unscrupolous use of the internet

[Thunderchild]

I just checked to see if a domain name is available as a charity I help are thinking of starting a website. the ideal name being the charity's initials is taken.... by a flipping domain reseller, so the actual address has a page of adverts saying the name is up for sale and links to their main site where where they want my name and telephone number and email address (to sell to spammers ?) so get a price quote that they recon is usually a minimum of 600 + $. who the heck are these people trying to kid. as far as I am concerned companies that do this are very unscrupulous (it would help if their own scanty web site would even work !) and should be regulated, sure you can buy as many and any domain name you want but the way this works is just nasty, isn't there any body at all that regulates the internet ? they say that in 3 years we will run out of names (because each name has an underlying address number and there are a limited amount of numbers) no wonder what with these cowboys and all the viagra websites we get spam from.

[vehelpfulguy]

I have often felt it is bad that anyone can set up a web site with the name "nike" or whatever.

In the same way you can protect a comapny name or image you should also be able to protect a web site name.

Problem is of course, even if you protect the name "nike" someone could then set up a web site for "nikeshoes" or whatever so it is very difficult.

The other problem is who in the world owns the name ?

There may be a company in the USA called "slap" and a company in the uk called "slap" so who gets to have the "slap.com" domain.

Remember the row between World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and World Wrestling Federation (WWF), that went through the courts.

It is a diffcult one.

[Thunderchild]

well I'm talking more of where companies buy domain names in bulk and cheap purely to freeze them and resell them at ridiculous prices, I help the wellingborough talking newspaper (WTN) so obviously the best address and easiest for people to remember is WTN well thats taken and firsth they want all my contact details then they will quote me a ridicolous price, very few people would want a wtn.org but never the less its not available for a very legitimate cause, I have instead bought W-T-N.org and in a hurry in case that too is frozen purely for huge profits, this way of doing it should just not be allowed

[vehelpfulguy]

Surely a better name is the 3 letters with a "the" in front:

thewtn

The Football Association could not get "FA" so they are now the thefa

http://www.thefa.com/default.aspx

[squarebear]

I believe that EVERY combination of three letters has been taken.

[Thunderchild]

yes and guess who took them ? after all they are popular acronyms and these b@stards buy them in bulk for penuts and resell them for 10X plus their value its something that should be stopped. its a bit like i walk into a supermarket and buy up all the cornflakes they have till none are left and then stand in front of the same supermarkets door selling them to people for 10X the supermarket price

so for someones huge profit a charity will have to make do with a domain name that is not as easy to remember as the obvious one

[vehelpfulguy]

>its a bit like i walk into a supermarket and buy up all the >cornflakes they have till none are left and then stand in >front of the same supermarkets door selling them to >people for 10X the supermarket price

But surely that is capitalism.

Some people dig up say diamonds or gold, lock most of it away in banks and drip feed some if it out bit by bit.

Much of the current credit crunch is caused by bankers in tall towers buying stuff they dont need with money they have not got just to corner the market and drive up the price.

I am not saying I agree with it (far from it) but that is what makes the world go round.

[vehelpfulguy]

Take say Microsoft.

Over the years they have written Windows and the computer industry reached the stage where almost every PC that was sold had Windows on it.

While you can buy a Mac, or say Linux, most ordinary users are "forced" to buy a PC with Windows on it.

So this is a bit like your analogy of buying all the cornflakes at the supermarket and then selling them at 10x the profit.

If people REALLY want the cornflakes they have to pay the price (or buy something else)

As I say, like it or not, that is capitalism.

It can be abused (and often is) but the whole world works on that basis.

[Thunderchild]

vehelpful guy like you say its how the world works and like you also say its the reason we are in a mess so I say isn't it time to make things fairer ?

[Thunderchild]

and of course you find it ok that the company will not actually give you a price until you have given them your email address and you phone number so that OBVIOUSLY theyt can spam you and sell your information to spammers if you think thats fine you are sad

[Thunderchild]

the way you talk tour one of those that makes it unfair !

[gerbra]

Yes. It is really a very bad fact that all the good domain names have been already taken. Especially you could not find a short lettered domain name available for registration. But yes all the registered domain names are not been used. Most of them are kept parked for sale. This is what domain trading is. You cannot do anything if your desired domain name have already been taken. But you can contact them domain name owner for a bargain of he or she wishes to sell it. You can get the contact details of a domain name owner by having a whois lookup at Good luck.

[gerbra]

Yes. It is really a very bad fact that all the good domain names have been already taken. Especially you could not find a short lettered domain name available for registration. But yes all the registered domain names are not been used. Most of them are kept parked for sale. This is what domain trading is. You cannot do anything if your desired domain name have already been taken. But you can contact them domain name owner for a bargain of he or she wishes to sell it. You can get the contact details of a domain name owner by having a whois lookup at http://www.whoisxy.com/ Good luck.