Grrr Domain names!

Amp34 · 15 Jun 2007 at 16:59

Am I the only one that finds most of the domain names I like are taken? Although annoying it's not that that really annoys me, its the fact that most of them either lead to blank pages or are those stupid holder pages that try and sell you stuff. :mad:

Anyone else have this problem?

(sorry for the ramble but I just had to release a bit of steam!)

RandomTom · 15 Jun 2007 at 17:07

I'll add to this I wanted to buy the domain for my name at .co.uk and at the start of the year noticed it ran out in May from it's current owner of 2 years who has left it at a landing page with absolutely nothing there; and he still renewed it but has not used it at all!

monkeysmith · 15 Jun 2007 at 17:12

If its a .co.uk, complain to nominet that they are domain parking or whatever its called. Might get it released then.

Vulcan · 15 Jun 2007 at 17:35

monkeysmith said:
If its a .co.uk, complain to nominet that they are domain parking or whatever its called. Might get it released then.

Domain squatting.

I'll doubt you'll get very far with complaining, ICANN etc just don't care.

Zaphan58 · 15 Jun 2007 at 17:43

I wanted myname.co.uk but it was taken I noticed my-name.co.uk was not by the time I got round to registering it someone registered it. :mad:

I ended up with myname.me.uk which is ok I guess.

Teaf · 15 Jun 2007 at 17:48

Took me ages to pick a domain name I liked a while back, think I spent days on it as everything I wanted for a .com address was already taken. Personally I think, after looking at the names taken, that pretty much everything that has 4 or less letters in the name on a .com address, such as "rfge" has been registered.

To be honest, I think if the domain has been completely dormant for a year they should just automatically release it and let other people buy the name, sick of companies that register everything possible just to sell it on at stupidly high prices.

Shoseki · 15 Jun 2007 at 18:32

I love mine : flashygraphics.co.uk ^^ I picked it a while ago, originally I wanted something with fractal in it but unfortunately all taken

Shame my website is crap and doesn't offer any service, but hey...

EDIT : I also own myfriendisa.com but haven't decided what to do with it yet, bought it because I was bored... was gonna make a website where you could **** off your mates

stoofa · 15 Jun 2007 at 20:18

monkeysmith said:
If its a .co.uk, complain to nominet that they are domain parking or whatever its called. Might get it released then.

Why?
Why should you, the OP or anybody else deserve to have the domain more than the current owner even if he/she appears to be doing nothing with it?
Quite rightly so "complaining" to Nominet will do nothing as they will tell you what I'll say:

Domains always have been sold on a first come first served basis.
You have no grounds for complaint unless the domain infringes copyright or company branding.

So somebody decided to register the good names and sit on them - painfull though it is this is NOT squatting.
Squatting is when somebody buys a domain with the only reason to hold it to ransom from somebody else.
There is nothing wrong with buying a domain and simply sitting on it - because at the end of the day if somebody really wants it they will pay for it.

Also remember that a domain with no website in no way indicates that the domain is not being used.
I have loads of domain names, many that wont resolve to a website but I'm using them for e-mail, FTP or NS.

stoofa · 15 Jun 2007 at 20:20

Longbow said:
Domain squatting.

I'll doubt you'll get very far with complaining, ICANN etc just don't care.

Well you wouldn't complain to ICANN about a co.uk anyway.
ICANN don't care because their terms & conditions are quite clear.
Just buying a domain name and not using it is certainly not against the T&C's.

Beansprout · 15 Jun 2007 at 20:22

Just because a domain is showing a boring/blank page on the interweb doesn't mean it's un-used

For example it could be just for e-mail, for example

Those holding pages are annoying, though :/

Vulcan · 15 Jun 2007 at 23:14

flibby said:
... pretty much everything that has 4 or less letters in the name on a .com address, such as "rfge" has been registered.

To be honest, I think if the domain has been completely dormant for a year they should just automatically release it ...

Yeah, just to confirm that all 4 figure .com's have been sold already, and sell for several hundred each, even if it's random letters.

The second point, there's no way to tell if domains are dormant, only the hosting companies will know.