> How do you know who is a "speculator"? When one registers a > domain name, it doesn't ask what your intended use is.... > > Even if we agree on a definition of "speculator" (aside from "he has > the domain I want, and won't sell it to me for $35"), in a capitalist > society, what makes such behaviour "illegitimate"? Last I checked, > Tucows/OpenSRS wasn't a registered charity, neither are most of its > resellers. Although I'm sure many of us do give to charity, from our > profits on other activities.
Please forgive my poor attempt at humor, George. I consider myself a capitalist and a domain name speculator. (I use the term "speculator" as a synonym for "investor", not as something vile and despicable.) I became an OpenSRS reseller in April 2000 to save money on registration fees on investment domains. My retail domain name registration business was only a side-effect of selling domain names to customers who then needed renewals and additional registrations, but had no desire to change registrars. For the past year or so, the only business I have done with Tucows has been servicing these "old" accounts, having moved my own portfolio elsewhere. I am the last person on earth who would condemn the application of capitalist principles to any part of the domain name business. I think you would agree with me that most of the business done by most of the drop-catchers is with domain name investors of some sort. Nothing wrong with that, in my opinion. My experience with Tucows has led me to conclude, correctly or incorrectly, that they take a dim view of the way in which I used their services. They were willing to take my money, but maybe they didn't really feel good about it. On more than one occasion when discussing new product offerings I was told that they were willing to lose the business of "domain name investors" in the course of pursuing their "desired" type of customer. That was about the time I sold my Tucows stock. The thought of Tucows going after a *visible* piece of the drop business just struck me as more than a little bit funny. Not that there would be anything wrong with that. If they do it, I will more than likely participate. Of course their best window of opportunity is probably now past, with the number of accredited registrars quickly approaching the total number of registrants. Anyway, sorry for the lame joke.
