The definition of “domaining” and “domainer” on Wikipedia redirected to “cybersquatter” for a long time. Recently an article has shown up for the term (and has also been proposed for deletion). You can see the article at Wikipedia.org and you can discuss the article (and vote on whether to delete it) here. The article is spammy in places. There is a link to PremiumDomains.biz that appears to be self-serving (and may be counter-productive). Please consider editing and improving this article. I think that we should refrain from such links to our own sites when we do this, however.
Because the article may be deleted I am excerpting below much of the content that appeared on 8/10/09 at 8:30 pm:
Domaining is the practice of monetizing Internet domain names using a variety of methods and strategies. These approaches may include website development, minisite creation, affiliate marketing partnerships, domain forwarding services, domain name sales and leasing, the selling of direct sales lead via customer opt-in, the inclusion of paid business directory listings. A popular strategy to monetize domain name involves creation of websites displaying pay per click advertising. These practices often lead to domain name speculation, but the latter is also a preferred activity in itself for the majority of domaining practitioners.[citation needed] An individual who engages in domaining is referred to as a domainer.
The underlying opportunity for profiting from domaining lies in the limited supply of simple, memorable names within the most popular top-level domains (TLDs), most notably the TLD COM.[1] Major Internet service providers have been known to practice domaining by benefiting from mistyped domain names in web browsers, and redirecting the invalid domain names to advertising sites created for this purpose.[2]
Contents* 1 Domainer
* 2 Distinction between domaining and cybersquatting
* 3 Trade organizations
* 4 Growth of the domain name industry
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External linksDomainer
The term domainer has been defined in the various media publications. In a July 2009 article in The New York Times domainers were defined as those “who see buying portfolios of Web sites as a digital form of investing in real estate.” [3]
Forbes Magazine defined a domainer as a domain trader.[4] The article also discusses some of the practices that domainers engage in, when it states that in addition to flipping, domainers have other ways of making money from their investments. Most domainers post ads on their Web sites, which can generate a decent monthly income.
Distinction between domaining and cybersquatting
As opposed to Cybersquatting, Domaining attempts to register for profit domains that do not infringe on another’s rights. Cybersquatting has been defined as a federal offense in the United States by the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else. The organized domaining industry claims to oppose cybersquatting, does not register trademark infringing domain names, and has publicly voiced opposition to this practice at international trade conferences,[citation needed] through published articles,[citation needed] participation in online discussion forums, and membership in the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) which represents domain name investors, developers, and the direct search industry.
The distinction between domaining and cybersquatting has been discussed in numerous instances, such as by the site premiumdomains.biz.[5]
New forms of cybersquatting include the registration of ‘trademarks to be’ as most non-brandable domains (consisting of generic terms) in lucrative TLDs like .com are not available anymore. Modern cybersquatters hope that their domain names will someday match the name of a start up company. Because of high costs involved in law cases this new form of cybersquatting can still be successful in many cases. The domaining industry has so far failed to address this matter and does not seem interested in going against those new cybersquatters among them.
Trade organizations
The Internet Commerce Association (ICA), founded in 2006 by Frank Schilling, is a non-profit trade organization representing domain name investors and developers and the direct search industry. Its mandate is to improve public confidence in Internet commerce through the promotion of best practices among domainers and the education of consumers, policy makers, law makers and the media.
The ICA’s Member Code of Conduct states:[6]
“Protection of Intellectual Property Rights: A registrant shall follow accepted trademark law and respect the brands and trademarks of others. Members will not intentionally and in bad faith register and use a domain name that is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark. Registrants shall respond promptly to legitimate disputes relating to alleged infringement of intellectual property rights.”
Growth of the domain name industry
The domain name industry is a multi-million dollar enterprise and has been growing steadily year after year as reflected in the Sedo 2008 domain name sales report[7]. Sedo reported sales of US$77,413,390 in 2008. In 2006, Sedo’s domain sales were US$45,076,536, and 2004 sales were US$11,148,922, showing a significant rise in sales over time. Sedo provides periodic news and articles on domain name investing.[8]
See also
* Domain Name System
* Domain aftermarket
* Domain transfer
* Domain name warehousing
* Domain tasting
* ICANN
NameMonetizer 
Excellent post and it’s taken a while for Wikipedia to understand that domaining is not cybersquatting. Like "domaining", Wikipedia also had apparently removed the following article on "domaineering" that was found under the category of "Domain Parking" subtitle "Parked Domain Monetization". It may be worth preserving here in case Wikipedia doesn’t bring it back: Domaineering" is the web-based marketing business of acquiring and monetizing Internet domain names through their use specifically as an advertising medium rather than primarily speculating on domains as intellectual property investments for resale as in domaining where generating advertising revenue is considered more of a bonus while awaiting a sale. In essence, the domain names function as virtual Internet billboards with generic domain names being highly valued for their revenue generating potential derived from attracting Internet traffic hits. Revenue is earned as potential customers view pay per click ( PPC ) ads or the Internet traffic attracted may be redirected to another website. Hence, the domain name itself is the revenue generating asset conveying information beyond just functioning as a typical web address. As the value here is intrinsically in the domain name as an information carrying vehicle and not in a website’s products or services, these domains are developed for advertising, ( i.e, "parked" ), and not into "conventional" websites. As with traditional advertising, domaineering is part art and part science. Often to be the most effective as an advertising tool, the domain names and their corresponding landing pages must be engineered or optimized to produce maximum revenue which may require considerable skill and keen knowledge of search engine optimization ( SEO ) practices, marketing psychology and an understanding of the target market audience, including demographics and buying habits. Domaineering generally utilizes a firm offering domain parking services to provide the sponsored "ad feed" of a word or phrase searched for thus creating a mini-directory populated largely by advertisers paying to promote their products and services under a relevant generic keyword domain. Occasionally content is added to develop a functional mini-website. Ethical domaineers contend that their product, i.e., "domain advertising", is a bona fide offering of goods or services in and of itself which provides rights to and legitimate interests in the generic domains they use. This serves as a rebuttal or defense in addressing occasional spurious accusations of cybersquatting on trademarks. Domaineers and some of those who advertise online using generic keywords believe domaineering provides a useful, legal and legitimate Internet marketing service while opponents of domaineering decry the practice as increasing the ubiquitous commercialization of the world wide web. Domaineering aka "domain advertising" is practiced by both large organizations which may have registered hundreds or even thousands of domains to individual entrepreneurial minded domaineers who may only own one or a few. This early definition of domaineering as a distinct Internet advertising practice is attributed to Canadian Professor William Lorenz.
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