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Comment by masterzora | Hacker News Reader

How do you define "online service creation"? Does my personal blog qualify? What about the period of time where I didn't serve anything to the web but was using my server to run a personal email & jabber server? What about the time where I didn't even do that and was using my server as a remote shell for me and a couple friends? What about when I was running it just for me?

Should it matter that nobody else should have any interest in masterzora.net since I've (almost; there are a couple silly outliers) uniquely held that handle for over a decade?

Every "simple" solution I've heard for the squatter problem is only simple because it's focusing on a simple case.

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Every "simple" solution I've heard for the squatter problem is only simple because it's focusing on a simple case.

Yes, but more sophisticated solutions will gradually be put in place to consider most cases. Think of it sort of like the App Store approval process but for .com domain registrations. Every domain suffix could be reserved for a particular sort of online category. Dot com domains would be reserved for businesses, while .net could be reserved for personal server projects, .me domains for blogs, etc. Obviously, there are going to be other things to consider, but with gradual adjustments, I'm sure the system would be much more suitable to entrepreneurship than it is right now.

Everything to do with http://beerhallsofmunich.com/ is squatting. It could be a case study. Incidentally, I bought that to test a system and I will happily transfer it for free to anyone willing to blog/sell teeshirts/whatever about beerhalls in Muenchen.

(oh and the ads are default provided by the registrar - please don't click on them!)

Not to mention the problem of who regulates and monitors. Conflicting interests in the same domain? It's such a complex mess, these simple solutions don't even begin to grasp at understanding the system.

It's such a complex mess, these simple solutions don't even begin to grasp at understanding the system.

Just because it's complex doesn't mean we can't work towards trying to solve or improve this issue. We can either try to improve it for entrepreneurs and users, or allow it to continue to work in the best interest of sitting squatters.

Domain squatting is a specific term, it means someone who registers in bad faith to infringe on another company's trademark. Let's be clear about that.

Perhaps the system is already optimized for capitalism and entrepreneurship. There are plenty of domains available for next to nothing. Better ones that others have already come up with will cost more. This means that only better financed companies can afford them. Thus, better names go to better companies (in general). Bad companies fail and disappear and a less valuable domain was taken in the process and is now weeded out.

Of course, with all these 'noble' goals of helping users and entrepreneurs, drawing actual concrete lines anywhere is virtually impossible. When actually trying to tackle this problem, you realize it's at an equilibrium (albeit a low level one).

Domain squatting is a specific term, it means someone who registers in bad faith to infringe on another company's trademark. Let's be clear about that.

Yes, the bad faith intent is the major issue we are trying to deter. There are way too many domain squatters who buy domains solely with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of an entrepreneur looking to create a service for the public. This is the fundamental issue at hand.

This right is why I don't see a constructive solution ever coming from you. Buying something with intent to profit is bad faith. That's bullshit, plain and simple. We live in a capitalist society. We buy things with the intent to profit all the time. That's what our whole society is BUILT ON. We spend money on labor and capital in hopes of earning a greater return.

You twist this idea by saying someone has registered it with the bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of an entrepreneur looking to create a service. Goodwill doesn't exist until it is created. It's been show time and time again that you cannot buy something in bad faith before something exists. That's just not possible. How can you simply assume it's blocking something to be created for the public as well? You make way too many broad and wrong assumptions to try and reach a conclusion you simply want for your own selfish reasons disguised as a greater good.

Don't take this the wrong way, I actually appreciate the dialogue you and I are having. I like debating with an opposing view in order to bring more issues to the surface. My argument is that domain squatters provide very little value in comparison to potential alternative users of that domain. That's the thing, a domain squatter's sole intention is to profit from buying and reselling domains, while a startup's intention is to profit by creating external value through a service utilizing that domain.

Most domainers I know also plan on creating services on their domains. Why does anyone else have a more legitimate right to want to build something on a domain name? What if I own cats.com and just want to put a picture of my cat fuzzy wuzzy? Why shouldnt I be allowed if I registered it first or paid for it? What if your startup isnt making any/much money and mine is and we're doing the same thing. Do I have more rights to that name than you?

What if I own cats.com and just want to put a picture of my cat fuzzy wuzzy?

I'm sure a .meow domain would suit your personal purposes just fine. A .com, however, would be better suited for commercial purposes if you intend to profit off of your fuzzy wuzzy photos.

You're really not worth it anymore. You're reaching for ridiculous arguments about how something was originally planned over two decades ago. Things changed, you can't realistically regress to some original purpose when it is outdated. Sorry. You're wrong.

Okay, we can agree to disagree my friend.

> That's the thing, a domain squatter's sole intention is to profit from buying and reselling domains, while a startup's intention is to profit by creating external value through a service utilizing that domain.

This is my problem with your solution. It seems to think that there are only two groups registering domains: squatters and startups. Even if we expand "startups" to "companies", this is clearly bullshit.

It seems to think that there are only two groups registering domains: squatters and startups. Even if we expand "startups" to "companies", this is clearly bullshit.

When speaking of startups/companies registering domains I clearly stated that they would be reserved .coms, for commercial organizations. This was actually their original intended purpose until they were open for unrestricted registration:

The domain name com is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from commercial,[1] indicating its original intended purpose for domains registered by commercial organizations. However eventually the distinction was lost when .com, .org and .net were opened for unrestricted registration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.com

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