Amych, I realised I'd been working the .tv while you were working the .us.

As of all my posts, .tv was unregistered.

It's possible I'm too techie to be a good target, but the idea of buying a domain from someone who hasn't said they're for sale didn't occur to me. I didn't even read the username until later.

It's possible I'm too techie to be a good target

Yeah, know that feeling. The idea of buying a domain from anyone random doesn't generally occur to me, and I'm not sure it would have if someone didn't say "hey, isn't that spam?".

But do you think a non-techie would assume that the username was the place to go register?

It's perfectly possible that that's precisely what the poster wanted. It isn't however, what the poster said. So I think the reaction somewhat unwarranted.

I'm amazed that anyone would get a mortgage from a company that can't spell "mortgage".

It isn't however, what the poster said. So I think the reaction somewhat unwarranted.

But -- at least with the .us one -- it's apparent that the poster was "fudging heartily" (love that phrase).

The two domains were .us and a .biz.

.tv didn't enter into it.

Sorry. .biz is available.

it's apparent that the poster was "fudging heartily" (love that phrase).

Sure. Or they were doing a mass notification and hadn't checked to see if the domain had been registered in the meanwhile.

I know we don't have to be all about reasonable doubt, or anything, but I still think if it's a spam, it's the world's lamest.

if it's a spam, it's the world's lamest.

No quarrel there. Just pretty sure it is one, over here.

Or they were doing a mass notification and hadn't checked to see if the domain had been registered in the meanwhile.

Huh? In amych's post above, the registrant's email is listed as admin@<the-user-id-of-the-spammer>. Where's the doubt?

I think we should save hard stomping for explicit spam.

Where's the doubt?

Because if you go to that site, you can't buy the domain! If you try and register it there, it won't let you. So no profit for them. If you try and register .biz, you're golden. Golden anywhere else on the web too.

I doubt it makes any sense at all. That's what I doubt.

If the registrar name was the same as the user's registered e-mail address, I'd write it off as stupidity. Having seen people use a registrar with a mechanism that doesn't put their own ID in that spot (my former employees did it, when the person registering wasn't tech-savvy -- it's hardly rare), I don't see anything incontrovertible here.

I just don't see the big deal.