Domain registration is first-come, first-serve

From WhyNotWiki

Aliases: Domain registration is a free-for-all, Domain registration is unregulated

See also: Domain squatting

I can't decide whether this is a good thing or bad thing...

On the one hand, I'm pretty miffed at all those domain squatters who register tons of domains with no plans of actually putting any useful content on them, but simply have a contentless "portal" to make money off of links with the hopes of selling the domain for some outrageous profit to someone who actually has a legitimate use for the domain but just didn't have the luck or foresight to register it first.

But on the other hand, sometimes the luck has been on my side, and I've scored some pretty nice domain real estate and have been pretty happy that there was nothing stopping me from registering them. I haven't always known right away what I would use the domains for -- I just thought they would be cool to have and had a feeling that I might use them someday. But I feel I'm at least a little bit different from your typical domain squatter in that I actually hope to use all of my domains to serve actual interesting content -- I'm not just "hogging" the domains for the sole purpose of making money from having registered the domain.

[edit] Should there be regulation?

I think there should be. Not some insurmountable heap of red tape, but some reasonable measure to prevent domains from going to filthy-greedy domain hoarders who have absolutely no intention of putting anything useful or interesting on that domain.

I'm thinking something along the lines of what sourceforge requires for new project registrations [need link]: some basic facts about the project and (notably) a description of the project, what it's for, why it exists, etc. -- basically, a brief defense of why the request should be granted.

These registration requests should either be reviewed by a trustworthy central organization or simply by peers on the Internet -- requiring a certain rough consensus from a reasonable variety and number of people to confirm that, yes, that is a reasonable plan/proposal/reason for existence for said domain.

People are too greedy. They will snatch up more domains than is fair. They will snatch domains that they don't even know what to do with, but think that just because they thought of the domain name first they are entitled to it.

Well, it just ain't right. It's not that easy with real real estate, and it shouldn't be that easy with domain real estate.