What Happens When a Website Dies?

If a company goes under and puts its web domain up for sale, wouldn't it be tempting for a cyber-squatter to purchase the site and advertise for companies offering similar products? Damn straight it is. This happens all the time, and it drives me nuts. I try to open an old website saved in my bookmarks only to determine, after a few glances, that it has been replaced with a link-farm site.

Take a look at this website, for example. This used to be a website for a company selling laser products. (I work with lasers, hence a laser company reference). It looks like a real website, but it's not. The first hint might be that they offer links to Jewish Dating as well as Laser Equipment websites. What a peculiar combination. I hate these websites. They'd be slightly more palatable if they at least stated in bold print that they were advertisers and the old site (the one with real content) was expired.

Sigh. I miss the old days when you simply got a Page Not Found Error. You can't even find that any more. In addition to cybersquatters, your ISP is also probably doing some kind of forced advertising crap. For example, when on my company's network, if I type in an invalid url, i get redirected to a website hosted by my ISP (USLEC.net). It tells me the site I was looking for was not found, but also offers me "cool" links to Yahoo search and other miscellaneous junk. In their defense, at least they offer an opt out.

Grr.