This post is more than three years old so may contain incorrect information, or opinions I no longer hold.
Domain Squatters Are The Scum Of The Earth
I wanted to register quirk.uk, but arsehole domain squatters are getting in the way and making that almost impossible.
This post contains swearing as I'm pissed off.
I have to confess, I love a good domain name and the shorter the better. For example, I own kevquirk.com but prefer kevq.uk for this website as it's nice and short.
Owning your own domain name is very important and while kevq.uk is a good domain name, I want something that only uses my surname. So I can have kev@quirk.[tld] as an email address. This is then also good for other members of my family.
I already own quirk.cc and a number of other domains, but I'm not thrilled with the .cc TLD. So I went looking for something better...
Domain squatters are scum
I found that quirk.uk had already been registered, but was available for purchase. A .uk domain name costs around £8 ($10) per year to register. So I made an offer that I thought was more than fair - £100 (~$135).
Around 20 minutes later I get an email back to say my offer has been rejected. I went back and asked what they would accept and the domain squatters came back with a counter offer of £750 (~$1000).
Seven hundred and fifty pounds!
That doesn't include VAT either, which is 20% here in the UK. Since then, the domain landing page had been updated with a slightly discounted price of £659 (~$880). Oh how kind!
Are you for real?
If it isn't obvious from this site, my name is Kev Quirk. It's my personal name, and I wanted to use that domain for personal email hosting. That's why I wanted the .uk and not the .co.uk domain. I'm not a company, so I have no way to financially gain from purchasing this domain.
Seriously, if you're one of these domain squatters who makes their living this way, FUCK YOU!
I'd like to say an extra special, giant, FUCK YOU to NVA Online Advertising B.V. who have the audacity to rip off consumers like me all over the world. Fuckers.
I really wish there was a way for people like me, just Joe or Jane Bloggs off the street, to fight back against these wankers. If I can prove my name contains Quirk and I have no financial incentive, should that give me some rights to own the domain? I think so.
If it was being used legitimately, I'd have absolutely not problem with someone else owning the domain. But domain squatters are in it purely for profit and they really are the scum of the earth as far as I'm concerned.
Conclusion
I'm stuck with quirk.cc. It's not the end of the world, and I realise this is very much a first world problem. But still, it's shitty that all these fuckers are free to get away with this stuff.
If you know a way in which I can fight back to try and own this domain, more for a moral victory than anything else, please do get in touch.
Until then, I'll climb back under my rock...
Want more?
So you've read this post and you're still not satisfied? Ok then, here's some other stuff for you to do: