Use it or lose it?

Domain name graveyard.

[shanz]

I would advocate a use it or lose it policy on domain names. Basically because I'm in a bad mood with the people who seem to have registered every word in the english language and do absolutely nothing with them.

I am prepared to be convinced otherwise.

Any comments?

[Mardi_Gras]

You own a piece of vacant ground. You bought it because you know there is a limited supply of ground. You don't have the time, money, and/or inclination to build anything on it - so it sits. Vacant.

Should I be able to force you to give me your vacant land so I can build a shopping center on it?

Sorry you're having a bad day. Maybe I should have agreed with you just to make you feel better :)

[brotherhood of LAN]

hehe Mardi

better not mention the "how many domains do you own" thread ;)

[Mardi_Gras]

LOL, BOL :)

[Lisa]

> Use it or lose it.

Good point. But if they don't use it they often do lose it. Last time I checked over 2 million domains became available just this year.

If a person holds 1,000 domains. They pay a minimum of $6,000 for all those domains yearly! So they ARE losing by holding. They are losing money. Natural attrition will make people lose those domains. Trust me, the crappy names drop like rocks on renewal time. But you are most likely interested in a good name. Either fork over the money or wait several years for a slip up. (But a professional will not slip up).

[EliteWeb]

I try to put all my domains to use even if I dont have the time to pay attention to it. Even some that exist dont have public index pages but hidden is the site just not ready for launch for some reason or another :)~

[mivox]

Should I be able to force you to give me your vacant land so I can build a shopping center on it?

<devil's advocate>
Vacant land has intrinsic value of it's own (ie: greenery improves air quality, and is more scenic than a parking lot, and gives animals somewhere to live, etc.). Unused domain names have no intrinsic value.
</devil's advocate>

That said, I have quite a few unused domains myself. Hehe. Making me give them away amounts to punishment for procrastination... I'll start lobbying for procrastinators' rights, and sue you for infringing on them! ;)

[Mardi_Gras]

That said, I have quite a few unused domains myself

And since they have no intrinsic value, Shanz can have them? :)

I suspect that like Mivox, we are all on both sides of this argument - we all want those "other guys" to give up their domains! So they can be held by someone who really apreciates them - us! :)

[toadhall]

> be able to force you to give me your vacant land

It's not unprecedented. The Homestead Act "forced" the land recipient to build on the land awarded them. If not, the land was forfeited, returned to the jar for someone else more enterprising. It was designed to discourage excessive land speculation and to put the land into production, as well as to give the little guy a leg up. Similar pattern here it could be argued. Not me though. I don't argue anymore. ;)

[mivox]

> be able to force you to give me your vacant land
It's not unprecedented. The Homestead Act "forced" the land recipient to build on the land

There are also numerous legal precedents throughout the US for "squatters' rights," wherein if you occupy and use land for a certain period of time without the current titleholder stopping you, you can apply for title to it.

But, you can use someone else's land without owning it... Lucky for people like me, you can't use a domain without the owner's cooperation. ;) Procrastinators' Rights! lol

[shanz]

Good Chat from the above.

I too have many extra domain names. I would be prepared to lose them if I felt in the long run I would be able to purchase new ones that I needed (Different from wanted) more easily.

Shanz :)

P.S. How do you do the Winking face?

[toadhall]

semi-colon + close parenthesis = ;)
colon + close parenthesis = :)
colon + lowercase o = :o
colon + open parenthesis = :(

wink wink nudge nudge say no more

More here [webmasterworld.com].

[JamesR]

I would think some just let them site in order to protect a pre-existing site. Maybe I build a shopping mall and let the land around within 6 square blocks lie vacant so competitor X doesn't build a mall next to mine.

[dcheney]

I guess I see it as a fairly straight forward issue. If you buy it - its yours. Whether you use it or not - its still yours.

[Axacta]

Or maybe an endangered dung beetle is found on your land, and the government forbids you from ever developing it. (I'd put a smiley-face here, but I feel too bad for people this has actually happened to!)

[mivox]

AFAIK, nobody has ever bought a domain and then been barred from developing it... People have had domains taken away because of trademark or copyright infringement, but no agancy has ever said "this domain is barred from development by any party at any time" that I know of.

[Axacta]

>People have had domains taken away because of trademark or copyright infringement, but no agancy has ever said "this domain is barred from development by any party at any time"<

If it happened to your domain name, the end result is the same either way.

[AlbinoRhyno]

I think an argument can be made that domain names should be more likened to DBA's, or company names. One company, e.g. Microsoft, shouldn't be allowed to register 10,000 company names which disallow any upstart to use them. Just because they probably plan to spin off division x in ten years doesn't mean they should be able to own the new company name.

Hopefully there will be a better process than now when Internet2 comes out...