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Comment by productceo | Hacker News Reader

Programmatic land grabs like this is why people today must suffer from lack of remaining .com domain names.

Nothing wrong with the writer of this post. I think this is a rational behavior that should be considered "expected". Whoever designed domain name registration/ownership model is to blame for failing to create a system which can efficiently give right domain names to people who actually need them and can use them for good (aka actually hosting businesses or contents instead of scalping).

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Some newer TLDs like .dev or .app have a tiered pricing structure. So it becomes less economically feasible to squat the best names. They also released them in stages when the TLD first went live.

This guy (https://medium.com/@amd_2793/my-million-dollar-domain-hobby-...) actually used Google's rankings of domain value from .app to then squat domains on two other flat priced TLDs - io and ai!

Realistically this problem will never be solved while we only support fixed domain extensions and act like some are more legit than others. Like what gives DNS providers the right to say what's a valid extension or not? Just support any string ffs.

Not to mention the country restricted ones that you can only get if you're a resident, like bruh.

There are pros to the current system.

That said, part of the issue you flag is just perception. It's like going with a financial services firm that has a Wall Street or "Fifth Avenue" address in New York City versus a firm that has an address in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Both might be fine but we often attach significance to an address (even if its just a mailbox).

To your last point, I think its ultimately good that (many) Country restricted TLDs have geographic restrictions.

OP says you want .com

What's wrong with .org?

Nothing inherently, it doesn't have the “full of spammers” stigma of .xyz and so forth, though some seem to think it inherently means non-profit/non-commercial (sort of true, it was defined as for organisations not fitting in other tlds where .com was one of those and intended for commercial use) and think .com therefor looks more serious.

Also: if you take the .org and the .com is already in use, be ready to have the name taken off you if they get successful, or for some of your users to mistakenly go to the wrong place. To avoid one of those things happening later if the .com is available now you could buy both, but then the availability of the .com becomes the deciding factor again not the .org and you are paying for two domains.

i see, thanks

The inability to find any available domain names was one of the primary reasons for us to create Mashword. (https://mashword.com) You can enter the name you are looking for and it will quickly suggest similarly spelled or sounding names to the one you entered.

Domains should cost $500/yr

Some years afterward:

"Human-readable domains should not be the sole province of the rich! Sign the petition at, *sigh*, c12a:d1e0:ae77:dff5:2260:c017:26a9:b447"

.ai costs $70 a year and that seems to be enough to keep most squatting from happening. Some available domains:

thirty.ai topsy.ai hierarch.ai bisect.ai branching.ai saline.ai spume.ai cadr.ai

I'm sure using the dictionary method you could find a ton more.

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