this is one of the best threads here... very wise posts so far
Reece, i agree with your post (#9) when talking about short names (until 5 characters), but i really dont see one only reason to L-L-L-L buyout (this is why Lorenzo started this thread)
this is the main reason for all these buyouts happened recently
when you buy a name from another domainer or a dropped one in an auction you will pay more than hand reg and of course you need to wait for a good ROI unless you have a bargain
when you are in an buyout process, especially when it is close to this buyout, you can have a very good ROI overnight, lets say 50-100%, what makes easy earn money very fast
those months in 2007 were very special ones but they are rare and wont happen again soon with names have great potential; buyouts can happen but names with potential for the next years are gone (mainly LLLL.com)... unfortunately all these people just new to domaining lose these buyouts (LLLL and L-L-L.com)
the best thing right now for them is to buy where and what they can as there are great names being sold at good prices right now