5 ms·

One of my hobbies is the diametric opposite of this approach, I enjoy trawling domain auctions for short .coms that don't include any dictionary words but still

by 256DEV 4y ago

One of my hobbies is the diametric opposite of this approach, I enjoy trawling domain auctions for short .coms that don't include any dictionary words but still sound fun. I love names like Quora that are meaningless but still somehow feel like they should be a real word! I believe the academic category for these is "lexical gap". During the pandemic I got a little too much into it and so now I'm actually busy working on a site to list them for sale - https://wuzmo.com https://wuzmo.com - the plan is to make it essentially a cheap brandbucket.

ca98am79 4y ago
I have found amazing domain names by just checking auctions daily. I got both file.io and impervious.com on Flippa for around a few thousand each. I've started companies on both of these domains. If you just check once a year, you likely won't find a good one. But if you check almost daily for years, you will eventually strike gold.
eterm 4y ago
Quora is a real word, it is the plural of Quorum.
- belter 4y ago
  It seems it's not how the site got the name: https://www.quora.com/Does-Quora-come-from-the-plural-version-of-Quorum-If-so-is-this-a-valid-Latin-formation https://www.quora.com/Does-Quora-come-from-the-plural-versio...
  - saint-loup 4y ago
    The most upvoted answer seems totally made up. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=%22Quora+et+labora%22 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=%22Quora+...
- 256DEV 4y ago
  Well well, I did not know that.. Thanks for expanding my vocab! Maybe a better example would have been the similar Zuora!
  - duffyjp 4y ago
    Actually, Zuora is the plural of Zuorum (according to many poorly OCR'd PDFs I found on google). :D
Tepix 4y ago
how is this not squatting and thus deplorable?
- halJordan 4y ago
  Squatting has an intention behind it. You don't call ancient coin collectors deplorable squatters because they are taking limited stock off the market.
  - lijogdfljk 4y ago
    But they're not collecting or w/e, they're searching and buying for the purpose of reselling. Which.. is squatting, no?
    - halJordan 4y ago
      No they're collecting interesting domains, and then they said it got out of hand during the pandemic, and now theyre selling their collection.
      - ben174 4y ago
        Furthermore, even adding little icons to hint as to what the domain might be used for. I think it's a cool little idea.
      - Tepix 4y ago
        It's squatting if you're not using the domain name for anything other than reselling it.
overthemoon 4y ago
Has it ever turned out that one of these words means something dirty or profane or something in another language?
- darrenkopp 4y ago
  Yeah. At my last job we made a pivot table tool feature into our project and we named it Pito after Pito Salas, thinking we were so clever and finally came up with a slick little branding for a feature. But that's slang for penis in Spanish... name lasted for a couple of years before it was replaced.
- 256DEV 4y ago
  Interesting question! Well no one has complained so far, but I should definitely run them all through Google Translate to see. I could see this happening quite easily. The one issue I did have was buying a domain on Namecheap auctions only to find it had been used very aggressively by spammers before going to auction. It made me think of the recent top HN post about how you could push a suspect domain to someone within a registrar and then implicate them without their knowledge. The Namecheap auction system happily let me buy the domain, but then as soon as it was in my account it got suspended and I got various emails from their security team about how many blocklists it was on and how I'd have to submit extensive documentation to get it unsuspended etc. Thankfully the support was helpful and now I check domains more thoroughly before I buy them...
ntoskrnl 4y ago
I think DALL-E would be a good way to come up with these. The nonsense text it adds to images is usually pronouncable and somehow always seems to match the theme you give it. GilaWhamm.com, anyone?
- cxr 4y ago
  Domains for the Rest of Us. September 2020. 347 points. 200 comments. <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24538758 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24538758> Now dead.
cupofpython 4y ago
so you're squatting domains, cool
almog 4y ago
> I believe the academic category for these is "lexical gap" Lexical gap refers to potential words that, with regards to the language morphology or semantic rules, could have been part of the language. I think it's systematic gap that might apply to some of the domains you're squatting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_gap https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_gap

by 256DEV 4y ago

ca98am79 4y ago

I have found amazing domain names by just checking auctions daily. I got both file.io and impervious.com on Flippa for around a few thousand each. I've started companies on both of these domains. If you just check once a year, you likely won't find a good one. But if you check almost daily for years, you will eventually strike gold.

eterm 4y ago

Quora is a real word, it is the plural of Quorum.

belter 4y ago
It seems it's not how the site got the name: https://www.quora.com/Does-Quora-come-from-the-plural-version-of-Quorum-If-so-is-this-a-valid-Latin-formation https://www.quora.com/Does-Quora-come-from-the-plural-versio...
- saint-loup 4y ago
  The most upvoted answer seems totally made up. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=%22Quora+et+labora%22 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=%22Quora+...
256DEV 4y ago
Well well, I did not know that.. Thanks for expanding my vocab! Maybe a better example would have been the similar Zuora!
- duffyjp 4y ago
  Actually, Zuora is the plural of Zuorum (according to many poorly OCR'd PDFs I found on google). :D

Tepix 4y ago

how is this not squatting and thus deplorable?

halJordan 4y ago
Squatting has an intention behind it. You don't call ancient coin collectors deplorable squatters because they are taking limited stock off the market.
- lijogdfljk 4y ago
  But they're not collecting or w/e, they're searching and buying for the purpose of reselling. Which.. is squatting, no?
  - halJordan 4y ago
    No they're collecting interesting domains, and then they said it got out of hand during the pandemic, and now theyre selling their collection.
    - ben174 4y ago
      Furthermore, even adding little icons to hint as to what the domain might be used for. I think it's a cool little idea.
    - Tepix 4y ago
      It's squatting if you're not using the domain name for anything other than reselling it.

overthemoon 4y ago

Has it ever turned out that one of these words means something dirty or profane or something in another language?

darrenkopp 4y ago
Yeah. At my last job we made a pivot table tool feature into our project and we named it Pito after Pito Salas, thinking we were so clever and finally came up with a slick little branding for a feature. But that's slang for penis in Spanish... name lasted for a couple of years before it was replaced.
256DEV 4y ago
Interesting question! Well no one has complained so far, but I should definitely run them all through Google Translate to see. I could see this happening quite easily. The one issue I did have was buying a domain on Namecheap auctions only to find it had been used very aggressively by spammers before going to auction. It made me think of the recent top HN post about how you could push a suspect domain to someone within a registrar and then implicate them without their knowledge. The Namecheap auction system happily let me buy the domain, but then as soon as it was in my account it got suspended and I got various emails from their security team about how many blocklists it was on and how I'd have to submit extensive documentation to get it unsuspended etc. Thankfully the support was helpful and now I check domains more thoroughly before I buy them...

ntoskrnl 4y ago

I think DALL-E would be a good way to come up with these. The nonsense text it adds to images is usually pronouncable and somehow always seems to match the theme you give it. GilaWhamm.com, anyone?

cxr 4y ago
Domains for the Rest of Us. September 2020. 347 points. 200 comments. <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24538758 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24538758> Now dead.

cupofpython 4y ago

so you're squatting domains, cool

almog 4y ago

> I believe the academic category for these is "lexical gap" Lexical gap refers to potential words that, with regards to the language morphology or semantic rules, could have been part of the language. I think it's systematic gap that might apply to some of the domains you're squatting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_gap https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_gap