Its the time of year where Catastropical changes are happening every month we hear of Floods, Forest fires, Earthquakes, Tsunami’s happening in countries around us .Forest fires and floods in Australia, Earthquake in New Zealand last month killing over 100 people and more and now the earthquake ,Tsunami and nuclear power leaks in Japan leaving over 5000 people dead and the numbers are still rising. We also hear of revolts and Uprising in the Middle east and Arab countries leaving people dead and countries in dire straits. It is at these times that we as domainers and social entrepreneurs stick together and do our bit for the world.
I read a very touching and interesting post from Dan from ( Domainnamesales.com) a fellow domainer and an industry pioneer about the domain Industry goodwill and what he has done and suggests we should do to keep the domain squatters and Charity Scammers at bay from fleecing people in the name of charity.As a small time domainer i did my part by registering www.AidtoJapan.org and giving people  information  about how they can help the people of Japan.

Read Dans Post about the Domain Diaster Goodwill

” I have been doing this for a few years, but now with what is happening in Japan, and with all the more frequent large scale disasters happening more often …I think it is time for everyone, especially the people involved in the domain industry on a ‘full time’ basis… to ‘embrace’ this idea for two main reasons.

Addition to ‘donating’ money yourself to the “Red Cross” or some other Charity to help people, right after a disaster, I purpose the following, as it “leverages” the amount of possible donations, it also keeps domain names off the market from people, that always set up ‘Scam Charity’ websites.

I have done this for: Hurricane Katrina, The VT Shooting, The Chile Earthquake and now this disaster in Japan”

Instead of donating say $50 or $100 to say the Red Cross…You use that money and register domain names, .com .org version(s) of domains that make sense. (especially .org’s)

Even if you are ‘technically’ registering a “TM” domain name…you then just simply ‘re-direct the domain to the honest and proper charity donation page or website.

Here is an example of some domains I have dropping soon, but ALL were “redirected” to the proper website page for donations for that particular disaster.

chileearthquakefund .com
chilefund .org
chileredcross .com
chileredcross .org
clintonbushchile .com
clintonbushchile .org
clintonbushchilefund .com
clintonbushchilefund .org

BTW: I did get some C/D’s….but I just gave them the domains…NO big deal, the domain(s) were already re-directed to their site(s) and to the proper page on their site(s)….
Now there is no way of me knowing how many donations from these URL’s generated over a year….But, I am 100% sure it was MUCH more than the about $70 it cost me to register them.

Much, Much more effective, than if I would have just wrote a check to the “Red Cross” for say $50- $100. Plus, it kept these domains out of the hands of people that wanted to run “Charity Scams” or I think just as bad or worst, “domainers”…Parking them for profit.

I had, multiple offers in the first two weeks on at least 6 of these domains…and they were not from people with ‘good will in their heart’

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This idea, is not ‘rocket science’…

Using generic terms that end in:

fund ~ foundation ~ Charity ~ donation(s) etc… registering the .com ~ .org

I was a little slow on this particular disaster in Chile…as many of the domains I wanted to reg were already taken.

Not, only fake charity scammers, register these domains, but many “domainner’s” think it is OK…to register a ‘high-type in domain’s’, and are happy to “park” them and actually make money off other peoples life’s and/or their hardships of loosing everything they owned etc…

You can reg domains even if they might be “TM’….and call up say the Red Cross or whatever charity or Organization the domain might get confused for , and tell them what and why you registered the domains, and you would like to give them to them for free… In the mean time, just ‘re-direct’ them to the proper website page for the domain.

I registered, over $100 worth of domains for the VT shooting, got multiple offers again, contacted VT and told them I wanted to give them domain names for FREE…and they said they did not want them…go figure, more people well educated about domain names. I just pointed all 12+ domains to their donation web page on the VT website

Here is an old thread after the: VT Shooting, where a guy in Texas, registered what was “tattooed” on the shooters arm…we shamed him into NOT “parking”it…the domain was getting 1K visitors an hour…and he had the ‘press’ in front of his house…that helped convince him to; ‘do the right thing”!

Please Read:

http://www.namepros.com/317895-regd-ismailax-com-va-tech-related-2.html

( my post id: ‘companyone’ ~ Post #48 and Post #59 …POST #57 Is The “Payoff Post”)
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So as you can plainly see, this kind of ‘tactic” can and is very effective….on many levels.

OK, I think everyone should ‘get the concept’….so I have an idea.

I have very limited website building skills…so if someone wants to make up a couple page website, or “WP” blog…and write up the attentions of the website, a place where domains can be listed that are registered right after the next disaster or tragedy and some sort of mission statement or pledge, that we make as a collective group of domain industry bloggers, investors, etc… We can accomplish 3 main objectives.

#1. The right domains registered and redirected to the correct website and/or donation page can leverage what would be a $50 -$100 donation into maybe, many thousands of dollars.

#2. Keeps the domain names out of the hands of: Domainers who have no problem ‘parking’ such domains, and making money off of other people’s tragedy’s, and it will keep the domains out of ‘Charity Scammers’, who will and do build very nice and official looking websites…that people not only give their money to, they give their credit card or bank information…and then that opens them up to easy “identity theft’, on top of just getting scammed out of $50 or something.

#3. It shows ‘good will’ on part of “US”… the people involved in the “domain industry’….that we are normal people and not just a bunch of ‘cybersquatting scumbags’…which is still the view of many in the world. Unfortunately!

There you have it:

Simple, effective, and just the right thing to do.

And it is “proactive”…instead of being ‘reactive’…as a lot of things are in the domain Industry currently.

It works very well, one person on the Dnforum bought $500+ worth of domains…after I posted this idea, after the ‘VT Shooting” a couple years ago…and redirected them all back to the VT Donation page for the family’s of the shooting victims…as I did with the 12 or so I registered for that tragedy.

BTW: If you have the means to donate much, much more than say $50- $100 to a Charity like the “Red Cross”, and do on regular basis, and/or after major disasters, please continue to do your regular giving…this is not designed to replace all direct giving by everyone in the Industry to the charities of their choice, after a major disaster or tragedy.

If we can ‘work together’ and get 50 -100+ of us to pledge to register 1 to 10+ domains ASAP while a disaster or tragedy is or has happen…nothing but good… will come of it…a LOT OF GOOD!

BTW: ” Available” ~ March 14th Update ~ No Longer Available

disasterdomains .org
goodwilldomains .com .org

Source Dannosblog.com