Change Your Name • Hacker News Board

Re: Change Your Name

#341

Post by pbreit » Mon, Aug 10, 2015, 5:31 PM UTC

booruguru wrote: post #272

pbreit wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There's no point in buying an expensive domain name for a company that may not survive past the startup stage." This is exactly why the .com domain wins. They do not have this attitude. Their attitude is to be in it to win it and do what it necessary to be successful. That's the .com signal.

Not everybody finances a startup with a mountain of cash. If you're funding your business with your life savings and credit cards, it's difficult to place a premium on a domain name while contemplating how long you can pay your mortgage and put food on the table. Also, blind optimism is not required for success. And no domain name is an antidote for a shitty idea that nobody cares about.

You basically make the case for .com. It signals funding and optimism (whether you wrongly think it's bind or not).

Re: Change Your Name

#342

Post by pbreit » Mon, Aug 10, 2015, 5:31 PM UTC

taytus wrote: post #300

pbreit wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There's no point in buying an expensive domain name for a company that may not survive past the startup stage." This is exactly why the .com domain wins. They do not have this attitude. Their attitude is to be in it to win it and do what it necessary to be successful. That's the .com signal.

Maybe that was 2 years ago. Most people google the product/service nowadays, so if you have a better product/service, your company might be on top of some .com domain doing the same thing. I think that the .com fever is over.

It has nothing to do with how you find the website.

Re: Change Your Name

#343

Post by pbreit » Mon, Aug 10, 2015, 5:32 PM UTC

ThomPete wrote: post #278

pbreit wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There's no point in buying an expensive domain name for a company that may not survive past the startup stage." This is exactly why the .com domain wins. They do not have this attitude. Their attitude is to be in it to win it and do what it necessary to be successful. That's the .com signal.

Most people don't know what .com is. So sure if you are talking about a bunch of VCs your might be right but for most people it doesn't have that value.

How do you explain that pretty much every very large successful company has its straightforward .com? And why do you not place any significance in that?

Re: Change Your Name

#344

Post by machbio » Mon, Aug 10, 2015, 5:34 PM UTC

astrong wrote: post #298

machbio wrote: post #120

I have a doubt about names - sorry to stray away from the topic but it would help me giving away the domain i have for the future. I have a domain name which is registered as trademark by one of the organizations, can the organization claim the domain name since they own the trademark ?

Did you register the domain name before their trademark ? There are several ways under the Uniform Domain Resolution Policy whereby they can come after the domain name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Domain-Name_Dispute-Re... To answer the other question posted to your question. Registering a trademark in an attempt to take a domain name from someone else is know as Reverse Domain Name Hijacking https://en.wik…

thank you that really helped learn more about the topic..

Re: Change Your Name

#345

Post by robwilliams » Mon, Aug 10, 2015, 7:18 PM UTC

xamuel wrote: post #6

>Don't believe a domain is for sale unless the owner has already told you an asking price. One of my favorite examples: http://nissan.com

steam.com is another

Re: Change Your Name

#346

Post by ThomPete » Mon, Aug 10, 2015, 9:41 PM UTC

pbreit wrote: post #343

ThomPete wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people don't know what .com is. So sure if you are talking about a bunch of VCs your might be right but for most people it doesn't have that value.

How do you explain that pretty much every very large successful company has its straightforward .com? And why do you not place any significance in that?

It's .com for historical reasons. Today most startups wont be able to afford a proper .com name, but as they grow more and more successful they will.

So PG is right that a .com is important but not for the reasons he seem to indicate.

That you can acquire a proper .com is a manifestation of your success it is not the base of your success. And that is how his essay comes of at least to me and many others.

Re: Change Your Name

#347

Post by beau » Mon, Aug 10, 2015, 9:48 PM UTC

tajen wrote: post #169

squiggy22 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't agree more. Google, Yahoo, Twitter. Three global brands that aren't dictionary names, and don't have to be. You don't need a dictionary word .com to survive either.

All combinations of 6 letters .com are taken. All 16k words of the dictionary are taken in English. It wasn't even the case 2 years ago. I wonder whether pg's impression that if is possible to get a .com is outdated.

It's hard to find an available .com. But that doesn't mean you can't get one: https://instantdomainsearch.com/aftermarket/

Re: Change Your Name

#348

Post by gpvos » Mon, Aug 10, 2015, 10:04 PM UTC

Pretty ironic that hours after posting this, Google announced it split up under a new umbrella company called Alphabet, and it doesn't own alphabet.com .

Although I guess Google is above the rules that startups have to play by. Quod licet Iovi non licet bovi.

Re: Change Your Name

#349

Post by persona » Mon, Aug 10, 2015, 10:31 PM UTC

Someone from Google, er, Alphabet didn't read PG's essay: https://abc.xyz

Re: Change Your Name

#350

Post by matobago » Tue, Aug 11, 2015, 2:23 AM UTC

Much of the comments mention that you should buy the .com until your startup is well funded (stronger). And that exactly the whole point of this post is make it stronger since the beginning.