The .blog Bait and Switch

#1

Post by cschidle » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 4:35 PM UTC

The .blog Bait and Switch
chrisschidle.com

Re: The .blog Bait and Switch

#2

Post by ensiferum » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 4:43 PM UTC

I've never understood why some random company is allowed to arbitrate the domain registration and make $$$ out of it. Feels like it's kinda not in the spirit of the internet.

Re: The .blog Bait and Switch

#3

Post by coldcode » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 4:44 PM UTC

I signed up too and then saw the ridiculous prices and policies. Happy to stick with .com for 10 bucks.

Re: The .blog Bait and Switch

#4

Post by kyriakos » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 4:51 PM UTC

ensiferum wrote: post #2

I've never understood why some random company is allowed to arbitrate the domain registration and make $$$ out of it. Feels like it's kinda not in the spirit of the internet.

It's not much different from people hoarding dictionary domains and selling them for insane amounts.

But I understand your point and the whole system is rotten. First come first served is no longer viable.

Re: The .blog Bait and Switch

#5

Post by overcast » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 4:51 PM UTC

They are doing this a lot with more and more of the new TLDs. Defeats the purpose of even bothering with them. Create more, to open up the domain space, make it cost prohibitive, so we're back to where we started.

Re: The .blog Bait and Switch

#6

Post by octasimo » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 4:58 PM UTC

I've also got stood up with fashion.blog. Full refund and no invitation to auction. I haven't even bothered to ask for details, because that was their way of assessing and freezing the domain names that people would be interested in buying.

Re: The .blog Bait and Switch

#7

Post by lmm » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 5:03 PM UTC

ensiferum wrote: post #2

I've never understood why some random company is allowed to arbitrate the domain registration and make $$$ out of it. Feels like it's kinda not in the spirit of the internet.

Anyone can run their own DNS root, but good luck getting people to use it. And ICANN has a history of deliberately colliding with TLDs used by competing services.

Re: The .blog Bait and Switch

#8

Post by dmm » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 5:04 PM UTC

When the .beer tld came out I tried to buy "california.beer" as soon as domains were available to the public. The site wouldn't let me buy even though it was listed as available. It was finally registered by a squatter months later. I wouldn't be surprised if the good names were kept in reserve and sold through special channels.

Re: The .blog Bait and Switch

#9

Post by jklinger410 » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 5:13 PM UTC

ensiferum wrote: post #2

I've never understood why some random company is allowed to arbitrate the domain registration and make $$$ out of it. Feels like it's kinda not in the spirit of the internet.

It is a complete state-sponsored racket. There's no way around it.

You pay an upfront fee to ICANN and probably some kind of recurring tax and you get to create a TLD. You then sell this TLD for higher prices than ICANN and run a very simple service that processes the transactions.

You then take anything lower than a 5 or 6 letter domain that is a word in the english language and define it as a "premium" domain and charge obscene prices for those domains. The fee you charge for the domain based on this system is recurring. So instead of buying milk.com for $10k and selling it for $12k you already own milk.blog by default and if someone wants to register it you charge $500 a year.

NOT TO MENTION this whole system is like a slap in the face to a certain kind of "domainers." People who buy domains based on their perceived value, park them, and then try and resell them for more money. There are many millions of dollars wrapped up in this other, also stupid racket. These companies got so bold as to get their domains "valued" and then bet on the value of their company based on their holdings like some type of stock filled with mortgages. This new system is like cutting directly into that strategy but I guess ICANN gets some of the money this way.

Re: The .blog Bait and Switch

#10

Post by Senji » Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 5:13 PM UTC

lmm wrote: post #7

ensiferum wrote: post #2

I've never understood why some random company is allowed to arbitrate the domain registration and make $$$ out of it. Feels like it's kinda not in the spirit of the internet.

Anyone can run their own DNS root, but good luck getting people to use it. And ICANN has a history of deliberately colliding with TLDs used by competing services.

Browser vendors and OS makers should do an end run around ISPs and ICANN. Just agree between themselves ( what are they like 10? tops) and fork the current registries. Then issue domains themselves.

What are the plebs gonna do? Go the the non existent alternative?