Nipper,
As a fairly new member of this community myself, I have to constantly battle my "vision" of what a domain COULD be versus the reality of what the domain CURRENTLY is.
In the words of Desi, "Lemme splain it to ju"
You will hear ALOT of people toss around the words "generic" and "intuitive" when referencing domains you should or shouldn't buy. The reason for that is simple: You are involved in a forum where the BULK of the people buying and selling ARE NOT INTERESTED in development, but rather "generic" domains that people will type directly into an internet browser without using a search page like google, without having an inbound link from another site to deliver visitors, or really... without having to do much work at all.
This "intuitive" traffic has real value because visitors will pour to that domain simply because it's SO obvious that it takes nothing to interpret it's meaning, but from the standpoint of VISIT first, ask questions later.
For instance... Cameras.com. If you are looking for a Camera, but don't know which or what kind you want, you may SEARCH for Cameras OR... you may simply type in Cameras.com because the word is SO obvious that there MUST be something there you will find helpful.
Conversely, you wouldn't type in "BobsCameras.com" naturally. You MIGHT, if it had a massive, expensive marketing campaign behind it (but that's money in a biz where the warcry is "money for nothing").
So, most people here wont see ANY value in a domain that has development potential or is a "branding" name. "YouTube.com" would have been LESS than reg fee to virtually everyone here... but with branding and marketing, YouTube sells for over a Billion USD. It's a crazy business.
I say all that to say this... Remember WHO you are asking before you ask your questions and weigh their replies in that light. There are those that will share your "vision" for developed potential, but not many. There are those that will be rude and call whatever you present "utter crap" unless it is a single word, generic domain like "cameras". There are those that will posture themselves as making BIG money in this game and have nothing but the best domains and think that unless you can afford to spend $100K on a domain, you have no business in this industry. And there are those that DO make huge money with domains that won't even hint at their success.
Take it ALL with a grain of salt. If you do buy a domain because of your "vision" and want to develop it. DO IT... don't get discouraged or put it off. I have 100s of domains that I bought because of a great image of what that domain COULD be in my mind... have I built them yet? Nope. My bad. Take it from me, they start adding up fast and then the thought of getting back to development can be daunting. Don't let that happen.
Finally, do look into getting some "generic" or "intuitive" domains if possible. They will be the staple of your monthly income. For me, I use these to fund my hosting dn development costs. Parked domains supporting mini-sites that in tern generate more capital to buy more domains to park and develop. As I said, Vicious Circle
Most of all... HAVE FUN. Alot of people take this game (and themselves) too seriously. It is a serious business, true, but you have to remember to stay light, not get weighed down. You WILL buy duds. You WILL loose money sometimes. Oh well. If you do it right, your benefits will far outweigh your liabilities.
Welcome to the chaos that is domaining. I'm sure are saying "wow that's cool" when you hear about the 1.6 Billion Dollar YouTube sale... but there's MUCH more to it than that. It can be a lottery or it can be a business. That's totally up to you.
All the best
GoPC
