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Meet the 'Mann' who registered 14,962 domains in 24 hours

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Re: Meet the 'Mann' who registered 14,962 domains in 24 hours

#61

Post by [deleted] »

ericd wrote: post #50
brico wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

some say that the future will be app-based and that domain-names and tlds will be a thing of the past, we'll see. I know a lot of people who say they hate squatters, then they have an "awesome idea" for a project, they'll register 10 domains, the project is never finished and they put their page on sedo in the hope someone clicks on an ad or buys the domain and they won't let go because it's just $10 a year and maybe…

Domain camping is scummy because it rewards specialization in a skill that adds no discernable value whatsoever to society. It is the definition of leeching off of other people's work. That it's legal and "how business works" is irrelevant to whether it's worthwhile. In cases where they hop on accidentally expired domains (this is popular) are effectively legal forms of blackmail.

[deleted]

Re: Meet the 'Mann' who registered 14,962 domains in 24 hours

#62

Post by simonbrown »

codeka wrote: post #27
citricsquid wrote: post #12

Vaguely related, a lot of people seem to jump to the conclusion that a domain that is registered and is not in use is automatically someone that bought it and wants to sell it to you at an extortionate rate to "steal" money from hard working "real" entrepreneurs, but how many people here have 1 or more domain that they don't use but did register with honest intentions? I bet most people do. I bet there are people who…

I think there's a big difference between 30-40 domains not being used for an honest reason, and 15,000 domains purchased for the specific purpose of reselling them at a higher price. And that's only 15,000 bought over a two-day period. How many does he own in total? Given the numbers here, I'd say that any random parked domain you find is statistically far more likely to belong to a domain squatter than a legitimate…

There are probably many more people doing the former than the latter.

Re: Meet the 'Mann' who registered 14,962 domains in 24 hours

#63

Post by ovi256 »

jpalomaki wrote: post #45

How important is it to have the .com name, is there any research available on this topic? I known that common sense says that mydomain.com is better than mydomain.cc, mydomain.io, mydomain.to or whatever, but is this really the case and how big are the differences? (For example how much more likely users remember a .com vs .io name)

.com is considered the most important domain name to have, the reasoning being that when people hear of product X, they'll go check X.com

Dropbox started on getdropbox.com, but they found out lots of people reflexively typed dropbox.com and saw a squatted domain. So later, they bought dropbox.com

I tend not to agree with this 100%, I think most people google the name of the product, instead of trying X.com directly.

Re: Meet the 'Mann' who registered 14,962 domains in 24 hours

#64

Post by codesuela »

jpalomaki wrote: post #45

How important is it to have the .com name, is there any research available on this topic? I known that common sense says that mydomain.com is better than mydomain.cc, mydomain.io, mydomain.to or whatever, but is this really the case and how big are the differences? (For example how much more likely users remember a .com vs .io name)

also .cc, .io, .co, .to, .me etc. don't rank as well in the Google SERPs, that's why it's important to have them

Re: Meet the 'Mann' who registered 14,962 domains in 24 hours

#65

Post by patrickk »

alastairpat wrote: post #60
deniszgonjanin wrote: post #7

I think we should institute a Homesteading Law ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_principle ) for domains. You can claim a domain as long as you use it for a legitimate purpose instead of just parking on it. There would be details to hash out for sure, but in the end I think we would have a much better system in place.

I'm pretty sure for .au domains you need to have a connexion with the domain (either it being your name or the name of a registered business you own.)

Probably the same for many other country domain suffixes. It's the same for .ie (Ireland) for example, you have to have a connection to the country as well as the domain name itself. Typical examples would be your own name or business name.

Re: Meet the 'Mann' who registered 14,962 domains in 24 hours

#66

Post by frontier »

Simple solution, just need to make the wholesale cost of domains >$100/yr then it won't be viable for the squatters to sit on "really speculative" names like the ones in this story would be.. and for a real business/service with 1 or 2 domain names, that extra cost means nothing.

Re: Meet the 'Mann' who registered 14,962 domains in 24 hours

#67

Post by jacquesm »

japhyr wrote: post #9
cgag wrote: post #6

I bought a domain today, and I ended up having to come up with a bunch of synonyms for what I wanted and using a script to see if any of them were available. I guess I support the entrepreneurial spirit, but at the same time I kind of hope that guy gets hit by a truck.

Entrepreneurs build things. Domain snatchers/ squatters are not entrepreneurs.

Domain squatters build domain portfolios.

Re: Meet the 'Mann' who registered 14,962 domains in 24 hours

#68

Post by mjwalshe »

bryanh wrote: post #2

I've only once been able to snag a domain on the drop (everymentor.com). Though I've tried dozens of times for various domains, I always get beaten to the punch. What kind of resources do these guys have? Hundreds of EC2 instances pounding registrars for good domains? I'm surprised registrars allow it.

Yep I used to work for a company that owned a Registry (.coop) and the guys that did all ICANN liaison and bidding said threes a LOT of dodgy stuff going on with bots.

Domains are to cheap in my opinion.

Re: Meet the 'Mann' who registered 14,962 domains in 24 hours

#69

Post by jacquesm »

personlurking wrote: post #4
bryanh wrote: post #2

I've only once been able to snag a domain on the drop (everymentor.com). Though I've tried dozens of times for various domains, I always get beaten to the punch. What kind of resources do these guys have? Hundreds of EC2 instances pounding registrars for good domains? I'm surprised registrars allow it.

I accidentally let one of mine lapse and it was snatched minutes later. The Whois is private so I can't see who bought it, though one thing is for sure, they left the DNS pointing to one of my main blogs (albeit a defunct blog which I deleted yet Blogger never took offline. In turn, the defunct blog has the same name as the the right/original one). I can't get too mad since it still references the right location. Eve…

Beware of that. Don't accept that traffic, all you're doing is helping the current owner of the domain to increase the value of the domain and to put you in a worse position to negotiate.

Re: Meet the 'Mann' who registered 14,962 domains in 24 hours

#70

Post by ericd »

hermannj314 wrote: post #57
ericd wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Domain camping is scummy because it rewards specialization in a skill that adds no discernable value whatsoever to society. It is the definition of leeching off of other people's work. That it's legal and "how business works" is irrelevant to whether it's worthwhile. In cases where they hop on accidentally expired domains (this is popular) are effectively legal forms of blackmail.

Man buys 14,962 tickets to a football game in 24 hours. Plans on selling them later at a profit. Man buys 14,962 acres of land in 24 hours and plans on selling it later at a profit. I'm not sure when I am supposed to get mad.

Yes, speculating in general is a zero-value-add activity except in that it sometimes makes markets more efficient/liquid. I would argue that domain squatters don't even make the domain market more liquid at all, because ICANN is an extremely-easily-accessible seller, and the squatters rarely provide the service of buying a domain from someone who has improved it/made it popular/etc.

But in general, I have little respect for most people who make their money via speculation due entirely to demand outstripping supply as in the case of event tickets and boom real estate markets. Basically, anytime someone is extracting money from the economy en masse without providing much/anything in return, is when you should be mad. Scalpers and people who buy a ton of land in a high-demand market just to sit on it rather than developing it definitely qualify, so yeah, I'd be mad at both.

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