A couple of days ago, on the aftermath of the massacre in Norway – where almost 100 people were killed and as many were wounded – I posted a tweet to test the scruples of domainers.
 NorwayKiller.com is available to register, if you feel so inclined #domains #norway #oslo
It seems that there are plenty of domainers that would stoop to new lows, as to actually register such a domain name. Sure enough, the domain NorwayKiller.com was registered later that day, according to DomainTools.
Nowadays, every major piece of news is a direct invitation to register the .com of the phrase or keywords related to the event. Domainers, however, need to either set some ethical boundaries, or be judged for their poor taste in domain registrations.
How is this unethical?
Telling people how to make money off trademarked names or typos is the low of the low in this industry…
But newsworthy stories command value. While this was obviously a sick and twisted tragedy which will take years to recover from for many people there is also a story here.
Would registering serialkillers.com cross ethical boundaries?
How about all the movies made and you buy tickets to based on real life stories? Are these unethical to make also?
News may be disturbing, sad, violent and utterly incomprehensible at times but these are the events which make up a certain part of human history.
If the owner is going to put ads on the site then I agree he needs to re-evaluate better ethical ways to make money but if he is a writer, producer or even an investor buying the name based on someone wanting to tell the story in the future then how is that wrong?
I think your logic is flawed Theo.
You don’t see your “experiment” as being questionable at all Acro? It’s one thing to sit back and wait to see if someone registers it (and I am sure someone would have) but it is completely another to bring it to people’s attention that it is available.
I don’t see what you did as a big deal, but since you are judging those that would buy the domain I just bring up the idea that you also willingly associated with the domain as well.
You’re like the dinner host that offers your guests seconds on dessert then, after your guests leave, you talk about what pigs they were=)
Troy – Feel free to jump off a cliff if I tell you that there is a cliff below. Note that I won’t be telling you to *jump* – simply that the cliff is available for whatever purpose.
I simply noted the availability of something questionable, in the same way that people point at evil things that happen daily around us. It takes a different person and ethics to actually “do the deed”. I didn’t offer the domain from my own selection, therefore your analogy about dessert is wrong.
Alan – Perhaps it’s the non-generic nature of the domain that makes it stand out. It’d be the same as if it matched, for example, DaytonaJoeDoeDecapitation.com – it’s very specific to a crime.
For this, I don’t perceive my logic as flawed; some people lack scruples and it often extends beyond domains.
Troy, so true Sorry, Theo 🙂
Hi Acro,
I made this post back in March after the Japan disaster…
Domain Industry Disaster Goodwill
http://dannosblog.com/2011-03/domain-industry-disaster-goodwill/
I still think it is a good idea…I would like to see domainers do this after every disaster or any type of major tragedy, I call it:
“Cybersquatting ~ Cybersquatters”
Peace!
Dan
BTW: Acro, I never like posting links from my own blog to another domain bloggers website, so if you do not want or think it is at least “interesting” and worth while posting…please, just do not post it.
From a quick view I don’t see any problem unless the content place on the said domain name is objectionable. I personally would not buy such names. But No different than network news where it bleeds it leads. But the different being u have to search for it. Where as network news they invade your home while u r watching a family movie with your wife and kids. That why my kids are eclusively on Netflix. While I am glue to the history channel when no one is around and my wife get half an hour of TMZ when the kids are sleeping.
Acro by doing this post you will be associated with the domain more than the person that registered it. It’s like my Mom said. Don’t laugh or he’ll keep doing it.
Shane – Some people are stupid, ignorant (or evil even) and serve only as examples of said categories.
In bad taste maybe, opportunistic definitely. But we don’t know, maybe someone scooped it up for noble reasons too. Then again, making a profit from a lawful business transaction is pretty darn noble all by itself, so whoever bought it doesn’t have to justify anything to anyone.
Tom – The timing was such that if the reasons were noble they would have arisen earlier, before I posted the name’s availability.
Yep. Directnic and that whole shady Solares crew used to do just that. Probably still do, who knows.