Matthew Gates http://notetoservices.com 3m 648 #domain
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
The Domain in the Family Name
Since the beginning of civilized mankind, humans have left things to their offspring. Land, property, money, and assets were given to the children. It was expected that the children would pass the belongings on to their children and then to their children, and so on. With this came a proud heritage in which the family name was passed on and taken care of in some way by the very first generation that started it, sealing and protecting the family tree and origins. There are some people who can trace their lineage of owned land or finances back for at least a half a dozen generations, sometimes even further.
The domain name is probably the most recent addition to an asset that can be owned and even passed on. Of course, just like land and certain property, in which taxes must be paid on it, a domain name requires registrations and fees to be paid for the companies that own it. At one point, it was only a dream for most people to own a domain, while companies were the ones claiming and buying plenty of domains. Nowadays, domains can be bought cheaply for about $1 and keeping it for years to come may cost no more than $15 a year. Domain names can usually be purchased in bulk and for a long duration, usually for one to two decades.
There are celebrities who are beginning to buy domains in their name, along with their children’s names, in order to preserve and ensure that their names are not tarnished. Ashton Kutcher and Taylor Swift are prime examples of this, and it is expected that these domain names will be unavailable for the duration of their lifetimes. Major companies, which have existed or will exist for generations to come will also always be unavailable for purchase.
If the domain name expires and is not paid for within a certain time frame, it becomes expired, is released, and is available for purchase by the company that holds it as the registrar.
Leaving a domain name to an estate or to someone had never been a thought to those buying domain names, but if you own a domain name in your name and plan to keep that domain name for the duration of your lifetime, wouldn’t it only make sense that you would want to keep that domain name in the family?
Despite possible multiple domain owners, a domain name is technically preserved, at times, usually through archival projects, such as the Wayback Machine Internet Archive, which takes snapshots of websites every few months. Although the actual domain may be gone, the snapshot of the domain at a certain time may be available for viewing.
The Internet is still too young and most people who own domains are actively using them, or at least, have parked them, just to hold them, but what legacy could a domain name have if it were kept in the family for generations to come, assuming that the Internet will be here in a thousand years?
Consider how valuable and important your domain is to you, and it might just be time to start thinking about what happens to it when you are gone, does that mean your domain will be, too? Who would you consider leaving your domain name to? Or would you just let it become expired and fade into oblivion, only to become an available asset? What information would you leave for your family about your domain? What instructions would you leave for your living descendants to do with your domain?
For those who wish to leave a legacy and pass it on, but may lack the assets or resources to do so, perhaps it is a domain name that you can expect to be passed on from generation to generation and kept within the family for generations to come.
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