ARTICLE: Accused 'cybersquatter' predicts domain drought

[Beachie]

From Computer Business Review:
Accused 'Cybersquatter' Predicts Domain Drought
http://www.cbronline.com/article_new...8-7FCC52080182

From Globe and Mail:
Internet Real Estate Harder to Find
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../Business/home

[Domagon]

Much like how IP numbers are going to run out ...

NOT! Many aspects of the internet, despite all the nonsense, are run by very intelligence folks ... they'll find a solution / work-around for such problems ...

In regards to domain names ... the article speaks of "domain kiting" ... the solution there is relatively simple ... just don't allow refunds or perhaps more realistically, reduce the refund period from 5 days to say 1 or 2, and further limit the number of refunds permitted per registrar using some formula ... ie. a limit based the number of domains they control.

There's no shortage ... heck, if anything, there are too many domains available due to the numerous unrestricted TLDs that exist now ... and add to that the simple fact that the number of different permutations possible with even two or three words is astronomical ... add to that numbers, etc ... and other languages, the number of possible domain combinations skyrockets even further to even more astronomical number.

In a nutshell, domains aren't going to "run out" anytime soon, if ever.

Ron

[beatz]

"Domain kiting" has become the new desease of domain business and moreover, affects the internet as a whole.

I'm surprised/shocked that a registrar like dotster that i once thought was a reputable, professional one seems to actually take part bigtime in this sheme.

But they're not the only ones - enom seem to have played a very active role in the latest .eu fiasco as well so it really looks like that even once reputable registrars are slowly but surely giving up their business ethics in favor of the (quick) buck and shady under the table deals.

[Beachie]

Yeah, kind of a funny perspective - thought I'd post it and see what you all thought

The kiting thing is nothing more than a faster way to do what was already happening, but what's disturbing is that the registrars themselves are getting in on the act.. I think the turning point in this industry was when certain registrars started selling off their customer's expired domains instead of letting them drop - it changed the old-school belief that domains were ultimately public property and were 'leased' from the registry.

[RatherGood]

"Domain kiting" has become the new desease of domain business and moreover, affects the internet as a whole.

I'm surprised/shocked that a registrar like dotster that i once thought was a reputable, professional one seems to actually take part bigtime in this sheme.

But they're not the only ones - enom seem to have played a very active role in the latest .eu fiasco as well so it really looks like that even once reputable registrars are slowly but surely giving up their business ethics in favor of the (quick) buck and shady under the table deals.

Registrars have two ways to bring in extra money;

1. They could start "domain kitting" - a practice which actually has nothing to do with kitting and is perfectly legal.

2. They can be like GoDaddy and invent new things to charge existing accounts for (ie, a UDRP response, a spam accusation, wearing too big a hat for your head, etc).


I think I prefer #1.

[Domagon]

Domain "kiting" (I tend to agree that word may be a misnomer, but is still a bad thing nevertheless) is certainly unethical and eventually will be stomped out ... not because registrars will have a change of heart, but rather because both ICANN and more to the point the registries that permit refunds are losing money ... at some point, they're going to push back and work to curtail excessive domain refunds by registrars...

While domain refunds serve a legitimate purpose in some instances, it's just a matter of time before the boom comes down on that ... much like how people used to be able to register domains and use them for months without paying for them back in the old NSI days ... people can't easily do that anymore.

Ron

[beatz]

1. They could start "domain kitting" - a practice which actually has nothing to do with kitting and is perfectly legal.

I didn't say it was illegal (yet) - my point was actually exactly what Beachie said plus for some registrars domain "kiting" seems to have become the main income source and the main reason they've become a registrar at all (besides things like selling their customers expired domains instead of letting them drop).

Think about it: Millions of domains are "taken"/not available not because someone registered them even if it was just for resale but they're taken although no one *really* paid for them - they can repeat the 5 days refund game over and over and that's just what they do.

Combined with auctioning off customer's expired domains, combined with companies like ireit, buydomains etc who own like 2 third of the internet's decent names, combined with registrars like enom who try to hoard .eu names through bogus TM's and bogus (german) companies, combined with registrars that merely function as a registry connections provider for drop catchers etc etc it's just another example of how the industry is helping the "public property" idea to go down the toilet.

And yeah i do think there is a difference between a registrar that gives back 5 names because a customer didn't pay or an enduser that accidentally regsitered the wrong name and registrars that do that in the millions on a daily basis as a business model.

[QuantumBeam]

but what's disturbing is that the registrars themselves are getting in on the act..

ain't that a shame...............

[Keyword Factory]

This is nothing new. In 1997 the old Internic sent a memo sent to the national Science Foundation complaining there were 100,000 domain registration templates in the system clogging the registration process and that most of the users would not pay for the names. After 45 - 90 days the domains would be taken back. Back then everybody involved in domains started doing it. I still have a box load of all the old invoices they used to mail out. The Ultsearch guy (Yun Te) had 10's of thousands of domains going back to his @home e-mail account. (There was no such as PPC back then).

So we are back where we were 8 years ago as far as "domain kiting." The only difference now is that it is more sophisticated.

[Rubber Duck]

The irrational assumption that the only domain is an ASCII dot com is going to have to be revisited. The number of meaningful combinations that can be generated out of that is limited and is probably reaching it logical conclusion.

If the US actually started making sensible use of its own ccTLD that would help a great deal.

Assumptions about how many ASCII.com are actually needed have been greatly overblown, as no account has been taken as to how many dot coms can be generated using non ASCII characters. English actually uses the fewest characters of just about any language. You start formulating dot coms in Han, Hirigana, Hangul, Arabic, Cyrillics and Davengari characters and you quickly realise the possibilities are much less restricted than many imagine.

[RatherGood]

ain't that a shame...............

Yes, curse those damn "tasting" registrars for taking 4-5 million available domain names out of the system per week and forcing end users to resort to the secondary market. Indeed a terrible thing for domainers.

[DaddyHalbucks]

Do you guys deal with Dotster?

I don't.

[sags]

Nicky Hilton (of the Paris Hilton and Hilton hotel family) just started up her own luxury hotel chain. She called it NickyO and registered all the extensions. There are still millions of unregistered domain names if a company just wants to add a letter or two.

[italiandragon]

Do you guys deal with Dotster?

I don't.

I don`t either