In Wake of Disaster, Domain Investor Does Good

I read a story in ComputerWorld about domain speculators buying hurricane-related domain names and parking them or listing them for sale to profit off of this natural disaster. Every time a tragedy strikes, it seems that domain speculators buy related domain names with the purpose of profiting off of disaster. This causes much criticism of the domain investment industry, and it seems legitimate domain investors take it on the chin after every tragedy.
While speculators are still buying Hurricane Gustav-related domain names, there is at least one domain investor who is foregoing profit to make a difference. Fin Lemonde registered GustavRelief.com and similar domain names on behalf of his church a couple of years ago. Fin saw people buying Katrina-related domain names and wanted to make a difference in the event any of the 2008 hurricanes caused a disaster. Fin’s idea was to create an organization that could lend itself to helping other human beings if the need arose.
Because of other projects that took precedence, as well as a tragic personal loss in the last couple of years, this organization never got off the ground. Fin kept the domain names on the back burner until a few days ago. Upon hearing news of Hurricane Gustav’s potential to cause major damage to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, Fin realized he needed to do something with this important domain name to help. Putting personal morals over profit, Fin has decided to forward all traffic from GustavRelief.com to the American Red Cross.
People in need of services or help in the wake of Hurricane Gustav that type in GustavRelief.com will not have to worry about clicking on advertisements, relief scams, or being sent elsewhere. Instead, they will be sent directly to the American Red Cross homepage where they can receive help from one of the leading American charitable organizations. Likewise, people who want to help will be able to do so as well. As soon as time permits, all of these protective domain registrations will forward to a single landing page where visitors will be able to choose from several charities that are helping with relief efforts.
This is a story of a domain investor doing the right thing. Instead of the negative stories about domain investors we always see, wouldn’t it be nice if media outlets focused on people doing positive things to help other human beings?

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

4 COMMENTS

  1. Very impressive. I dealt with Fin a few years ago on a domain matter (I was the opposing attorney).
    He sent me a little gift after the thing was resolved, which I certainly appreciated. I’m not surprised to see that his social consciousness trumps his desire for profits.

  2. Hi Elliot…
    Thanks for the nice post and comment over at the article at: Computer World.
    Best as always,
    Dan
    Owner Of:
    gustavcharities.org
    gustavcharities.com
    gustavcharity.org
    gustavcharity.com
    gustavdonation.com
    gustavdonation.org
    gustavdonations.org
    gustavfund.org
    gustavrelieffund.com
    If any legitimate charity or organization wants to put to use one or more of these domains to help the people effected by hurricane Gustav….
    You can email me at: mainstreet @ gmail .com
    As for now….I will keep them all pointed to: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/
    They do Great relief work work…and have been in NO for the past 3 years…. still helping them after hurricane Katrina.
    Peace!
    Dan
    AKA “Danno” on Frank Shillings blog
    BTW: I wish Frank would “re-surface” sometime soon…I love Elliot’s blog….but always enjoyed Franks as well.

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