I hate online advertising companies. I hate domain pirates. They should be banned from the face of the earth. They are not even fit to be called the scum of the earth.

Why the overwhelming hatred?

Because they pilfered what I coveted most.

What is that you say? Love? Money? Power?

None of the above.

What I coveted most would only be obtainable once in a blue moon; maybe even never.

A domain name.

I was searching for an appropriate domain name for that idea that I’ve been knocking around in my head. It seemed I came up with the perfect one last week. So I checked it’s availability at Whois and, lo and behold, it was available. Imagine my glee.

Seeing as I was still in the planning stage of my idea, I opted to leave the buying of the domain till I had a more solid plan.

And today, that plan was finalized and I contacted my hosting provider to purchase the domain and hosting from them. He asked me it I was sure the domain was available and I said it was, but just to make sure, I wanted to double check.

And what did I see in front of my eyes? The domain was registered two days ago! That was a blow. The name wasn’t even a common one; it wasn’t even in English!

I could have swallowed my anger then. I mean, with domains, first come first serve, right? I took a deep breath and typed the domain in my browser with much chagrin. What I saw caused my blood pressure to rise beyond proportions.

The domain didn’t host a website, or any page that might be construed as content. It was all full of advertising links. Yes, advertising. They somehow found out that I seached that domain name and decided to buy it themselves before I could, hoping that I will be desperate enough to buy it from them. Worse of all, they locked the domain.

Damn them for being so sneaky! Damn whois for letting all and sundry look at domain searches that other people make so that unscrupulous people can make a buck at their expense. And damn me for being so rational that I didn’t buy the domain name the moment I thought of it.

So to you, pirate, take care of that domain. No, I won’t give you the satisfaction of registering the same domain name but with a different extension of .net or .org; I won’t even give you the satisfaction of buying a domain name that is remotely similar to that you took from me.

Your actions all come down to one thing. Am I desperate enough to buy that domain from you?

Hell, no.

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