Tech: Domain Names

Subject: RE: Help: Domain Names
From: GUEST,Les Brown
Date: 14 Feb 01 - 01:18 PM

Pardon my ignorance, but if you have .net, .org, .co.uk .net and somebody else has .com but you think you ought to have it, arn't you doing the same as he is? ie:- squating on them.

Subject: RE: Help: Domain Names
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 14 Feb 01 - 10:48 AM

An article in yesterday's Courier-Journal in Louiville told about a company that is marketing the .mu domain name in order to get the corner on music related sites. It seems that they purchased the rights to the country code of the African island nation of Mauritius. Another business is marketing the suffix dot-tv acquired from the tiny nation of Tuvalu.

I'm reminded of the limited watercolor prints that I have. It seems that when all of one are sold out, they just sell another one. Course mine is the prettiest!

Subject: RE: Help: Domain Names
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 13 Feb 01 - 11:09 PM

Not the website; as you say, they can be had for nothing.  It's the domain name that can cost, if you wanted to register one; an entirely different thing.

Subject: RE: Help: Domain Names
From: Sorcha
Date: 13 Feb 01 - 11:01 PM

Silly money?? I would never pay silly money for a website, considering how many free providers there are, if I could do the html and stuff to build a website. Which I don't after all, want to maintain.

Subject: RE: Help: Domain Names
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 13 Feb 01 - 10:56 PM

No, you're right.  The distinctions have tended to become blurred, though, as demand increases, and all manner of additional extensions are appearing or planned.  It's just that .com tends to be the extention that people think of by default, and so a site will get more accidental hits that way; plus, I guess, it's fashionable to have one.  folk-network.com,  for example, is a non-profit making organisation, so .org would be logical; it's just more obvious -and probably more useful, in the long-term- to go for the best-known format, provided you don't have to pay silly money for it.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Help: Domain Names
From: Sorcha
Date: 13 Feb 01 - 10:33 PM

I thought .com (in the US at least) meant commercial, maybe I'm wrong, but try looking at .org places, like mudcat. Am I all wet here?

Subject: RE: Help: Domain Names
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 13 Feb 01 - 09:14 PM

Hmmm... ".com" is no longer a US indicator, though it presumably started out -by default- that way.  Nowadays it's simply the best-known extension, and can therefore attract the highest prices when re-selling.  A legitimately registered, paid-for and "parked" domain name that infringes no previously registered tradename will certainly not be subject to confiscation, by Network Solutions or anybody else.  I'd be inclined to wait for the other bloke to forget to renew his subscription (you can get programs that will tell you immediately one lapses); if he hangs on to it, make him an offer (less than you are prepared to pay) and see what happens.  I have a couple of .coms and a .co.uk (I didn't bother with the other extensions, as people do tend to go for .com first, and I only took the .co.uk because it was thrown in for only a token extra charge), only one of which has a website associated with it at present, and if anybody tried to muscle in on the inactive ones (my own name, to which I have certainly as good a claim as anybody else in the world) I would be inclined to react aggressively; probably most other people would react similarly.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Help: Domain Names
From: Justa Picker
Date: 13 Feb 01 - 06:18 PM

Well in the U.S. it is now against the law to "cyber squat" domain names. In other words, some entrepreneur checks to see whether "coca-cola.com" is available and buys it, denying the coke company the legitimate use of its domain name, and then coke has to pay a "ransom" to purchase the domain name. Can't do this anymore at least in North America. Also, the extension "com" is a U.S. domain indicator. Talk to the people at Network Solutions and tell them your dilema. They may be able to force the current owner of the domain name you seek to give it up if you can provide that the domain name is already registered to other business or personal related web pointer names and, probably at no cost to you, other than when you re-register the domain name.

Subject: Domain Names
From: Zebedee
Date: 13 Feb 01 - 06:06 PM

Dilemma is undoubtably the wrong word, but I'm interested in any views as how best to proceed.

I have registered an internet name and I own .net, .org, .co.uk etc rights for the name. (I have preregisted .biz, .info etc)

However, I don't own the .com.

The person who owns the .com is only using it to display a picture of his children, and admits that he's not sure what to do with it.

So what do I do?

* wait for a year until he (hopefully) forgets to re-register?

* get in touch and offer to buy it?

The second option is good apart from the fact that, by contacting him, the current owner may think that the domain is 'valuable' (it's not - i'd just like it). My worry is that s/he'd suddenly want big money.

Any ideas?

Ed