Ask HN: Why don't people register personal domains? (eg YourName.com)

I own jarema.com (my last name), mikejarema.com (my full name), and a few other variations and TLDs. I take pride in my slick email address (m*@jarema.com) and my blog ranking highly in Google for name queries. Based on HN submissions coming from personal domains, I expect that there are others here like me in this respect.

When I encourage others to grab a personal domain, especially when their last name .com or even first name .com is unregistered, I find myself all but pleading the case, most times unsuccessfully.

I mean for ~$10 annually, and a bit of upfront effort, you can:

- move your email from gmail, ymail, hotmail, whatevermail over to your own domain

- redirect visitors to your favorite social media profile (FB, twitter, github, dribbble) or in minutes have an about.me page going aggregating it all

- alternatively spend some effort building out a blog or portfolio site

- avoid worrying about being "cyber-squatted" or pranked by a buddy with some initiative

- just sit on the domain (defensive registration)

The truth of the matter is that a good number of personal domains are available in the .com namespace, and many last name .coms are also up for the taking.

However, if & when your name is taken, you're basically SOL.

So... I'm curious, why DON'T people register their personal domains?