Ask HN: How would you force scarcity on a distributed DNS alternative?

[adrianpike]

I've been thinking a lot lately about the things that are broken with our current domain name system, and if there's any way we can build something that's truly decentralized.

The big thing I can't wrap my head around is how to build in some sort of scarcity without central control - how do we keep the botnets and domain squatters at bay?

A proof-of-work system similar to Bitcoin's is an interesting option, but it's weighted heavily towards the rich - is there anything better?

[bensonk]

A proof-of-networking system, wherein individuals get reputation points for spending more time connected to the system (with some sort of underlying system ping) might work. As an individual node spends more time connected, it gains reputation, and that reputation can be given to other individuals used to "purchase" a domain. Of course this his horribly weighted toward owners of botnets, so I'm not sure it's really worth anything.