I would sooner let my domain expire and blow away than renew with these fiends. My two cents.

It all starts with a simple Company name-change. This rebranding results in a new domain name, and the old one is allowed to expire. Sometime after the new site is live complaints start coming in. The old domain is now a porno site.

These problems can be so easily avoided with the price of domains what they are. The domains should have been retained, and made to forward without gripping to the new site, or to a page on the new site explaining the transition.

When you change your brand and domain there is no guarantee that your audience is following you that closely and will make the jump with you. Maybe they bookmarked your old site on their computer or through some online service. Maybe someone blogged about you and has links to your former domain on their site. Maybe your domain is printed in a brochure or article. Maybe some lost profile for a site you forgot you had membership links (directly tying your name to whatever the link is showing!) The stakes are high!

Your domain – even if it doesn’t reflect your brand anymore – has value. Any URL that has even the most occasional traffic going to it is worth owning to some unscrupulous webmaster.

On the Internet, as in business – everything you do is building your brand. If you’re making comments, social networking or just checking emails, you’re leaving a trail.  Make sure that trail always leads back to you – keep domains, even if they’re old and no longer relevant.

Let auto-renew do its thing. Keep your domains forever.