Do domainers help developing countries?
A domainer is someone who buys domain names and tries to resell them. This has been going on since 1993, when anyone could buy domains. You could be an end user, wanting to make your own website with the domain you bought, or you could be a speculator. In general, there’s nothing wrong with speculators. They provide liquidity in a secondary market (the aftermarket) so that others, who might be end users, can get domains. A domainer is a speculator in domains. There has been carping about their actions. In response, a long article was recently written defending domainers, Busting Domain Name Secondary Market Myths. If you’re interested, take a gander.
Their basic argument is, it’s a free market.
But there is 1 particular argument they make that I do stridently disagree with. “Increasingly, domain name investors are located internationally in developing countries and enjoy the prospect of making more than they otherwise would from working in a low-paying menial job. Registering a few domain names for $10 each and selling a few of them for $100 each can be a life-changing alternative to grueling manual labor.” [sic]
This is arrant nonsense. The article is trying to sell you the image of a peasant plowing a field while looking at the butt end of an ox. Or someone sweating and plucking cabbage under a hot sun. Domainers selling…
