_i5ek

I mean, I suppose you're not wrong.

I want to continue this conversation because it is actually of interest to me, and you seem equally as passionate.

Let's find some common ground first. I get really annoyed when I am domain hunting for a service/app idea and the domain is not in use, has never been (from what I can tell) and has a huge 'BUY THIS DOMAIN' banner waving about. So then it's up to me to determine how badly I want it, and if I want to participate in the ecosystem that is domain name resale. I think we can agree on that.

I don't, however feel like I'm entitled to it just because I may have a better use case for the domain. At risk of being too analogous, I'll take the example x.com. I would love to own x.com and I believe my business 'X Industries' would greatly benefit from having it, and a room full of people could probably agree that my use case would be better than what the domain has served for most of it's life (a 200HTTP status and an 'x'). What is the solution?

Is stricter domain regulation the key? And if so, how do we backstep that to the creation of DNS and domain registration? On top of that, who enforces it? The US, or some other neutral entity? I think you know where I'm going here. I guess rather than saying collecting/squatting/holding is bad, and people are entitled to domains they can put to use, what do you imagine in the perfect domain market?

You also mention 'online version of a real-life identity'. Do you imagine this extends to account handles on Twitter, Instagram, et al? If I own username.com, and someone else owns @username, is that similarly an issue?

You’re really going to compare domains with their near infinite options in both Tld and address characters to a seat on public transportation and affordable housing? I’m just embarrassed for the argument at this point.

Between the HN attitude shift and this article being flagged (maybe if I linked to a medium article it would be fine. /s) maybe this community isn’t for me anymore.

Honest question, why should I worry about adding value to a market which I'm not actively pursuing?

I'm a developer and buy domains on whims of various service/fun ideas. I've been interested in domains since early highschool and collecting them is a hobby of mine which has happened to earn me some money from people reaching out to me.

I don't quite understand your question, but I'll take a stab at it. When art prints are limited to 1 of 10, does it mean the 11th person is SOL? I'd say yes, unless one of the 10 relinquishes ownership in one way or another.

What am I actually doing to make your life painful? Let's say I collect beanie babies because I really just like them. I'm not in control of the market supply or demand, so when someone wants to approach me with a $10k offer for my Princess Dianna 1st edition, sudden;y I'm the bad guy for displaying it on my shelf?

It's personally prized because I've been a domain geek since I knew what domains were. No inferred value to anyone else.