Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doesn't strike me as particularly immoral.
[flagged]
Many things should be illegal in a capitalist society. Domain investing is low in the list.
I bought Friendster for $30k – Here's what I'm doing with it
561–570 of 648 posts
Re: I bought Friendster for $30k – Here's what I'm doing with it
#562Earlier quoted context omitted.
Curious what you’d consider a better model for naming/ownership on the internet.
There should be a land value tax on domain names
there sort of is; you don't own a domain but lease it. The problem is all domains for a given TLD cost the same. What about the registration fee being a % of the value, where value is set to the current cost, but then assessed on the sales price? Or do we just end up with the scenario we're currently escaping with TM resale tickets?
Re: I bought Friendster for $30k – Here's what I'm doing with it
#563A guy bought friendster.com for $30k and built an app where you can only add friends by physically tapping phones. Connections "fade" if you don't meet in a year. Sounds wholesome. Also sounds like a feature set that filters out 90% of the people who'd actually use a social network
It reads as "cute" but not sure the actual utility other than adding an unneeded digital layer to friendship lol
Re: I bought Friendster for $30k – Here's what I'm doing with it
#564Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hey I get it, we all gotta sleep at night. Tell yourself whatever you like to get them zzz's. As far as ticket scalpers and domain resellers go, my assessment stands: they are bottom feeding zeros providing nothing of value and they can fuck off into the sun.
Down voted because the comment is not providing any new insights and is just insulting.
Upvoted because you're correct.
Re: I bought Friendster for $30k – Here's what I'm doing with it
#565[flagged]
This is such a wild over reaction. There is nothing inherently wrong with domain squatting. Lol. Blame the system, not the people operating within it.
This is such a dumb response. The people playing the squat & resale game are the ones that built and maintain the system. This is like saying spam & phishing is the fault of the people who built email, not the jerks who exploit it. It's wrong because it extracts money from the commons without adding any value; i.e. this is why we can't have nice things.
Re: I bought Friendster for $30k – Here's what I'm doing with it
#566Earlier quoted context omitted.
IIUC it's not the model of buying domains from registrars which stinks of crap, it's the buying from registrars by domain squatters who then flip them for a profit having provided zero value that bears a whiff of shite. These ticket scalpers of the internet who contribute nothing can well and truly fuck straight off.
Speculators provide time-allocation of resources. They're pretty critical part of market dynamics to help resources get sold and developed when they are valued most. That is, they prevent domains from being captured prematurely for lower value use. Society profits immensely from their contribution.
Despite being full of arrogant intellectual superiority, evidently the majority of the HN crowd has little understanding of basic economics.
While I personally wouldn't go as far as "Society profits immensely from their contribution", these types business people do serve an important function in the economy.
Much like traditional middle-men sellers, commodity speculators, insurance providers, and the like, domain name re-sellers take on the risk that no one else are willing to bear at some particular time (that the domain they're "squatting" could be worth nothing in X years). If and when the domains they're "squatting" later on become more valuable, either through their own direct efforts, or by re-selling them to other parties that can make better use of them, then the profits they make from such transactions are justified for the aforementioned risks they bore.
Re: I bought Friendster for $30k – Here's what I'm doing with it
#567Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t know about immoral, but it is at the very least a bit sleazy. When I look for domains for side projects, I very rarely have to abandon a name because it’s been taken by an actual operational service; it’s almost always because someone is squatting it with a “parking” page filled with sketchy ads that they’re paying almost nothing for. That isn’t doing any good for anyone besides the squatter.
Why does a practice have to do good for anyone other than the practioner?
Well, if we're discussing morality, it is generally considered immoral to enrich yourself at the expense of the public good.
Re: I bought Friendster for $30k – Here's what I'm doing with it
#568Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t know about immoral, but it is at the very least a bit sleazy. When I look for domains for side projects, I very rarely have to abandon a name because it’s been taken by an actual operational service; it’s almost always because someone is squatting it with a “parking” page filled with sketchy ads that they’re paying almost nothing for. That isn’t doing any good for anyone besides the squatter.
Why does a practice have to do good for anyone other than the practioner?
“chattel slavery isn’t bad so long as I am the slave owner”
Re: I bought Friendster for $30k – Here's what I'm doing with it
#569[dead]
Re: I bought Friendster for $30k – Here's what I'm doing with it
#570Some people clearly believe if you have money sitting in a bank, other people should be able to take it. They feel your money should help others. If you're not actively using it.
That is generally how banks work, yes.