Domain Names are depressing

dougal85

There are a couple of projects that I am interested in starting with some friends and/or co-workers.

I've just spent the last 30 Min's attempting to find usable relevant domain names. It's almost impossible.

Then you see websites like http://www.sedo.co.uk/ they are crazy... the price of some of these names gets ridiculous.

This surely must be a problem for a number of people... is something going to be done it about in the future? I've no real clever suggestions for solving this, releasing more extensions will eventually just mean they get used or squatted. I hate squatters!!

EPJS

Well the domain I wanted, was already taken, so I added an extra letter to the domain and got it. Try that 🙂

Example: If you want dev.com and it's already taken, try deve.com

dougal85

I guess that could work, but still i think its a real issue with the web and i want to know who is going to fix it for me 😛

leatherback

Yeah, I agree.

I had a long fight with sedo actually. About a year ago I started a community site, visit-me.com. I had seen the domain for sale, and purchased it. Somehow, the owner seemed 'incapable' of releasing the domain. After about 2 months of emailing back and forth, all of the sudden the domain just disappeared from the list, and was for sale somewhere else. Now it is parked with a 'recent purchase' sign on it. 🙁

Shitty system. But what can you do. The other solution would be to limit the number of domains one person/comp can hold. But that would be crap too, if yu are somewhat active..

Elizabeth

I love to chuckle at those who try and sell domain names through ebay for millions of dollars each. As if someone is going to actually buy a $21mil domain name from eBay.

It is very frustrating though if you're a legitimate business... although I have to admit that I've registered a few domain names with huge plans for them, and then never did anything with them... or I guess I should say, I haven't done anything with them yet.

EPJS

leatherback wrote:
The other solution would be to limit the number of domains one person/comp can hold.

The one I originally wanted was taken by ALL the common domains:

.com .net .org .info .us

And the only one that was really being used was the .com, the others were just bought so no one else could use them.

etully

Sorry to play devil's advocate but... there is no such thing as a good or bad domain name.

Go back in time 30 years and ask someone which company is likely to have better auctions: ebay.com or auctions.com. Then ask them which company is going to be good at searching for stuff: google, yahoo, or search.com. Also, ask them where they are going to buy their books. Amazon.com or Books.com. Also, be sure to ask them what they think of the names "slashdot", "verisign", and "godaddy".

You don't need a good domain name. If you have a useful web site, you can succeed with qxm48wk5-eh873m.com. If you have a lame web site, then even something like "pets.com" will fail.

Oh. Having a million dollar advertising budget helps a little.

dougal85

etully wrote:
Sorry to play devil's advocate but... there is no such thing as a good or bad domain name.

I totally disagree, it needs to be memorable at least and easy to say. slashdot.org works well because its a geeky site, so they like the name.

Imagine trying to tell people on the phone to visit www.slashpetsdotshop.com

Also, I often hear about websites by work of mouth and probably more commonly tell people about them. I remember when local.live.com (microsoft's Google maps basically) first came out, it was under another company's name and it was much longer... anyway, it so happened to have much better quality satellite pictures of my area (at the time, Google caught up now). I mentioned it to a few people and they asked me the URL... every time i forgot. but something like local.live.com that sounds easy to say.

The URL was something like www.creativelogicstudios.com/something

ahundiak

So are you asking when will someone will fix the web or when will someone fix your short term memory? I expect that the short term memory problem would be much easier to solve.

I think I could probably recite maybe 30 domains that I use regularly. The rest are strictly bookmarks.

veridicus

These days many people don't even use the URL bar any more. They type the site they want to go to into Google. I didn't believe it until I found many people get to one of my sites by typing the name into google (just without the .com). And it's definitely not a string anyone would normally search for. They don't have to be exact with the name, either, just close.

dougal85

ahundiak wrote:
I think I could probably recite maybe 30 domains that I use regularly. The rest are strictly bookmarks.

I never said i used the site regularly, i found it once thought it was a bit impressive so was going to pass the word on. try remembering every website url you ever see.

I'd rather somebody fixed the internet, my short term memory is fine. but thanks for asking.

veridicus wrote:
These days many people don't even use the URL bar any more. They type the site they want to go to into Google.

Thats true actually, good point. I often do that, when i first started using wikipedia i always spelt it wrong or forgot it. I just typed wiki into google.

I never use bookmarks, they just get really messy really quickly. The only things in my books marks are stuff 'i'm going to read later' I never do. Also, bookmarks are not that useful with people moving around so much and who can be bothered carrying bookmarks on a pen drive?

cahva

Also, bookmarks are not that useful with people moving around so much and who can be bothered carrying bookmarks on a pen drive?

If people move around much they usually have a laptop with them 😃

ahundiak

Bit off topic but you might consider: http://del.icio.us/

dougal85

cahva wrote:
If people move around much they usually have a laptop with them 😃

Not really an option for me and I assume others;

work, home and uni (various systems within uni)

required to use there systems in each case.

EPJS

dougal85 wrote:
Also, bookmarks are not that useful with people moving around so much and who can be bothered carrying bookmarks on a pen drive?

They have services to store your bookmarks online, then access them from any computer at any time :p

dougal85

I guessed there would be, but i bet they are more hassel than they are worth.

ahundiak

I'd take that bet.

pohopo

dougal85 wrote:
I've just spent the last 30 Min's attempting to find usable relevant domain names. It's almost impossible.

You need to spend a few hours to find a good domain name. I know people that are always looking for good names and they snatch it the moment they find it. I have a good 20 domain names myself. I want to do things with them, but just have not had the time. One day though they will all have content!

Bunkermaster

So basically you do exactly the same thing as those who ruin it. If people were to take what they need only and not everything they can, things would be a lot simpler.
The only thing you achieve by mass buying domains is make sure that when you need one badly for a genuine need, someone who does the same as you do will have it stashed for a never to happen futur.

pohopo

Bunkermaster wrote:
So basically you do exactly the same thing as those who ruin it. If people were to take what they need only and not everything they can, things would be a lot simpler.
The only thing you achieve by mass buying domains is make sure that when you need one badly for a genuine need, someone who does the same as you do will have it stashed for a never to happen futur.

I am sorry, I have ruined nothing for nobody. Every domain name I have I want to do something with, the problem is I have more ideas then time. So if I find a good domain where I want to do something in the future should I just not buy it so maaaaybe some joe might buy it and maaaybe use it?

Besides, there are trillions of possible domain names a person can have so my few domain names is not ruining anything for anyone as there are plenty of names left if you use some imagination. Some of the biggest domain names in the world are from non existant words (flikr, wikipedia, ebay, yahoo, etc) so you can have a very successful site without needing a common generic name.

I do see a problem when people buy tens of thousands without ever planning to use the domain, but every domain name I have is something I would like to do something with. The one I am working on now I have had for over a year and I am just barely doing something with it.