URL Claiming Full Guide

This guide contains up to date information over URL claiming on Rentry.

Quick Reference: Keeping your URLs safe from claims

✔️ Edit at least every 12 months
✔️ (If claimed using /request-url) Fill with genuine content within 3 months of claiming

Definitions

Genuine Content: Content that was created by a human, specifically for the page it is on. It must have taken at least 30 seconds of effort to create with the following exceptions:

Pages displaying URL hoards of more than 10 URLs. See Hoard definition below. Links used as navigation, or otherwise to URLs containing genuine content do not count as part of this 10 URL limit.

The following content does not count towards time estimates:

Any mention that content is 'work in progress'
.gifs, or any image that cannot be reverse Google image searched, unless demonstrated on appeal that they were made especially for that URL
Template or placeholder content that is clear from viewing this URL in isolation.
[//]: (Comments)

Additional Modifiers:

Pages containing a link to a URL hoard (through any number of clicks) require an additional 30 seconds of effort. Any images on the page will collectively be counted for no more than 5 seconds of effort.
Images can only be considered as a maximum of 15 seconds of effort unless they can be proven to have been created specifically for this URL, in which case they may be considered as a maximum of 30 seconds. This may need to be explained to us on appeal.

Taken / Registered: URLs that were created for the first time via /new or /edit : update URL and have never had a successful /request-url re-assignment. If a claim is made these will be subject to the Standard Claim rules.
Claim / Claimed: URLs that were re-assigned for the first time using the request-url form. If a futher claim is made these will be subject to the Reclaim rules.
Reclaim / Reclaimed: URLs that were re-assigned more than once. If a further claim is made these will be subject to the Reclaim rules.
Hoard: A list of URLs that are listed for the sole purpose of being kept as possessions, in the interest of collecting, trading, selling or withholding from others.

Newly claimed URLs that are not yet decorated and still within their 3 month protection period still count towards the 10 'hoarded' count when listed!

Standard Claims

A URL that has not been edited for at least 12 months will become available to be claimed using the standard claim system.
Once a claim is made, it will either be approved or denied. This is carried out based on the following:

Is the reason given sufficient?
Is the URL acceptable under the eligibility rules?
Has the claimer used multiple emails to evade the 3 claims per week rule?
(Phasing Out) Does the URL have genuine content and has it also been edited within the last 2 years? We're phasing this out now that the URL claim system has been available for over 6 months, as this was mostly to protect those who were not yet aware of the claim system.

Outcome

When a claim is accepted, the URL is transferred.
When a claim is denied, the URL will not be available for another claim request for another 1 month.

Reclaims

Once a URL has been claimed for the first time, it becomes a Claimed URL, which have lesser protections. After 3 months, it will be available for a Reclaim request, no matter whether it has been edited or not recently. This will then be approved or denied based on the following:

Has the URL been edited since it was claimed? (If no then the reclaim request is auto accepted)
Does the URL currently have genuine content? (If yes then the reclaim request is denied)
Is the reason given sufficient?
Does the URL have identical content to another of this person's URLs? (If yes then the reclaim is accepted. However the original post is immune from this, and we do check that the claimer hasn't simply made a duplicate URL just to trick us. Evidence for duplication must be presented within an appeal as we aren't able to check this at the time of a claim.) %%

Outcome

When a reclaim is accepted, the URL is transferred and an email will be sent out to the previous owner, giving them a chance to appeal.
When a reclaim is denied, the URL will not be available for another re-claim request for another 6 months (or 1 month if the supplied message was the cause of the denied claim).

Appeals

When an appeal is accepted, the URL will be transferred back to the original owner. The new owner will be notified by email.
When an appeal is denied, nothing further will happen.

Method

The URL request form may be used for all URL claims and will automatically make a claim or a reclaim depending on which is suitable.

Keeping your URLs Safe

If you have a URL that was first published within the last 12 months, your URL is safe.
After this, you must edit it once per year.
If you claim a URL, you must fill it with genuine content within 3 months, or it may be re-claimed.
Claimed URLs must still be edited at least once per year. While they will be safe from the re-claim system if they have genuine content, they will be subject to the claim system if they are inactive.