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Username: ville
Date/Time: Tue, October 17, 2000 at 10:18 PM GMT
Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer V5.5 using Windows NT 5.0
Score: 5
Subject: speculating = leeching

Message: 		 

 
        Although I find domain hogging a questionable practice to begin with, I think it would be ok for people to register all names they'd ever care for when the TLD is active, and when it's in general knowledge where the registrations can be made. This has nothing to do with myself, I'm perfectly happy with the few .com and .net domains I have (with active sites behind them).

How is this morally distinguishable? You can't see it? Speculators are leeches to begin with, and when they're given an additional advantage of ravaging a new TLD that a few dozen people know of when they get their hands on it is just despicable. If a new TLD is opened with sufficient publicity so that the general public has equal access to it and awareness of it, maybe people who really need good new names would be able to obtain them before squatters have hoarded up the rest.

Domain names' primary function is to distinguish companies and organizations from each other. They are offered by various registrars at reasonable fees, ranging from less than $20 per year to somewhere around $75 per year. Introduce the speculators, and the same domains end up costing the organizations up to millions of dollars with no disadvantage to the speculator's business (i.e. they're not receiving the fee because of their business activities being disrupted by transfer of a domain, but just because they happen to hold the name). Sure domain speculating is going to continue, but at least TLD deregulation or near-deregulation would make speculating an extremely expensive or impossible business.
     
 

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