the browser would prominently show whatever entity the certificate is registered to instead (and HTTPS is everywhere).
To an operations engineer, readable DNS offers some advantages: in some environments we still refer to machines, and being able to distinguish between “eu-sigma” and “us-gamma”, for example, is much easier than between “7c07c564” and “74c47513”. However, some may disagree[0], and anyway this doesn’t justify the need for a global DNS.
As to the end user, the primary concern is that in 2016 we still type in domains[1], and at those times better memorability and shorter length matter a lot. You can also see domain names referenced in anti-phishing warnings—but with proper security practices that wouldn’t be a thing.
So I see that plus inertia—an upgrade costs time and money, and the existing system works (and makes some people money).
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8010838
[1] Anecdata. Not sure if any research attempted to quantify how often do domains get typed these days, perhaps this isn’t even an issue anymore.
Re: If ICANN only charges 18¢ per domain name, why am I paying $10? (2014)
#60An idea I've been tossing around: What if domains cost $100 if more than one person wants it? The idea here is to squeeze the squatters with 000s of domains. Whenever I want a domain, most of the ones I want are taken. Not by people who are making use of it, but by people who are squatting in hopes of extorting anyone who would actually use the domain to produce value. I'd actually be happy if Verisign or any other p…
I'd love to hear good arguments against this
Squeezing out squatters also squeezes out anyone without means from domains they're not using for commercial purposes.
I already spend too much money keeping things online. Of the handful of domains I don't do much with, one is just for my primary email account. The same name is registered on other TLDs so there would probably be some demand for it. Am I making a "useful" enough use of it? There isn't even a web page on it. Am I "producing" enough "value"?
Or am I expected to lose a domain because someone else could use it to make money? Or simply because they could afford to spend more money keeping their stuff online than I do? No, that guy can go fuck himself.