Many people here are missing the point. Domains get traffic. Google profits on this traffic and sells the ads. Why would they want to stop doing that? So that people will stop calling them names? There is a huge misunderstanding here.
Domains generate very qualified and targeted Internet traffic. They channel "Interested Buyers" to potential sellers. If someone types in "Sailboats.com" in the address bar of their browser, it is highly possible that they are shopping for sailboat (they may not be, but enough of them are to make the domain very valuable).
So a sailboat seller has two choices...
1.) Pay big dollars to buy the domain from the farmers and benefit from the very qualified traffic forever (or as long as they aren't stupid enough to let the name expire) OR
2.) Pay Google to place ads on the farmer's domain.
Reading through threads like this where people are complaining about "farmers" is a waste of time. Farmers aren't going to sell you their domains cheaply because "It's not fair".
I've never seen so many foolish posts on a topic in one place.
Rule #1 - Don't let a hosting company register your domain for you. Register it yourself. It takes less than $10.00 and is a simple five minute process at any domain registrar.
Rule #2 - Make sure that your email address is updated regularly at your Registrar so you are notified promptly when the domain is due to be renewed.
Rule #3 - Recognize that if you don't pay your renewal bill, your domain is going to expire and the new registrant has as much a right to it as you did when you first took it over from the last registrant (You stated that you have no trademark).
It's pretty simple yet when we are too lazy to keep track of our own domain names we blame everyone else and their brother for our problems and call them names.
There probably isn't a single person here who wouldn't "farm" domains if they understood the value of good domain names and knew how profitable the business of advertising at a good domain name could be. Domains have become valuable assets with a healthy and legal aftermarket. Get used to it. Visit http://www.dnjournal.com/ or a few other domain sites and educate yourself.
Slashdot Mirror
Domains generate very qualified and targeted Internet traffic. They channel "Interested Buyers" to potential sellers. If someone types in "Sailboats.com" in the address bar of their browser, it is highly possible that they are shopping for sailboat (they may not be, but enough of them are to make the domain very valuable). So a sailboat seller has two choices...
1.) Pay big dollars to buy the domain from the farmers and benefit from the very qualified traffic forever (or as long as they aren't stupid enough to let the name expire) OR
2.) Pay Google to place ads on the farmer's domain.
Reading through threads like this where people are complaining about "farmers" is a waste of time. Farmers aren't going to sell you their domains cheaply because "It's not fair".
Rule #1 - Don't let a hosting company register your domain for you. Register it yourself. It takes less than $10.00 and is a simple five minute process at any domain registrar.
Rule #2 - Make sure that your email address is updated regularly at your Registrar so you are notified promptly when the domain is due to be renewed.
Rule #3 - Recognize that if you don't pay your renewal bill, your domain is going to expire and the new registrant has as much a right to it as you did when you first took it over from the last registrant (You stated that you have no trademark).
It's pretty simple yet when we are too lazy to keep track of our own domain names we blame everyone else and their brother for our problems and call them names.
There probably isn't a single person here who wouldn't "farm" domains if they understood the value of good domain names and knew how profitable the business of advertising at a good domain name could be. Domains have become valuable assets with a healthy and legal aftermarket. Get used to it. Visit http://www.dnjournal.com/ or a few other domain sites and educate yourself.