

Today I created a site where you can post your unused domain names - idling
http://www.idlingdomains.com
Feedback appreciated
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PanMan
Nice idea, but the redirect step is annoying: to do a redirect I first have to
setup hosting myself. I'd rather point my dns at your IP, if I wanted to
participate.

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consultutah
You shouldn't have to. Your registrar should allow you to do "domain
forwarding" without setting up hosting.

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greyfade
Some registrars charge for the privilege. I know two of mine do.

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consultutah
I'd say it's time to switch. ;-)

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snitko
If you don't want this to turn into a marketplace for squatters, you should
really set some ground rules. For example, you may say that people can't post
domain names that they're selling for more than $100. That's just one thing,
there are probably others that could help this website not turn into a trash
collector.

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briansmith
That kind of policy only helps the squatters. If you set a $100 maximum then
you'd just get squatters buying them all for $100 and reselling them for much,
much more. There's not much difference in paying $100 for something and paying
$10 for something, if you're going to sell it for $10,000 or $100,000.

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ohashi
I've made a living buying and selling domain names and 100$ is a fine price in
many cases. I've had days where I've registered 100+ names... if I could get
decent liquidity at $100/each, I would be a happy man.

Anyways, about the idea, one of two outcomes is possible:

1\. If they domain is worth more than threshold, someone will buy it and take
advantage. I don't see a difference of a startup benefiting versus someone
else reselling it. the difference in value is still being captured.

2\. Garbage names, nobody cares and the site dies.

I know I am not the only domain investor reading HN and if there is quality,
someone will buy them.

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Jake541
Isn't this squatting? Correct me if I'm wrong.

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ohashi
Squatting is infringing other people's trademarks. If I bought micros0ft.com
and covered it in software ads, that would be squatting.

If I bought hotels.com and planned to sell it for money to a big hotel chain
or something, I've not infringed anyone's rights. Generic/descriptive names
are _normally_ OK.

of course if there is a company using the generic for a non-generic purpose
and I grab a typo/another extension and use their non-descriptive purpose,
that is also squatting. For example, if I owned amazon.net and tried to sell
books that would infringe on amazon. Or if I bought apple.net and sold
computers. However, if I advertised amazon rain forest trips or sold apples
that would be ok (not squatting).

Of course, lots of money and lawyers can change what is and isn't right
(checkout nissan.com)

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Kilimanjaro
I've been cooking that idea the whole week. Here is what I'd do to improve it:

\- Get a reseller deal with godaddy so you can sell domains and get some extra
cash to keep the business going from day one.

\- Divide the screen in two sections: one to auction domains, the other one to
ask for domains based on a business idea.

\- So if I want to start a business about toys, I can poll the audience for
toy related domains. People make money, you make money, the user gets
satisfaction.

\- Spice up the auctions. We all know auctions on ebay get hot in the last
minutes only, so set up the auctions to last just two minutes and use the
latest websocket technology to broadcast the auction in real time.

If you are interested in a partner, or if anybody wants to set up such a
business, let me know by replying here.

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Revisor
What's the purpose? How is this any different from parking the domain (apart
from not earning any money)? Or is this meant as a domain marketplace, only
for low price? That's a new idea! Oh wait...

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jarin
Added apidoc.info, boof.me, methodize.me, projectify.me, and tweetsoncrack.com
(yeah I went on a little bit of a .me domain buying spree when they came out).
Just waiting for DNS to update now.

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mukyu
Why not let <http://freedns.afraid.org/> use them?

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idling
You can do that too.

The idea with this project is when you're hunting for domains, it's a nice
list of leads for domains that developers might be willing to sell / swap /
donate for the right project.

Also, I would feel bad if people on freedns started using my domain and I
wanted to take back my domain to use for a project.

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kunley
Cool idea. It's also refreshing that site doesn't require user creation, for
obvious reasons.

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mattculbreth
Ok I've got 3 domains on there:

SocialBenchmarks.com

convomaker.com

findati.me

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consultutah
Nice idea. I'll try to list a few later tonight.

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consultutah
OK, got most of them added. I'll let you know if anything comes of it...

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idling
Awesome, thanks.

