Tell me the truth. Is this wrong/bad/unethical

one of my biggest competitors for god knows what reason let their company domain name expire.

They are still in business

I used godaddy’s auction services to pick it up as soon as it was available.

now I redirect the domain to one of my company’s domains and some potential clients of theirs called us asking for help.

should I feel wrong for keeping the customer?

Business doesn’t have any emotions, your competition was careless and did not properly manage themselves. They let a valuable resource to their business wash away beacuse of careless mistakes. Being a "asshole" or crossing the line would invovle, posting a message on a blank page saying "we’ve closed, or out of business", or aka anything involving horrific imagery, etc. Move with the flow of business, if you lost your domain do you expect them to just give it back? That is the key question, but research and think long about it before you make a hasty choice you’d regret.

It’s just business. If you want to be a big dog, act like one.

along those lines I was thinking of adding a disclaimer before the redirect.

something like "we are not affiliated with XXXXXXX"

I would definitely never say anything like "we bought XXXX" or "XXXX is out of business" etc…

As long as it’s clear and you aren’t tricking the customers I think it’s fine. It might be "textbook unethical" but it’s the fucking internet, evolve or die.

As long as you’re honest at all times and not dodgy about it, all good. Put a note on the redirect page.. "Redirecting to xxxx" and make it properly redirect to your domain, not mask as though you’re them.. etc..

You can’t always be "nice" in business.. they fucked up.. their loss, your gain

you do realize that they can just go to ICANN and get the domain back right? + on top of that they can sue you for damages.

this

long shot.. but this

.

If the domain is a trademark (registered or otherwise), expect it to get taken away at some point. You may also have to pay losses, should there be any case of passing off…

I’d be more inclined to stick it under WHOIS privacy, stick a blog up about the subject matter.

If it is trademarked by them, and you’re using it to conduct business, then I’d suspect that you’re fucked.

That was a chickenshit move.

Try and sell it back to them at a higher value

doubt its trademarked. but I’m throwing up a disclaimer just so it wont look shady in any way.

Following the advise of wannabe web professionals on OT will only get your ass handed to you.

why the fuck did you even come back then? All you have been doing is bashing people

kingtoad? more like grumpygoose amirite?

he always seemed nice before. Now it’s almost as if it’s a different person posting…don’t remember him being a bad speller either

Learn something then.

go back into hiding?

Am I hurting your e-pussy?

Need me to massage it?

I don’t really care but it just seems like you’re a real asshole now days. Just wondered why?

Seems like you care.

I guess I’m an asshole. My friends call me a bad influence. Maybe I need to troll harder.

TWL these days is a joke, so I treat it as such, half of the comments following the TS post is proof as such. Get them to ban me if you don’t like it.

But really, I couldn’t think of any more accurate way to deliver what I said. If he had followed what most of you were saying, he’d end up eating his own shit.

king toad stated when he came back that since he is no longer a mod, he was going to troll in here

he says a lot of the things I am thinking

but I agree there has been a lot of bad advice in this thread

In all actually, I you all. I’m just don’t care lately. I’m thinking about posting some tutorials to up my karma lately.

Then again, that may be the alcohol talking.

gogogo!

wait, what? it’s not even 2pm out there

Loaded at work. I have no idea what’s going on.

Sup?

are you implying that before 2pm its not OK to drink a delicious alcoholic beverage?

whats wrong with you?

Doesn’t have to be registered to be a trademark. They can still bring a case under passing off, and under English law at least (US law isn’t that different, but get it checked out) a ‘disclaimer’ doesn’t count for shit when it comes to passing off.

If this is a big business you’re doing this to, get some legal advice before doing any stupid.

its "textbook unethical"

I don’t know about English law, but in the US, a trademark is valid only in the industry and region in which the company is conducting business. The exception is a registered trademark, which is valid all over the country. So a registered trademark goes a long way. If it’s not registered already, he can register it, and they’d have that extra layer to deal with in court.

you seriously don’t think you’re included in this group of people he keeps talking about?

I am not doing what I used to do anymore, I am out of that shit now

I build sites for clients now

I know I’m not included. Because I know more about building websites than kingtoad.

Jesus christ. So cry about it you little bitch. God.

in for predictive targeting algorithm competition

I’d rather have a debate on ethical philosophy, either Randian versus Kantian or egoism versus altruism, if that’s cool with you.

It is often debated that Sumerian, the native tongue of the ancient Sumer was used to communicate with ancient alien lifeforms that were said to have visited this earth during the 26th century. There are many ancient glyphs that prove the existence of such extra-terrestrial life and our ancestors freely communicated with them utilizing the native tongue of the Sumer, known as Sumerian.

Care to take the affirmative, sir?

I beg your pardon friend, but as this thread asks us to analyze a moral dilemma I feel it is more appropriate to debate ethical philosophy. I do believe I made myself clear when I requested a debate regarding the merits of Kantian ethics, specifically deontology and his so-called "categorical imperative"; OR a debate regarding Comte’s ethical altruism. Thank you for understanding.

Kind Regards,
LOL ILC

Yeah, don’t listen to the first few posters.

HOW ARE YOU EVER SINCE YOU’VE STARTED POSTING HERE ALL YOU’VE DONE IS BEEN AN ASSHOLE.

/Browning

Your mother is scared. Fatso.

If u are worried in the slightest about it, just hang on to the domain but dont use it..

Duel?