One of the things that has always caused confusion for people is domain usage.
A lot of people seem to think that unless they see a website that the domain is not in use.
This could not be further from the truth.
Just because there is no website attached to the domain does not mean that the domain is not in use for other purposes, such as providing nameservers, email or possibly some other function.
For example, irishspamfilter.com looks like it is parked, whereas in reality there are a number of services running off subdomains on that domain.
In other cases domains are registered in order to protect intellectual property. One client of ours, for example, has a domain portfolio of close to 100 domains in com/net/org/info/biz/co.uk/co.nz and com.au
Although quite a few of the domains are being used a lot of them are "parked" as they were registered to help protect the brands.
Is there anything wrong with this?
Well that depends on who you ask.
If cybersquatting wasn't an issue then a lot of domains would probably not have to be registered, but the reality is that cybersquatters exist and it is far more economical to protect your brand by registering the domains than it is to litigate with squatters after the fact.
And then there are those who believe that if a domain is not in use, you have no right to it - that is, if there isn't a web site on there, they have a right to take it, since they feel they will make better use of it.
Wrong, twice, of course. Yet I can't recall a week where I've not gotten an email asking to turn over one domain or another because it wasn't "in use."
If I weren't such a nice guy, I'd come up with creative ways to respond to those people :-)
Christopher - I've taken to giving simple replies - "No"
:)
And if they offer you some incentive is your reply the same?
Lee - yes. Unless the domain is one of those that we've been landed with due to CC fraudsters or if I own it personally