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They stole my name
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:20 pm
by superdezign
One day, I was looking for a domain name for the blog I'm programming. I had become quite attached with "lw.net," but it turns out that it's taken! I went to lw.net and it didn't exist. I was overjoyed and began designing the logo instantly.
Now, once I decide that I'm ready to register, it doesn't go through. Frustrated, I try it again, and it doesn't come up. Then, I typed in '
www.' before lw.net.
Lo and behold, there the ugly website was. Their company name is the Kudelski Group, and the logo is "NAGRA." Where the "lw" in that???
I'm royally angry at this and have learned a lesson about not typing "www" for websites that may be owned by developers that dont know how to make their site accessible without it. So many wasted domain names out there... And they had to take mine.
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:44 pm
by impulse()
A similar thing happened to me but I lost money due to it
I'm not sure if you're aware of a soap called Eastenders in Britain? Anyway, one storyline was of a kid was going to rig his dads house with camera and then charge for the viewing on the internet. He said a few domain names out loud, one being watchagrownmanrot.com. Instantly I did a whois on the domain and it wasn't registered and by the time it took me to load a registration page and fill it out at 17,000 keystrokes per hour it had already been taken by somebody else. A couple of days later it just turned into a advertisment website.
Either way I checked back to the domain a few months later and the BBC (the company that run the soap) had put a website on there. I'm sure I could've made a couple of thousand GBP from the BBC wanting to buy that domain. Eastenders, incase you haven't heard of it, is a VERY popular show in the UK.
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:53 pm
by superdezign
Ack. Maybe I should get into scamming. :-p
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 6:40 pm
by RobertGonzalez
Isn't that something like Conan O'Brien's hornymanatee.com slip up? He accidentally mentioned it on the air one day and the execs at NBC were forced by their legal department to go out and buy the name so that they couldn't be accused of endorsing a site that wasn't theirs. Since then, NBC has actually built a site on that domain and use it for all sorts of God knows what.
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 11:40 pm
by Benjamin
Everah wrote:Isn't that something like Conan O'Brien's hornymanatee.com slip up? He accidentally mentioned it on the air one day and the execs at NBC were forced by their legal department to go out and buy the name so that they couldn't be accused of endorsing a site that wasn't theirs. Since then, NBC has actually built a site on that domain and use it for all sorts of God knows what.
This comment contradicts the comment made by superdezign in that they both mention a domain name being mentioned on the air, one purchased by the studio after the fact, and another purchased before others could react.
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 5:13 pm
by Ambush Commander
As a general rule of thumb, you are not going to get any domains three letters or less; five letters for dot com. Always conduct a whois: the domain may be active but pointing to an inactive server.
And, of course, kill all domain squatters!
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 6:49 pm
by superdezign
There need to be some kind of law against those "parked an unused" websites staying that way for too long. It sooo makes me angry.
I spent a good six hours coming up with my new domain name and, because if it, I had to re-design my entire blog to fit the new title. If course, it's
still sexy. :-p
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 11:18 pm
by Trenchant
I have to agree. Domain Squater's or advertisement portals should be illegal. They hinder developement.
I went to register a new company. Did a bunch of research on domain names. A few hours before I purchased the one I wanted an advertisement portal had bought it.
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:49 am
by timvw
Make sure to use a decent whois tool... Many squatters allow you to do a whois on their site(s).. And when the hostname doesn't exit they silently purchase it....
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 10:53 am
by superdezign
*Gasp*
Do you think DomainTools does that??
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 11:38 am
by timvw
There's only one way to find out...

(Make something up that doesn't exist, verify if it exists, and wait a couple of days... Does it exist now?)
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 12:00 pm
by superdezign
I'd better purchase my domain now!
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 12:07 pm
by AKA Panama Jack
Web Dummy wrote:I have to agree. Domain Squater's or advertisement portals should be illegal. They hinder developement.
I went to register a new company. Did a bunch of research on domain names. A few hours before I purchased the one I wanted an advertisement portal had bought it.
Actually they are doing that to make money. There are a few sites you can go to and check for domain names and find out how much the owner wants to sell them for. They buy up scads of them and put advertisements or search links on them. It only costs them a few dollars a year but if they can sell one for hundreds of dollars they make a nice profit for almost no work.
I have even thought about doing it but just too damned lazy.

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 12:11 pm
by superdezign
If I could find good names that weren't taken, I think I'd do it. There's just that first part.. :-p
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 5:31 pm
by thiscatis
As soon as I have a concept ready I register the domain name, even if it just stays there for a while.
I just registerd
canurl.com. I was surprised it was available... canurl, can you relate, This sounds like
another social bookmarking experiment coming your way!