On: Introducing .app, a more secure home for apps on t...

[Borealid]

Wouldn't it be easier to just raise domain registration /renewal prices, making squatting a poor return on investment?

[cornholio → Borealid]

I think that would hurt small businesses more than it would dissuade squatters of truly valuable domains. The trick is to move money from the squatters to the public and domain owners, not to the registry itself, that is basically just another big squatter.

Maybe a TLD like .app could increase the annual renewal fee to something like $100 while bundling premium features like business Gmail, Adwords credits or Google Cloud services, all usable only on that domain name. This way, low level owners get their money back, big corporations don't care and squatters are hurt since they can't make use of the services.

[icebraining → Borealid]

That's what Google did here, by having an early period during which domains cost more.

And this is the predictable response: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16972813

[danShumway → Borealid]

That would effectively be introducing a gatekeeper, just one that's not particularly good at filtering bad actors (money).

There are a lot of benefits to allowing hobbyists and students to cheaply (or even freely) register domains.