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Holocaust Related Domain Names

Elliot Silver
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Simon Wiesenthal CenterIn 2008, I was browsing through some names owned by Buy Domains and I saw a domain name that was related to the Holocaust. It wasn’t exactly an obvious Holocaust domain name, but when the term was Googled, the relationship was more than clear. I informed Pete Lamson (GM of Buy Domains at the time) about the domain name, and the company dropped it.

It was unfortunate that they dropped it, but I am sure they wanted nothing to do with this domain name once they realized its meaning. The unfortunate aspect was that it went to auction at Snapnames, and it had a number of bidders. After a few days, I came out on top and owned the domain name.

For a while, I just killed the DNS since I didn’t want to send the traffic to a Holocaust awareness website without their permission. I forgot about the domain name until a couple of days ago when I got a renewal notice. I did a bit of research on other domain names, and I saw that the Simon  Wiesenthal  Center owns Holocaust.com.

I reached out the the Whois contact and she mentioned that someone was kind enough to donate Holocaust.com to their Center. I then offered to give them the domain name I own for free, and they are happy to take it. I am very happy that this domain name will get a permanent home with an organization like the Wiesenthal Center.

If you have domain names that are hurtful or hateful, consider donating them to a non-profit group. Whether you ask for a tax write-off or not, I am sure they will appreciate your generosity.

Domain Name Expires; City Believes Cyber Squatter Stole It

Elliot Silver
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I was intrigued by an article I read in the Morehead News, a newspaper based in Morehead, Kentucky. What was I doing reading a Kentucky-based newspaper?   Well, I received a Google News alert about a domain name theft and case of cybersquatting and I checked it out. The article references CityOfMorehead.com, the official city website for a number of years.

According to the article, city officials seem to think “their website was stolen via ‘cyber squatting.'” I did a bit of research on the domain name, and according to a Whois search on the last archive date where the domain name was owned by the city, the domain name was set to expire on November 26, 2009. It appears to me as if the domain name was not renewed and someone else acquired it.

The business of drop catching expiring domain names is completely legitimate – and it’s the reason companies like Snapnames and Namejet are in business.It’s also the reason why several high profile domain name investors became very wealthy. It’s not necessarily from selling the expired names back to the previous owner, but by using those names for their businesses. Godaddy also allows people to place backorders on domain names, on the off-chance the name isn’t renewed.

The article quotes Jason England of Premier Quest ISP, the website’s host (according to the news article). England believes it’s a case of cybersquatting. He mentioned that when a domain name expires, there are people who will try to register it immediately, especially   “folks typically from the same type of geography that the majority of the world’s spam and viruses come from.”

Incidentally, the Administrative Contact at the time the city owned the domain name was premierquest@pqisp.com. Had someone paid the annual renewal fee of somewhere around $10, the city would still presumably own the domain name. Based on my experience, Godaddy sends notices 90, 60, 30, and 15 days prior to a domain name’s expiration – and possibly even more frequently.

As far as I am aware, it’s perfectly legal to register domain names – especially geographic and non-trademarked domain names – after they expire. Just check out what a UDRP panelist said about geodomain names recently when he referenced, ““the general rule that geographic names are not subject to trademark protection.”

I will provide an example to equate this to physical real estate,. If someone in Morehead, Kentucky decides he doesn’t wish to pay property taxes this year, I am sure the city will go after his property, maybe file a lien, and perhaps even seize it. They may even put it up for auction for others to bid on it once it’s seized. Likewise, when someone doesn’t renew their domain name, the registrar can put the name up for auction.

If the City of Morehead wishes to have this domain name back so they don’t have to order hundreds of dollars worth of stationery, they should hope the owner would want to sell it to them. Otherwise, they will be forced to use new email addresses, change all inbound links, and probably spend in excess of the $10,000 figure they quoted in the article. They now also need to worry about confidential emails addressed to @cityofmorehead.com email addresses.

I honestly feel badly for the City. This is a very good example of why domain owners need to be the Administrative Contact email on their domain names so they can be sure the bill is paid each year.

One Reason to Use Godaddy: Free Hosting

Elliot Silver
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I primarily use Moniker for my domain registrations, but I have a few that are registered at Godaddy, and I just realized one advantage of using Godaddy. Domain names that are registered at Godaddy are given free hosting from the company, although they have the ugly banner across the top of the website.

For many people, this ugly banner is a deal breaker, but in reality it shouldn’t be one. I registered a few “throw away” domain names last year with the intention of building very small websites for SEO purposes (just as a test). I only got around to building one single page website that had information and several links to another website of mine I wanted to assist with SEO.

Lo and behold, I came back to the site close to a year after launching it, and I noticed that Google has it ranked PR3. I know that people often debate about the value of Google’s PageRank, but the “website” consists of 3 paragraphs, has no photographs, used a free CSS template, and took about 30 minutes to create.

I know PR3 isn’t exactly hugely impactful, but all things considered, it was a pretty simple back link with no downside.

Be Aware of a Domain Name’s Previous Business Activity

Elliot Silver
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One of the most favorable things I look for when acquiring a domain name is a note on the homepage that says the company is no longer in business – or a default hosting page after knowing there was previously a company’s website on it. Businesses go under all the time, but the underlying domain name could still be a valuable asset the former owners don’t even realize has significant value.

I was looking at a domain name that I would like to acquire this morning, and it has all of the signs that it could be available for the right price. There is a note that says the company, which had been in business for 75 years, had closed 6 months ago. The email addresses were bouncing, and the phone numbers weren’t working. This got me excited, as I love tracking down a domain owner. This is similar to how I was able to buy Customs.com a couple of years ago… good research to find a former partner in the firm.

While concurrently doing due diligence on the domain name of interest and doing some research to find contact information for the former President of the company, I came across a website that had consumer complaints about the company. Some of the complaints were pretty harsh:

  • “This place is a disaster”
  • “their behavior has been totally unprofessional”
  • “my advice is to stay away.”
  • “Won’t be visiting… or ordering from their website again”

Although the company was in business for 75 years and these comments may be accumulated over time, it’s still good to be aware of these comments that can easily be seen by anyone who does a Google search for the domain name. The domain name has a dual meaning, so it wouldn’t be used in the same way as it was before, but there are still a few websites with negative comments, and people might infer that they are about a new website that would be built down the road once the site launches.

Although most people would recognize the difference between what was there and what would be built there, some potential advertisers could see the complaints and simply pass on advertising. Domain investors need to keep in mind that comments about a business on a domain name could have a detrimental impact on the domain name’s value.

Chargers’ Ladainian Tomlinson LT Slide Electric Glide Website

Elliot Silver
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Ladanian Tomlinson dancing

Will the San Diego Chargers beat the New York Jets this weekend? I sure hope so, but I am also rooting for a small start-up that was spawned by a You Tube video of Ladainian Tomlinson. Apparently, Nike leaked a video of star running back Tomlinson doing the “LT Slide Electric Glide,” a 1980s themed music and dance video.

The video is kinda hilarious, and it caused a buzz on blogs, Twitter, and other websites. One San Diego Chargers fan built a LT Slide Electric Glide website, where he is offering an awesome 80’s style throwback t-shirt complete with Electric Glide logo. Get a shirt and show your support for LT’s dancing moves.

How long will this buzz last? Probably for as long as the Bolts are in the playoffs. Here’s hoping they handle the NY Jets and Mark Sanchez this weekend. If they have moves like LT, they should glide right through to the AFC Championship.

Domain Investor Interviews on Domainers Digest

Elliot Silver
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Based on feedback I have received from people regarding my “5 With…” series of interviews, I know people love to read about how others got started and found success in the domain investment business.

Steve Kaziyev recently launched a new website, Domainers Digest, and the purpose of the site is to give people an inside look at people from all parts of the domain industry.

Today, Steve has an interview with Frederick Schiwek of EuroDNS.com, the person who sold Voodoo.com for $300,000. Over the next few weeks and months, Steve has interviews lined up with people such as Parked.com’s Jazmin Carrillo, Bill Sweetman of Tucows, John Yeomans of Edge Capital, and many other people you may know but may not know much about.

I wish Steve lots of luck with his new venture.

Just as an aside, this isn’t a paid post nor am I being compensated for it in any way.

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