Difference between revisions of "domain squatter"

Revision as of 17:34, 4 January 2008

Overview

A domain squatter is a web site which apparently exists solely to collect advertising revenue by pointing a popular or likely domain name at a search-engine front-end, doing minimal customization (often automatic) to make the site's contents appear at least somewhat relevant to the domain name, and surrounding the search functionality with advertising (usually a combination of graphical and text advertising). The domain name itself is also sometimes for sale at a high price; sometimes reselling the domain at a high markup (domain speculation) is the primary purpose of the site.

The term domain squatter also refers to a person or organization who owns such sites (i.e is engaged in the activity of domain squatting).

Discussion

Domain Resale Code of Ethics: a proposal at HypertWiki

Examples

FilmApart.net (2005-12-28: "what you need, when you need it")
FreshRPMs fake-out sites: .com and .org (real site is http://freshrpms.net)
Imports Unlimited slogan was "what you need, when you need it"; on later visit, had different look and no slogan (2006-01-30: back to "what you need, when you need it")
ips.ca (2006-01-30: "what you need, when you need it")
NC Smartlink purports to be about traffic cameras and real-time traffic information, but the links go to pages of what seems to be entirely advertising
ozyandmillie.com does not appear to be owned by David C. Simpson, creator of the comic Ozy and Millie (alt)
deadbears.com: currently for sale at $688 (likely target for people looking for Grateful Dead bean-bears)
gratefuldeadbears.com
abekabook.com: no apparent association with Christian textbook printer A Beka Book
churchsigngeneration.com
littledee.com: no relation to online comic Little Dee

Links/News

2005-12-01 Masters of their Domains, CNN Money
2005-02-22 Search-Optimized Domain Portfolio Sells for $164 Million

Reference

wikipedia: John Zuccarini, a notorious domain-squatter

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 ==Overview==
-[[Category:internet terminology]]A [[domain squatter]] is a web site which apparently exists solely to collect advertising revenue by pointing a popular or likely [[domain name]] at a search-engine front-end, doing minimal customization (often automatic) to make the site's contents appear at least somewhat relevant to the domain name, and surrounding the search functionality with advertising (usually a combination of graphical and text advertising). The domain name itself is also sometimes for sale at a high price; sometimes reselling the domain at a high markup (domain speculation) is the primary purpose of the site.
+[[category:vexators]][[category:internet terminology]]A [[domain squatter]] is a web site which apparently exists solely to collect advertising revenue by pointing a popular or likely [[domain name]] at a search-engine front-end, doing minimal customization (often automatic) to make the site's contents appear at least somewhat relevant to the domain name, and surrounding the search functionality with advertising (usually a combination of graphical and text advertising). The domain name itself is also sometimes for sale at a high price; sometimes reselling the domain at a high markup (domain speculation) is the primary purpose of the site.
 The term [[domain squatter]] also refers to a person or organization who owns such sites (i.e is engaged in the activity of domain squatting).