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poll Opinion: Is it immoral to sell Coronavirus related domains & websites?

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Is it morally wrong to profit from Coronavirus domains and websites?


  • 81 votes
  • Ended 4 years ago
  • Final results
Just looking for open candid feedback as to whether you think it's okay or not to sell Coronavirus related domain names, websites, apps, and other related digital assets.

My personal take on it is that I myself will not be buying/selling anything with the word "coronavirus" or "covid" in it or work on anything related to Coronavirus but at the same time I'm not going to put down or shame anyone else in the domain community who does decide to attempt to profit from it.

I think it is better morally not to do so, but I don't think registering a domain name is nearly as bad as say hoarding essential supplies (physical products) that people need to survive. People can live if you register a bunch of domains, people cannot live if you hoard physical products like water, food, medicine, etc.

Waiting to hear from you guys about this issue.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
No, you are making money while solving a problem
 
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Our job is to make money. But it is not only that.
Our destination is to help people build their new projects, giving them inspiration aka domain names.

Nothing bad about it. That's the reason I really love domaining.
 
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I don't think most people are going to have to worry about the morality, as they won't be selling any.
The vast majority of all these registrations are beyond worthless.

Brad
 
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Totally fair game.

There are folks who want full control of the narrative. However if someone wants to empower local beat reporting from folks on the ground in different parts of the world, I think that is mighty useful.

As long as free speech laws allow it, have at it. However, for the folks selling these domains, don't be greedy and be quick to extend leases.
 
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I don't think most people are going to have to worry about the morality, as they won't be selling any.
The vast majority of all these registrations are beyond worthless.

Brad
Lol yes, karma will be in the form of you wasting ~$9 per
 
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When someone generate traffic related to corona in order to make money based their advertisement model with irrelevant content or low corona content quality, may be its immoral.

But if someone have a corona related domain or they buy domain then they sell that domain to buyers , I feel its a normal and never hurt other people in the world
 
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Normally people buy domains to make profit with them. I don't see any problem in selling such domains.
 
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The people crying about others making money from this are either fuelled by jealousy or socialism (On Twitter/Reddit at least). It's then masked with morality. What harm is there purchasing domains.

Drug companies have been making money from exactly these type of problems for decades and none of the moral police bat an eye.
 
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Some of wise person says " “Ignorant people panic and react without much thinking. Educated people think and then respond. “ do you agree with this? "

Build a website with corona domain , ask as much as people to share about corona and engage together to help people in the world . May be God would give more for our life although we never promote anything in this situation.
 
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Why only corona?
What of other diseases and other medical related domains?
 
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Why only corona?
What of other diseases and other medical related domains?
That's a great point, I guess you can expand this question to "is it okay to profit from domains/websites related to different viruses, medical conditions, treatments, natural disasters, etc.?"
 
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I feel proud when my idea evolves to a useful project for people. I partly agree with the above comment. If it happens with Corona, then for the entire health niche is happening the same.
 
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An example of my morality question:

Say someone registers a name that contains Coronavirus in the name "CoronaVirusSafety.tld" and then creates a site with useful information and safety tips, but then puts a big Google Adsense banner at the top to make money from ads. This fictional site is generating ad revenue for the site owner but also providing useful information to the end users.

Would this be good, bad, neutral?
My personal take, I don't think the above example ^ would necessarily be bad. I'm somewhere between neutral and it's totally fine.

ON THE OTHER HAND:

Say someone registers a name like "Covid19Facemasks.tld" and then sells imported medical facemasks for $100 USD per mask or some other inflated price to sell the masks directly to end users.

In this 2nd example I think it is 100% morally wrong and in many countries probably illegal.

I think it depends on many factors including intended use, who is the end user, are you flipping this, investing in it, are you building something useful or helpful with it, are you selling an end product, etc. There's a lot of grey area around this topic and I think there's many factors you have to take into account.
 
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If you have ethics, you will not benefit from disaster.

If you want to help and to be morally correct, donate 100% of the funds received from such domains / website to charity.
 
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If you have ethics, you will not benefit from disaster.

If you want to help and to be morally correct, donate 100% of the funds received from such domains / website to charity.

I personally am continuing on with domaining/websites WITHOUT getting involved in anything having to do with Coronavirus. My latest Amazon Affiliate sites are related to Fish Tanks, Gardening, Hatchets (Axes), Security Camera Equipment, etc.

I think there's plenty of profit to be made in normal niches that are not related to disasters and viruses.
 
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If you are making any money that's probably good by working remote, social distancing, and staying safe. :xf.grin:
 
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I don't blame people trying to make money off Corona related domains.

In essence that's what domainers do. Spot a 'trend', reg the names and hope for the best.

I have regged just 1 domain somewhat related to the side effects imposed on society by corona. Got offers right away and am now in talks with a foundation to gift it to them so they can develop it instead of selling.

Got nothing much to do these days as clients are bailing like crazy so why not? Just hoping that in the long run they'll remember and support my business when things get better.
 
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That's like asking at a Democratic rally in Detroit if it's ok to sell Nazi t-shirts to the KKK.

You are just asking for it.

Realizing now that you will find it hard to sell coronavirus domain to domainers in general. All it takes is one to take a stand and it's a pretty good one really to say "it's bad to profit from the misery of others" and this is a pretty bulletproof argument that you can win against.

it's like if someone says. "You can't shoot puppies in the face." I mean cmon. How do you argue your point against that? you just end up lookin like a total d*ck.

best you can do is you made the choice to reg some is develop somehow. Seems easy enough. just copy and past news articles about Coronavirus. you won't be lacking with content for sure. just don't copy and past the entire article. like we do on NP just copy and paste the "best parts" and link to the actual article.

slap some affiliate ads from Amazon, Ebay, Aliexpress, Walmart. You know all the usually places people but the things below anyways.

1. 3M N95 Masks
2. Hand Sanitizers
3. Aloe Vera
4. Rubbing Alcohol
5. Vitamin C

If they are visiting your coronavirus niche website to reach the latest news about this virus. They will see the stuff they need anyways shown in the ads.

if there is one thing I remember my grandfather told me once.

"In times of crisis or panic the end result is as it's always has been which is consume consume consume.".

with any luck you can recoup your reg fee and now you have an income generating coronavirus domain and now all the negative Nancy's can't complain because as it stands your website links to very helpful information and news. That's HELPING.

and since HOSTING isn''t free and the current state of things right now EVERYONE should be saving every dime because God only knows when this economy will recover.

So no one can really trash talk you if you have ads and are making money because again hosting isn't free.

So yea. at this point there is so much stigma with selling coronavirus domains. domainers will look at you in a bad light unfortunately so your best option is to develop.

my two cents.
 
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Total waste of money, you won't sell any corona names, unless its for $20 to another ambitious domainer.
 
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Every Day Your :

Doctor hopes you Get sick and Hopes you Get Well too
Mechanic hopes your Car breaks down and Hopes you get it fixed too
Lawyer hopes you're Into some legal trouble and Hopes he can get you out of it too
Farmer hopes you Get hungry and you buy his food too

WHY? ( You already know the answer )

I could add Stocks and bitcoin and who is holding whos' bag at the end of the trading day, but hopefully you catch my drift by now...

MAYBE Some "domainers" Hope someone buys their names, so that They can Feed themselves and their family, MAYBE some see opportunity and can conduct business without emotions. Not all are out to "Make a Quick Buck".

Capitalizing on situation grave or not, still produces results, and those results can be positive for those whom choose to do so. No one should belittle anyone whom trys to fairly and within the rules of the law better themselves, financially or otherwise.

I hope some people can stop being Snowflakes and understand that Capitalism will always be key and essential. Capitalism will build the economy back up.

MAYBE...in this thread and others, people are shaming others, all the while knowing d@mn well IF ANY OF you had the name Godaddy got from the Uni deal sitting in your account all these years....NONE of you would be giving it up freely in the name of "good cause" no matter how self righteous you claim to be, as If your non-"sinful" perfect self would just toss away thee all elusive fortune every domainer dreams of. Honestly, Shame on those "New" &old" shaming others for trying to capitalize on what another person see as a "opportunity". WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE? I also think in times like this, if ANYONE has an idea, to keep money coming, flowing, more power to them.

It is quite Ironic and humorous to see some people scolding people for trying to make a profit on Corona Names.....yet Find themselves Morally at ease, Selling some "poor chap" his expired name back for 20-100x marked up..........Judge, Jury, & Executioner when it's fitting right?

If someones being reasonable & within the lines of the law legally and trying to make a profit....NO ONE should be knocking No ones hustle!

Leave your emotions in your diary. NOT in your B.o.b ( Book of Business )

( I do wish Peace and Health too all and hope everyone stays safe regardless of your position)
 
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Total waste of money, you won't sell any corona names, unless its for $20 to another ambitious domainer.

98% of the Time You are correct and I've learned many of things from you since being here. I take what say seriously.

This is however the other 2% at play...

(Reported Sales Thread Below)

Show attachment 147801

Name: /c/or/on/a/st/or/i/es/d//o/t/c/om
Sale Price: $699
Venue: Afternic
Hold Time: 3 weeks
Total Cost: $2.99

Hand reg. Another one sold where the buyer will have to wait a bit.

So were clear he States not 1 but 2 Sales in this^ ("Another one sold where the buyer will have to wait a bit.")
 
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