undefined | Better HN

0 pointsdenton-scratch3y ago0 comments

If they're placeholder pages, they're not dead. Those 10% are not responding at all; the requests aren't reaching any HTTP server.

0 comments

4 comments · 2 top-level

zamadatix3y ago· 2 in thread

Not all placeholder pages will forever stay placeholder pages though. Some may get sold, become a site, then stop being a site again. Some may not get sold, come up for renewal and be deemed unlikely to be worth trying to sell anymore (renewal is cheap for a registrar but the registry will still charge a small fee).

Of course the vast majority with enough interest to make this list will either be sold and be an active page or still be an active placeholder but I wouldn't rule out there being a good count of pages towards the lower end of the top million being placeholders that were eventually deemed not worth trying for anymore.

MonkeyMalarky3y ago

Exactly. Afaik, there's even a whole auction based side industry trading expired domains. When you see a placeholder page, the original site is for all intents and purposes, dead. The domain just happens to be interesting enough that someone wants to stick an ad on it rather than let it resolve to nothing.

denton-scratchOP3y ago

Yabbut a placeholder page returns status 200. We're discussing URLs that don't return any status at all; they are unresponsive. They have no placeholder; they aren't a "place".

A site that is occupied by a placeholder page is a 200, as far as that "top million" database is concerned. It might as well be a working shopfront or blog.

winddude3y ago

at least from his computer/script. A number could have been blocked simply detecting him as a bot.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse