The only sane answer is to increase the registration price for domains so that it relates more to the market worth of that domain.

Good luck properly determining that.

It still doesn't solve the problem: then they're all just squatted by the rich.

The problem at the moment is that it is essentially free to squat on millions of domains. It's just a matter of getting organized, using grace periods, advertising income, so you don't actually have to pay any money to hold millions of domains.

That can't be right.

Even if you set the registration price to say $1,000 I think you'd solve a lot of problems. People wouldn't just buy 20 domains just incase they might put something on 1 of them.

Sure, you'd still get people squatting on names, but to a far lesser extent.

Currently, people just buy up a ton of domains thinking "Wow I'd like to develop that someday". It's antisocial, but it's encouraged by the nominal price of registering domains.

</rant>

"Even if you set the registration price to say $1,000"

Do you realize the impact that would have on innovating new web apps?

Negligible if any. Buying an SSL certificate is more expensive than registering a domain.

edit: It'd also be likely someone would startup some 'free/cheap' subdomain hosting for people who don't want to pay the $1000... eg myapp.free.com

Bollocks.

Right now I can get an SSL certificate and register a domain name for under $30 through Dreamhost.

I can think of a few projects that I've started that have helped a few people that never would have gotten off the ground if we had your preposterous $1k fee for registrations.

The current system's not great, sure, but it's a whale better than your "only the rich can register" plan.

I have never had more than $2,000 in a bank account at one time. I think that your expectations are slightly skewed. And buying an SSL certificate may be more expensive, but it's still $50/year, a far cry from $1k.

I'm sure Verisign would be delighted for ICANN to raise the domain registration fee like that!

no, that is not the answer.

BTW: I'm using a free SSL cert at the moment.

> 'free/cheap' subdomain

They already exist. They're all over the place really...

So this way registrars will make obscene amounts of money for doing very little rather than squatters? Don't you think that's throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

There are a ton of domains that shouldn't be worth $1000. Take my name. There are half a dozen domains I could park that no one but my immediate family could want.

It costs anywhere from $8-15/year to renew a domain depending on the tld, so it's pretty expensive to sit on them. I thought this would be a good way to put them to use within the hn community before I set them free to the crazies of the domain registrant world.

Oh no, what you're doing is awesome. I own three or four domain names that I'm not using yet myself.

I agree with Steve. The people with the extra cash will just park on it which will drive up the price they will charge you to buy it. There is no clear cut solution to this problem, it will be around as long as the domain model is what it is (but then again how would it change?).

The closest thing I can come up with would be to in-act some kind of domain activity monitor (use it or loose it) type pattern, but I don't seriously think this would ever happen either.

So, auction them?

Aren't squatters already taking care of that by offering to sell these domains to bidders?