discuss About.com Rebrands to DotDash.com ...A Good Move?

[DaveX]

Why would they do that? If you go to About.com you are redirected to the new name DotDash.com...

"About.com -- the 20-year-old general interest site with hundreds of thousands of articles about everything from "The right way to handwash clothes" to "What to do if you hate your in-laws" -- has a new mandate, and a new name to to go with it.

The New York-based, IAC-owned company, which actually began as MiningCo.com, is now "Dotdash," a nod to the company's history of having a "dot" in its previous names and logos, and a "dash" meant to represent what comes next, said CEO Neil Vogel. The dot and dash also represent the letter "A" in Morse code."

Source: http://adage.com/article/tech/a-dotdash/308884/

I have no idea why they would go from About.com to DotDash.com. What does everyone else think?

 

[daica85]

The name About is better than Dotdash 10x times.

 

[Optimal Names]

Why would they do that? If you go to About.com you are redirected to the new name DotDash.com...

"About.com -- the 20-year-old general interest site with hundreds of thousands of articles about everything from "The right way to handwash clothes" to "What to do if you hate your in-laws" -- has a new mandate, and a new name to to go with it.

The New York-based, IAC-owned company, which actually began as MiningCo.com, is now "Dotdash," a nod to the company's history of having a "dot" in its previous names and logos, and a "dash" meant to represent what comes next, said CEO Neil Vogel. The dot and dash also represent the letter "A" in Morse code."

Source: http://adage.com/article/tech/a-dotdash/308884/

I have no idea why they would go from About.com to DotDash.com. What does everyone else think?

Hey, yea, I like that. I have several Dot<keyword>.com domains So there is hope still!

 

[DaveX]

Hey, yea, I like that. I have several Dot<keyword>.com domains So there is hope still!

I have a few.

 

[DomainBELL]

I'm leaning towards thinking it's what one of you mentioned a couple weeks ago...
that they are splitting off portions of the company / projects and or will be selling off
the domain About.com --- let's see if we can figure out who would be interested in the
domain About.com --- what else would it be PERFECT for ??

I have a fondness for the WORD: Dot
Some of Mine:

DotComAllstars.com
DotDailyNews.com
DotFlips.com
DotGrab.com
DotGTLDS.com
Dots.BUZZ
Dots.DIRECTORY
DotShield.com
DotTrivia.com
DotWatchdog.com
FindADot.com
HotDotNews.com
TopDotComs.com


.
.
.

 

[DomainiaXYZ]

Not expecting such a bad and crap move from such a good and established brand. If they really wanted to rebrand their brand to two words domain then AboutDomain, AboutDN, AboutName or something like it is far better than DotDash.

 

[Cdomains]

Makes no sense at all.

Whoever made this decision should be fired.

Worst move ever!!

Even a moron can see this is a bad idea.

 

[DaveX]

Makes no sense at all.

Whoever made this decision should be fired.

Worst move ever!!

Even a moron can see this is a bad idea.

I already forget the name DotDash. About.com was much more memorable for me.

 

[Cdomains]

I already forget the name DotDash. About.com was much more memorable for me.

Why would any business replace the short, brandable, easy to remember name "About" with the much, much inferior name DotDash?

I don't get it.

I would love to hear the reasoning behind this stupid move.

 

[DaveX]

Now they are launching a bunch of smaller sites aimed at various interests....

TheSpruce.com
TheBalance.com
VeryWell.com
LifeWire.com
TripSavvy.com
ThoughtCo.com

Here are the new sites they have launched...None are as good as the domain About.com

 

[domain-name]

bad move

 

[dotker]

I'd like to add from my experience as well but still using it as my primary business name and username here that the dot part when giving your email through phone is the major downside. But its working though I just have to put more emphasis on the d-o-t part.