10 Most Unintentionally Funny Domains
Did you *really* look closely at that domain before you registered it? Not everyone does, and the result is that sometimes companies and online services build their brands around unfortunate domains that can be read several ways. Independent Sources has supplied a list of 10 of the worst ill-named domains.
An example: The Pen Island company registering www.penisland.net. Then of course, there’s the Italian Power Generator company that chose www.powergenitalia.com. If you haven't seen it already, check out the full list. It's a major hoot.
Posted by RichM 
August 1, 2006 | Permalink | Newsletter
December 8, 2005
Are Shorter Names Really Worth More?
Domain Rookie today notes several excellent research and data analysis tools at DomainsBot Labs, which explore how domain name value is affected by the length of a name and the number of keywords. The data is based on an analysis of more than 4,304 domain sales on AfterNIC from January 2003 to September 2005. The DomainsBot study supports common assumptions about the value of shorter names, but the analysis surfaces some underlying trends that could be useful in buying domains. Definitely worth a visit.
Posted by RichM December 8, 2005 | Permalink | Newsletter
August 29, 2005
Domain Name Journal Hacked
Hackers have defaced the web site of Domain Name Journal, one of the leading news sources for the domain industry. The defacement, which included comments about domain hijacking and a claim of credit by an Iranian teen, was first seen Monday and remained online Tuesday morning. The hack of DNJournal.com comes days after distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on domain parking services including Sedo and ParkingSite.
Posted by RichM August 29, 2005 | Permalink | Newsletter
July 7, 2005
High Court Battle Spurs Domain Sales
Activists are buying up domain names related to potential Supreme Court nominees, apparently girding for a public relations offensive over the upcoming nomination by President Bush of a judge to replace the retired Sandra Day O'Connor. The National Review found the pro-choice group NARAL has registered stopgonzales.com - presumably a reference to Attorney general Alberto Gonzales, rumored to be in Bush's short list - as well as "stop" variations on the names of several other prospects. Another liberal group, People for the American Way, has also registered multiple domains related to possible Bush nominees.
Posted by RichM July 7, 2005 | Permalink | Newsletter
May 19, 2005
Best Domain Blogs
There are a growing number of informative blogs writing about the domain business. Which are the worthiest? Here's my list of favorites, and why they're useful:
- ICANN Blogs: The clear winner here is the LexText blog from Bret Fausett, a lawyer and tech columnist.Just about any event or discussion of significance in the ICANNosphere gets linked on Bret's blog. Great stuff. Other daily reads include the venerable ICANN Watch blog and Circle ID, which each offer news and insight on Internet governance and the domain name system. Other ICANN watchers of note include Christopher Ambler and Karl Auerbach (CaveBear Blog), while travel blogger Ed Hasbrouck and his Practical Nomad blog provide an example of a non-domain blog getting engaged in ICANN policy debates.
- Registrar Insider Blogs: Several executives of large domain registrars maintain blogs. The most visible these days is Bob Parsons of Go Daddy
, who used his blog to write about the company's recent Super Bowl ads, and to critique the Commerce Department's decision to discontinue private registrations for .us domains. Ross Rader of Tucows maintains Random Bytes, which covers a lot of ground beyond the domain business. Right now Ross is blogging with speech recognition software after breaking his arm in a bicycle accident. There's a determined blogger for you!
- The Domain Resale Market: Sidney Parfait of DropWatch maintains the Expired Domains blog, which provides an insider look at the complex and busy world of the domain aftermarket. The Domain Weblog (Chronicles of the Domainer) has been quiet for about a month or so, but provides excellent explanations of the secondary market and how it works. The Domaining Blog is also worth monitoring.
In upcoming weeks we'll explore the best domain resources in a number of areas. Next up will be domain-related news (which doesn't all fit neatly into the blogs).
Posted by RichM May 19, 2005 | Permalink | Newsletter