Domain Name Recycling

October 18, 2007 1:55 PM

WHY AM I SEEING THIS WEB SITE? Well, because you've been perusing the domain name recycle bin, of course! There are already plenty of drop registrars snapping them up for $$. But is it also a free source of entertainment for the rest of us?

If anyone cares to discuss the philosophical quandry that is HobbitGolf.com, I am all ears.

posted by zekinskia (10 comments total)

WHY AM I SEEING THIS WEB SITE?

Because you didn't CANCEL YOUR THE GOOGLE!
posted by Debaser626 at 2:04 PM on October 18, 2007 [2 favorites]

you seriously posted this on metafilter?
posted by quonsar at 2:07 PM on October 18, 2007

In the second link, the current year is labeled "?", apparently because it's still too early to tell how we'll refer to it in the future.
posted by Reggie Digest at 2:13 PM on October 18, 2007

> you've been perusing the domain name recycle bin

By no means intentionally or willingly.

> But is it also a free source of entertainment for the rest of us?

So tell me: what should I think?
posted by SteelyDuran at 2:14 PM on October 18, 2007

And I know it's not quite the same thing, but I often accidently type my URLs incorrectly (mostly because I drink a lot). I all the time see these lame temp portals.

Just like here at metafilter:

http://mefi.com/
http://meffi.com/
http://meefi.com/
http://meatfilter.com
http://matafilter.com/
http://www.metafileter.com/

meatfilter makes me giggle (mostly because I am immature).

I was keeping track of the meta ones, and had other examples as well.

http://diogg.com/
http://internetarchives.com

And of course my favorite of these hijacks was whitehouse.com, which I am sad to report is no longer a porn site.

One question about this post: How are expired domains entertaining?
posted by cjorgensen at 2:15 PM on October 18, 2007

I love that some of these squatters have a "make this your homepage" button.
posted by ALongDecember at 2:18 PM on October 18, 2007

I loathe this use of old domains, absolutely abhor it.
posted by bonaldi at 2:22 PM on October 18, 2007 [1 favorite]

How are expired domains entertaining?

Even the surreality of weird word combinations caused by domain squatters' desperation to secure every domain name in the universe cannot dull this realization: that each time I find myself at one of these pages, I've either been stolen from (because I've been shown advertising but got nothing in return) or I've helped someone steal from someone else.

How much over street prices are squatted domains these days?
posted by SteelyDuran at 2:24 PM on October 18, 2007

DO NOT WANT!
posted by furtive at 2:25 PM on October 18, 2007

Interesting, haven't checked on them in a while, a couple of my more interesting expired domain names, having spent years being pimped out to link farms, are now back on the virtual auction block, so to speak. Yes, I think I'll just leave them be, though... Perhaps this business model is finally failing (I seriously doubt the ability of most of these pages to generate even a few dollars worth of income annually to justify their existences).
posted by nanojath at 2:25 PM on October 18, 2007