Just let them expire and whoever wants to use them will (in theory) be able register them from. I.e., when you let them expire they will go back into the pool.
I say "in theory" because of the possibility that domain name registrars will "taste" them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_tasting and/or do something else to "grab" them and sell or auction them to the highest bidder in whatever marketplace they can expose the names to. Other downside is a domain name speculator will acquire and the the same. All this begs a debate on "right and wrong," which is a whole other topic.
One of my first experiences with letting a domain expire was with a domain called catbattle. I figured no one would pick up that name because it's stupid. It's been parked by the next person for 5 or 6 years now as a jump page for lots of cat ads. This sort of thing irritates me. I would rather have some kid get it and put a picture of his cat on it with some blinking text like "This is my cat! You are defeated!"
I suppose what I really want is for a group of people that are interested in creating useful web content to have a chance at before it expires. My ideal target audience would be the readership here or a similar group. Just having a list of unused domain names registered by people on this site would be a valuable resource to me. I could get all sorts or ideas from it, make a comment on one of the names that inspired the owner to do something with it, or end up with a chance to collaborate with the owner on a joint idea.
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A few incomplete thoughts:
Just let them expire and whoever wants to use them will (in theory) be able register them from. I.e., when you let them expire they will go back into the pool.
I say "in theory" because of the possibility that domain name registrars will "taste" them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_tasting and/or do something else to "grab" them and sell or auction them to the highest bidder in whatever marketplace they can expose the names to. Other downside is a domain name speculator will acquire and the the same. All this begs a debate on "right and wrong," which is a whole other topic.
One of my first experiences with letting a domain expire was with a domain called catbattle. I figured no one would pick up that name because it's stupid. It's been parked by the next person for 5 or 6 years now as a jump page for lots of cat ads. This sort of thing irritates me. I would rather have some kid get it and put a picture of his cat on it with some blinking text like "This is my cat! You are defeated!"
I suppose what I really want is for a group of people that are interested in creating useful web content to have a chance at before it expires. My ideal target audience would be the readership here or a similar group. Just having a list of unused domain names registered by people on this site would be a valuable resource to me. I could get all sorts or ideas from it, make a comment on one of the names that inspired the owner to do something with it, or end up with a chance to collaborate with the owner on a joint idea.