Are you a domain hoarder?

I constantly receive emails from GoDaddy. Part of that is because they are one of the most persistent emailers of all time, but part of that is because I own a lot of domains.

Many of these domains are unused. Just sitting there, registered but not home to any website.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a domainer. I’m not a fan of the practice of domain squatting or speculating.

Most of them are not defensive either. In all my years of advising candidates and others in the public spotlight on digital strategy, I was never an advocate of registering “JohnDoeSucks.com” or things like that. There are simply too many possibilities to register, so why waste the energy? The pranksters and opponents will always come up with something you missed.

The truth is that I am a domain hoarder.

I acquire domains because I have an idea for a business or project. Sometimes I register one, but hit on an even better domain name for the idea a few days (or even hours) later.

After engaging in this practice for more than two decades, I have a pile of unused domains. I usually leave them on renewal autopilot because I regularly go back to my roster and call up an unused domain — often for a project different from the original intent.

Earlier this year, I finally realized that the bloat was too much. Maybe it’s because I have hit middle age and am looking to simplify. Or maybe I just got tired of all the emails.

To be honest, I can’t tell you what specifically spurred me to action, but I got on with my digital housecleaning and substantially pared back my holdings.

Of course, now I’m being inundated by a steady stream of “your domain is expiring” and “last chance to reclaim your domain” emails from GoDaddy.

But that will pass in the coming months, and I will be satisfied to be a bit less of a domain hoarder than I used to be.