Can’t Register The Domain You Always Wanted? Blame This Guy

Posted 04/22/2012 at 10:23am | by Justin Kerr

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With more than 100 million .com domains already registered, finding something that doesn’t sound absolutely ridiculous is getting much harder than it used to be. One might simply assume that more people are joining the virtual land rush, and while that’s probably true, you can also blame a small handful of domain speculators such as Mike Mann pictured to the right. CNET profiled Mann as part of a larger story on domain hoarders, and considering that he snatched up 14,962 domain names over a 24 hour period, I would say he certainly falls into that category. 

The article points out the sometimes seedy in-workings of the domain registry business, and how some crafty individuals have found ways to buy priority access with registrars, and even employ the use of  scripts to snatch up domains in nano seconds any time of the day or night. Mann specifically admitted to making use of tools that sift through Google-friendly keywords, analyses the traffic potential, filters out possible trademark violations, then just starts buying en-mass. 

"We have a filter, but I'm the world's most efficient human filter for this sort of thing," said Mann, true to form. "I don't think anyone can read huge lists of domain names as quickly as I can and understand what they're reading. I'm a pattern reader. It's a huge pain in the ass, but it's what I do for a living."

Then the machines take over. "The robot just goes to the registrars -- buy, buy, buy," he said.

Interesting Fact about Mann: He doesn’t smoke, I guess he just think it makes him look hip.