

Domains – use it or lose it - Guustaaf

If a domain is not used for an actual website for three months it is automatically unregistered. How could this be done with software?
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informatimago
The only person who can know whether the domain is "used" for an actual web
site, is the owner of the domain.

The reason why, is because you have to define what "used" means.

Only the owner of the domain can set up a public DNS entry for that domain.
But he can also set up a private DNS entry for that domain, or a public DNS
entry with a private IP address.

For example, lassell.lan.informatimago.com is a public DNS entry, with a
private IP address. Can you know whether there's an actual website on this
domain?

Then of course, you would have to know what an actual web site is! Is
[http://hubble.informatimago.com:8117](http://hubble.informatimago.com:8117)
an actual website?

What if I activated the web server only for 2 seconds after receiving a
specific packet on a specific port?

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elmerfud
What is an actual website, and in your mind are domains only ever used for
websites?

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coreyp_1
Part of ownership is, in fact, the ability to _not_ use it, if you so desire.

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TheDom
In this case, yes. However, if you own land you are often required to build
something on there within a certain period. (At least in Austria.)

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Guustaaf
If a domain shows a generic landing page like this one
[http://www.domainlandingpage.com/](http://www.domainlandingpage.com/) then
you know it is not being used but people are just keeping it so they can sell
it to someone who actually wants to use it. I guess the question would then
be: how can you detect if a domain is just being parked.

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stevekemp
It might be being used for email rather than website hosting. I have a few
websites with only MX records, and one domain registered which only has a
bunch of SRV records in DNS.

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bramgg
> If a domain is not used for an actual website for three months it is
> automatically unregistered. How could this be done with software?

It can't. Are you really suggesting releasing other people's domains "with
software"?

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c22
Learn about cron, ping, whois, nslookup and shell scripting. Just type these
phrases into google and start reading.

~~~
c22
For the record, I honestly believe an investigation into these topics by the
OP could result in a real solution to their actual problem. It certainly seems
more productive than identifying edge cases of what was probably a poorly
phrased question.

