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WordPress introduces 100 year domain registrations

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Re: WordPress introduces 100 year domain registrations

#151
post #122

It’s just a money grab for anyone who will fall for it. 100 years is long enough that the consequences of failure are nil. Nobody who is pushing this program will be alive to deal with any fallout. It reminds me of the subtle attitude of people making poor engineering decisions because they’ll be long gone by the time payment comes due.

It is virtually guaranteed no one will use domain names or web browsers or blogs or websites in 100 years.

I'd bet that about almost any tech thing except DNS, Linux, the web, and maybe 14nm.

Re: WordPress introduces 100 year domain registrations

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They marketed it at the time as being "unlimited", which at the time was a reasonably fair description

Can you point to any archived material with that claim? Many of us have been around to remember everything from that time period, and they never made such a claim in my memory. When Gmail launched there was a very prominent bar graph at the bottom of every page that told you how much storage you were using and how much was available.

I was around at that time and I definitely remember the 'unlimited' phrase in the press. I'm sure youre also correct about the bar graph though. Although as I remember it they kept lifting the ceiling of that bar graph faster than anyone could fill it up

Re: WordPress introduces 100 year domain registrations

#153
post #79

Ponzi Scheme Any “forever” or “unlimited” are forms of a Ponzi scheme. Note: I not saying Wordpress is being malicious. I’m just saying that for the economics of a “forever” or “unlimited” to work, you need to find new money to offset the old costs - and a lot of really good companies have had to learn this lesson the hard way.

Lots of businesses require new money to offset old costs - that's not fraud.

Companies also sell products and services below cost to build their brand and/or upsell the customers later.

I don't know WP's cost breakdown, but registering and hosting domains is relatively inexpensive and will likely get (relatively) cheaper in later decades. Meanwhile, they have a customer locked in for 100 years who will have a sunk cost incentive to purchase new features through WP rather than setting up a new domain somewhere else.

Re: WordPress introduces 100 year domain registrations

#155
post #60
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about it for a second, some people may want their website to live on past their death. This is a way to keep the domain alive for at least 100 years.

Say 50-60 years pass. Wordpress gets acquired by a dodgy company who decides they're OK terminating this deal because they consider the risk of litigation low. It would be difficult to know if Wordpress (or future acquiring company) is keeping their end of the deal after one's death.

The world could end the next day or domains sunsetted. You can't rely on the future for anything but this gives you a chance.

Re: WordPress introduces 100 year domain registrations

#157

Things are not nearly as predictable 100 years out as they are 1 or 10. A 100-year plan is for WordPress.com's benefit, not yours. They get a predictable accounting revenue stream for 100 years if they continue to exist; if not, no problem for them, they still got the money, while you get nothing (or whatever a bankruptcy court says). You get... hosting for 100 years. Maybe. What are the odds, and are you factoring t…

> They get a predictable accounting revenue stream for 100 years Isn't this a one-time payment up front?

Yeah, but the accounting for it would run the 100 years, presumably.
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