What's your general opinion about Domain Parking?

Asked by makemo (531

) April 20th, 2008

Some weeks ago, I ran into this major bummer.

Please, skip what’s within the—- block below, if you prefer not reading lengthy messages.

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I was plotting out a whole, nice Web 2.0 concept idea, about a website that should act as a one-stop place for gathering information about all (I mean ALL) of the available apps in specific categories. Som that when someone are to buy a FTP client, for example, the service would provide a list (nicely laid out in a horizontal line) of all there is (really, ALL there is) in the specific genre.

Adding to that, there should also be a function on the website, where the community gets to vote thumbs up or down on an app, once each time the app gets updated or something like that. There more they vote, the higher their chances of winning free software would be (or some kind of similarly rewarding incentive system that gets people to vote for the apps). And finally, the standings between the competitor apps should be raised and lowered all in realtime, so that you could watch the statistics and follow them closely after each program updates.
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Now. I came up with a website domain name that I was totally super happy with, and it was also available at .com (which is often the only tld I’m interested in):

http://www.appcharts.com

I was just about to purchase the address, when I realized I had to wait a few days until my salary came in (as I was absolutely broke). Went to my parents one week over Easter and when I came back home, I was about to register the site, when I found that somebody had just snatched it when I was gone and parked it “free courtesy of GoDaddy’s”...

Whether the current owner is going to do the very same thing as my idea, appcharts (read background above), is left to be seen. (For all I know, that would be totally weird, really… someone reading my mind).

But, the actual purpose for this posting, is to find out what you fellows think about this phenomena of parking domains and never do anything with em, but wait for an opportunity to sell them, expensive as hell. Personally, I think it’s detrimental to the ambitions of decent people who honestly want to acquire web domains in order to actually DO something with them.

I’m also curious to know, if anyone knows anything about people being able to sniff out, when somebody makes a whois check to see if a website it free to register, in which case they try to buy it before you?

Also, it says on GoDaddy, on the appcharts site above, that it’s “parked free” courtesy of GoDaddy.com… what does that really mean?

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5 Answers

Just a thought: have you tried contacting them to see what they’re after?

As for a general opinion, I agree, it’s counter-productive to stifle development for an opportunity to make a relatively small sum of money (noone really gets rich on these things since the groups that could afford a high price can also afford a legal team to claim their right to the name).

wildflower (11172

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@wildflower Nope, I haven’t approached the owners. I might have to add, that, in this scenario, there might be a serious owner who managed to just get the site before me, and who wants to do something ‘real’. (Because in this case I at least managed to track down the owner, which seems to be http://www.webstepone.com .) But anyway…

makemo (531

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Parked-free means that the owner hasnt set up a web site yet. So go-daddy displays ads as a placeholder for the domain and the owner gets a portion of this ad revenue.

As for the act of domain parking itself, I think its totally cool. I own about 13 domains. I havent found a use for all of them. So I park them for free. Its not immoral or anything. Yes some people will register a domain to sell it later for more money (domains are a really good investment). But there are also others like me who plan to use domains in the future for some reason or another. Like you, I have learnt the hard way that someone will register a domain if you wait (i was supposed to register mirza.com after coming home from work – but it was too late).

I dont think its possible to see who else have looked up a domain to register. I doubt if any site would make that information available.

Lastly, heres a word of advice: If you see a domain thats available register it as soon as you see it. Even if you dont have the money, you can always stretch your credit card and spend that $10 or $2 (through a yahoo promotion that i am abusing) on that domain that you want.

PS> appcha.com, appchar.com, appchartz.com, chartapp.com is still available.

mirza (5057

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GUYS…i have been using Skenzo’s domain parking platform and have parked all my Major Money making domains their. I always found that they co-ordinates with me in an more professional manner(might be there are exceptions in your case).....And the most important factor is all those domains are making good money relatively. If you don’t believe me check their services here:

http://www.skenzo.com/products/domain-parking-platform/

rajiwebstar (6

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Well I guess, if you can’t beat em, join em…

Too bad there ain’t restrictions saying, if you don’t utilize a website’s address in a practical manner, you have to let it go.

This is essentially the same as buying houses in attractive areas, or better yet, attractive parking lots in a city, etc., without having them put to use, just waiting out for the big sharks to take a bite… In my opinion, an unfortunate aspect of capitalism.

makemo (531

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