domain names

Bilingual

Franken.domains: Stitched-Together Domains, Because Every .com Is Taken
2 months ago
- The website kujonie.ren uses the .ren TLD as an example of combining words with country code or generic top-level domains to create new domain names.
- Traditional .com domains with dictionary words are all taken, so the service generates new domain names by grafting real words onto unused TLDs.
- The domain combinations are verified against the registry to ensure they are not yet registered (i.e., 'lifeless').
- Users can submit their own word to have the service find a suitable TLD to create a unique domain.
- The service emphasizes urgency, as domains can be claimed by others at any time.
Change Your Name
2 months ago
- If a US startup lacks the .com domain matching its name, it should consider changing its name.
- Not having the .com domain signals weakness and marginality, unless the company is already well-known.
- Founders often deny this issue due to identity attachment and lack of imagination in naming.
- The attachment to a name is mostly from it being associated with the company, not intrinsic quality.
- Naming is a separate skill from founding; founders can be bad at naming and should seek help or explore alternatives.
- Many good, cheap or untaken domain names exist; systematic search can find them (e.g., Stripe's approach).
- Evidence from YC companies: 100% of top 20 by valuation have the .com of their name, but only 66% of current batch do.
You Don't Own Your .io or .ai. You Rent a Country's Politics
3 months ago
- ccTLDs like .io and .ai are not owned property but are delegated to trustees as per RFC 1591, with continuity dependent on geopolitical stability.
- ccTLD retirement can occur automatically if a territory's ISO 3166-1 code is removed, as happened with domains like .yu and .an.
- .io faces unresolved risks due to sovereignty disputes over the British Indian Ocean Territory, affecting critical infrastructure like GitHub and Docker.
- .ai funds about half of Anguilla's government revenue, creating mutual dependency between the territory and over a million brands.
- Real-world disruptions include Gabon deleting .ga domains, Brexit suspending .eu domains, and the Taliban shutting down .af domains.
- Migrating from a ccTLD is costly and complex, involving SEO losses and infrastructure changes, as seen with WooCommerce's reversal.
- Mitigation strategies include holding .com defensively, avoiding single ccTLD dependencies in software supply chains, and pricing in geopolitical risk.

domain names

Franken.domains: Stitched-Together Domains, Because Every .com Is Taken

Change Your Name

You Don't Own Your .io or .ai. You Rent a Country's Politics