[drgoodword]

I know the site owners of PeakOil.com have very clearly stated that one of their goals with this site is to keep the prime keyterm domain name "peakoil.com" out of the hands of propagandists (e.g. Big Oil). But will "peakoil.com" soon be worth too much to keep?

I closely follow the domain name secondary market, and while the domain industry and the value of commercially viable domain names has steadily grown, the last three years have witnessed a explosion in the domain market eclipsing the 1999/2000 mania which saw "Business.com" go for $7 million in December 1999 (since discovered to not have been a pure cash deal), and loans.com for $3 million in February 2000.

Here's some of the top reported sales of domains for 2007 (courtesy of DN Journal):

"Seniors.com" - $1,800,000
"Scores.com" - $1,180,000
"Chinese.com" - $1,120,000

Last year, "Vodka.com" went for $3,000,000 and "Diamond.com" went for $7,500,000.

When "Peak Oil" is fully realized and globally recognized as the watershed phenomenon of our age, the domain name "peakoil.com" will be worth an easy million (in today's money). In fact, I would not be surprised if offers in the thousands, if not the low ten thousands, have already been made and declined.

This site's owners no doubt plan to keep the "peakoil.com" domain until it's pried from their cold, dead keyboards, but, in the grim days to come, when most of us will be financially suffering in a crumbling economy, I would think that it would take an individual of Ghandian principles and resolve to turn down big cash in hard times.

Personally, I'd like to see this site stay on peakoil.com as long as there's an internet. But let's face it: the true value of this site for readers and members is the content. It could be situated on peakoilnewsandmessageboards.com and we'd still all be here.

I'd be interested to hear what kind of inquiries/offers the site owners have already fielded for the domain "peakoil.com," and if they are confident that no future offer would be too large to turn down.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('drgoodword', '.')..but, in the grim days to come, when most of us will be financially suffering in a crumbling economy, I would think that it would take an individual of Ghandian principles and resolve to turn down big cash in hard times.

[drgoodword]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'G')ood points, but why would Big Oil be interested in spreading disinformation after the crash? By then, I'll assume we would have already had necktie parties for all such scapegoats.