Wow. The length people will go... my only recommendation would be to keep an active public profile, and make sure people know that is NOT your gym.

After some searching, some of their people are on here... I wonder if you couldn't get them to explain it to you...

I texted the owner directly. This was his response....

That is literally the definition of unethical... it's also known as "domain squatting" or cybersquatting (https://en.wikipedia.org/[...]rsquatting).

There may be something legal you can do - although, it may not be worth it ($$$).

thats messed up. dirtbag tactic

I'm not a lawyer but i thought this was illegal in a lot of places now. I know that in the UK, i can't just buy machesterunited.co.uk for the purpose of selling it to Manchester United at an inflated price. I'd have to have a valid website related to Manchester United otherwise they'd have to relinquish it. Might be worth looking into the legal side.

Agreed! The guy who did it is on here... Unfortunately this site is only for verifying black belt status, not character. Otherwise I would have disputed his profile a long time ago.

Such an interesting concept. I believe we all agree that despite the technical and legal process of proactively purchasing domains, it's a scum bag move, particularly in our community.

With that said, the really interesting concept I'm referring to is the "Unfortunately this site is only for verifying black belt status, not character". While obviously this idea is 100% subjective, I do totally think it's something that everyone does take into consideration.

In another forum topic, people are discussing if character matters in regards to promotions. I'm curious to see if the belt checker community will unverify this individual (either by disputes or simply people withdrawing their votes) because of this.

I guess I’d never verify someone if I knew this, but I don’t know that I’d remove verifications I’ve already done.

Interesting to think about...

Totally unethical. Digital bait and switch. Not necessarily blackhat, def greyhat.

Ddos that site?

Well, this is beltchecker, not niceguychecker. You can be a real dbag and be a legit black belt. You can also be a super nice guy with a fake belt. I don't think I'd go out of my way to verify, but I wouldn't dispute a legit belt if the person was a dbag. I completely agree that jacking a domain is a real crappy and unethical thing to do, but it doesn't invalidate their rank.

Honestly is fair practice. If he capitalized on something that the business didnt, its really nothing you can do about it. First thing i do if im going to advertise anything about any business that i run online i make sure that I solidify the domain.

Now the question is did the person Take the domain after it expired or they purchased it before the company owner thought of it. If either of these are vaild than he is shit out of luck with that. I know a company that just buy domains and like domains that had serious traffic.. but expired..

when you register a domain and its about to expire.... It emails the Webmaster or Contact info registrar That its time for renewal.. it does this about 3 months up to a month after with all the hosting companies i have been with... SO there were Flags and Notifications put in place to renew the domain... IF someone marks a domain to notify them when it becomes available. than the person that originally had it, ignored the notifications or just didnt care... .Sad to say... Hes just gonna have to get another likemind domain Or try to work it out the new owner.... Which isnt easy most of the time... GOod luck with that...

Justin Polette just won this thread with that quote.

Exactly! But you can go and write a comment on their wall nevertheless :)