As we’re about to cross into the second decade of the 21st century, if you think that the term “cybersquatter” is obsolete then think again.
Obviously, the term is not used by the expanding community of domainers or those that stay on top of trends and events in the entrepreneurial sector.
There are, however, some exceptions.
It’s shocking seeing a major partner of a former startup incubator, startupSQUARE to respond with the “C” word to an inquiry of a domainer.
Jay Mahal, Business Head of the Soofi Web Services/Soofi Group messaged Tristan Kromer – whose role as a co-founder at startupSQUARE is only the tip of a massive iceberg of impressive credentials – on twitter, after Jay followed him.
The exchange went like this:
- startupSQUARE: Thanks for the follow. Let me know if I can help. Particularly if it involves promoting entrepreneurship 🙂
- startupSQUARE: What is a domainer?
- startupSQUARE: Ah…cyber squatter is the term I’m more familiar with!
Apparently that ticked off Jay who questioned Tristan Kromer’s grasp of the English language, prompting him to visit the Wikipedia entry for “Cybersquatting”.
If an active member of the technology sector such as Tristan Kromer, with multiple ventures under his belt considers domain acquisitions to be “cybersquatting” then it seems domainers and the domain community have a long way to go before achieving much-deserved recognition and the “cybersquatter” stigma is erased.
Why are people still using the “C” word? Good for you Jay, set them and the record straight! We got some work do to before that label get’s erased!
Thanks for writing about this one, and unfortunately it still exists. Rightly said.. that was just a tip of an iceberg (with such an impressive credentials there Tristan), one can very well tell that we have quite a lot of well educated morons out there living the entrepreneur dream in IT sector without knowing what’s what.
I tried my bit of educating Mr Kromer, the difference between Squatter and Domainer with that Wikipedia link.
Hope you are having good holiday season bud!
Cheers.
Also search for the terms “domain squatters” “domain squatting” “domain taken” etc on Twitter in January when many individuals decide to buy a domain and see how infamous domainers are…
Domainers will never lose the cybersquatting tag. Many people with some justification see little difference ethically between taking advantage of someone else’s trademark, versus taking advantage of their idea.
The domainer knows that due to the specific nature of an idea or business, a buyer may be willing to pay a price far above what a domain is ever likely to be worth to anyone else.
Hard to see the tide turning while high profile domainers boast openly about selling domains at exorbitant prices, advising the rest of us on how to do the same.
Though if a sales price is fair there shouldn’t be any objection.
Regulations are just the consequence of some deviations. A lot networks, groups are actually working. Laws will be more coercive and an Internet governance will be installed.
So in my opinion, better we work together, for our future, for reputation and our freedom.
Sooo true David.
And I personally feel that Domain name investing and selling is exactly like real world real estate investing and selling at later stage when property prices have appraised.. I still don’t know why people feel that all domainers are cybersquatters when they can educate themselves before making such stupid comments. Use Google for help, if required.
> Domain name investing and selling is exactly like real world real estate investing
Far from ‘exactly’ like. Have you ever heard of a real estate seller getting away with a price of ten or even a hundred times market value.
The real estate buyer usually has a reasonable alternative. The domain buyer may not, a situation the seller can ruthlessly exploit if he so wishes.
Internet is now a part of the economy. Any governments will protect that.
There is nothing wrong with owning thousand of domains names. I think no one complain about real estate companies owning almost an entire road.
I personally have released few domains this year that could have infringement trademark. Often I was even not aware. I convinced few people to do it. We didn’t get many thanks but some big corporations have been very thankful.
In my view, we always can change the misconception of the domaining.
If corporations think domaining is like cybersquatting, how could they become some huge buyers?
By changing our actions, we can transform cybersquatting victims into buyers and we can definitively open a new market.
Nothing disappears, all is about transformation.
There is legitimate investing. Then there is cybersquatting. I was doing some research last night and came across these records being boasted by Microsoft. In EVERY case the domains were TRANSFERED to the trademark holders. Even Elliot Spitzer was given to the governor from it’s owner who also shared the name Elliot Spitzer. I don’t know why these Trademark infringers persist. It’s pretty amazing the balls they have to register names like the ones on the list. That means you mr s at tpa
http://www.udrpsearch.com/search?query=microsoft%20co..&results=50&start=409.