I hate web squatters!
As usual I have lots of big plans. One of them as I mentioned before is to revamp my site. One thing I dislike about my site now is how long the url is. At eleven characters, in my opinon its pretty bloated and unreadable, especially when you want to send me an email. So, I’ve been wracking my brain trying to come up with something that personifies myself without being too literal.
Web designers and non designers alike can relate to this. I came up with a name I really liked, went to register it, and it was taken. Tried another one, taken. Another, taken, and so on. It’s gotten to the point where instead of playing World of Warcraft, (I know. I’m a nerd.) I’d sit here for hours trying to register a good name. I don’t mind if the domain is taken by a legitimate company, but when it’s taken by a “web squatter” it’s a whole different story.
A web squatter is someone who just buys up any domain they can possibly think of. Some even have programs which list out every single, say three letter word. They then either put it on one of those stock photography-strewn god-awful sites, such as this one. I guess they think you won’t notice your typo just landed you in a pit of web scum. Even worse, others simply mark the price up 3000% and resell it to make a profit.
I guess they think you won’t notice your typo just landed you in a pit of web scum.
At any rate, I finally found a domain name that was not taken, and actually fits me quite nicely, and is only seven characters. So, I finally got a domain name, now, on to kuler for color scheme goodness!
I really like your domain name. I bet you’ll never guess how I found it though!
Hmmmmmm… not sure..
I can relate. I had a site I wanted to develop and wanted to use a very simple url. A squatter had it and when I emailed about buying it from them….no response of course. BUT if I was a large company they would have engaged me in an instant. Long story short, I had to settle for a different URL and it’s ok, but I’d rather the more simpler one. I also stopped bothering to develop the site cause I figured no one would really find it…it’s a shame these assholes have to take up all the domains for no reason.
Here’s an idea.. there should be a rule that if you have a domain but don’t use it after six or so months, or do not generate any traffic, that domain should be revoked and the money refunded, so real web designers can put it to use.
I used to hate them too, until a few years had passed and my own ideas had been left unfulfilled. Now I have a few of those parked domains. They are little beacons of hope in my domain name registrar’s control panel. So remember, the next time you see an autogenerated search page, for example on http://www.joafa.com, what it means to me.
Note to self for future: fewer characters does not necessarily mean a better domain name.
Hey, Danny. Maybe if u came up with a site that did well, you wouldn’t have to squat to make money. I don’t feel pity for you. Who said having a smaller name made it better? It’s just easier for people to remember/more catchy.
Note to self for future: This guys site is designed by him from scratch and he actually knows what he’s doing…..I don’t think he needs your pointers since his dreams/ideas aren’t unfulfilled. ;]