What's the First Domain You Ever Registered?

[nicenic]

Every day, thousands of domain names are registered, some are memorable, some are brandable, and others are catchy.

So, what about you? What was the very first domain you ever registered, and what lessons did you learn along the way?

 

[iklane]

my first was dewcos.net

 

[DomainBFF]

Don't remember. The difference was that3-4 years ago you could liquidate very mediocre names and get your money back. Today you cannot liquidate even ok names that could sell for xxx or xxxx.

Really? I feel like, if anything, domains are being liquidated for more than ever. I guess "very mediocre" is extremely subjective though.

 

[Eric Lyon]

Don't remember. The difference was that3-4 years ago you could liquidate very mediocre names and get your money back. Today you cannot liquidate even ok names that could sell for xxx or xxxx.

Really? I feel like, if anything, domains are being liquidated for more than ever. I guess "very mediocre" is extremely subjective though.

The door rotation hasn't fully completed yet.

Pre-Punch-line Trivia:
New body styles for cars come out every 4 to 5 years. Not every years style will be appealing to consumers, but the style will be hyped extensively to try.

New domain niche trends start to flow every year. Not every niche trend will be appealing to consumers, but the trend will be hyped extensively to try.

Punch-Line:
Every 4 or 6 years domain investors burn out and step away from the industry for several years (For some, up to a decade) before returning. On that mark, new domain investors take their place and repopulate the industry. It's these new domain investors, as they learn and bring new strategy to the table do we start to see a shift and changes.

The rotating door of the old guard going out and new guard coming in hasn't fully completed its cycle, but it's getting close. Once it completes, there will be another BOOM!

Stay Tuned!

 

[MediaCode]

PowerWealth.com on November 25, 1998.

 

[DomainBFF]

The door rotation hasn't fully completed yet.

Pre-Punch-line Trivia:
New body styles for cars come out every 4 to 5 years. Not every years style will be appealing to consumers, but the style will be hyped extensively to try.

New domain niche trends start to flow every year. Not every niche trend will be appealing to consumers, but the trend will be hyped extensively to try.

Punch-Line:
Every 4 or 6 years domain investors burn out and step away from the industry for several years (For some, up to a decade) before returning. On that mark, new domain investors take their place and repopulate the industry. It's these new domain investors, as they learn and bring new strategy to the table do we start to see a shift and changes.

The rotating door of the old guard going out and new guard coming in hasn't fully completed its cycle, but it's getting close. Once it completes, there will be another BOOM!

Stay Tuned!

Hey Eric,

Not sure if you read my post incorrectly, as I read it as "far more than" on second go, or if I am misunderstanding, but I said

..being liquidated for more than ever..

As in, even names I wouldn't hand reg with your money are going for xxx at auctions and wholesale every. single. day.

It could just be me, but it feels like we're in one of the biggest booms since the .com bubble imo..

 

[Eric Lyon]

Hey Eric,

Not sure if you read my post incorrectly, as I read it as "far more than" on second go, or if I am misunderstanding, but I said


As in, even names I wouldn't hand reg with your money are going for xxx at auctions and wholesale every. single. day.

It could just be me, but it feels like we're in one of the biggest booms since the .com bubble imo..

The BOOM is still coming, it's not quite here yet, is all I'm saying

Strap your seat belt on for the ride

 

[nicenic]

my first was dewcos.net

Hi iklane, I have a feeling there's a special story behind your choice of this domain. If you're happy to share, I'd really enjoy hearing it.

 

[nicenic]

PowerWealth.com on November 25, 1998.

Wow, that domain was awesome! I bet you've grown just as powerful and wealthy as the domain name!

 

[Miver]

Some of these answers feel like opening a time capsule!

Anyone else hand-registered their first domain before 2010? Bonus points if you still own it!

trippandjoint.org, 16/04/2010.
Still mine.
Still online even if not updated from a long time.
Maybe on the market [ just the domain name ] sooner or later.

 

[abdeldayem40]

cretecarrentals.com

 

[DomainReaper]

I think it was a co.cc domain maybe it was my name i was like 8 or 9

 

[xwat]

PFUCK.COM Saturday, August 21, 1999

 

[Catch.Center]

It should be siriga.com which was registered before 2000.
The registrar's name was webgoverment.com such like.

 

[Penitent_1]

ParkingVelos.com

 

[JH1961]

HouseLots.com Dec 1999, still have it.

 

[Particle]

That's crazy. How'd you know about them? To my knowledge they didn't even use the google name until like '98 or '99 and yahoo didn't start using their search until 2000 which is when they started to take off.

In 1994, Yahoo was akebono.stanford.edu/~yahoo until Sequoia Capital swept in with a million dollar investment. I remember it well.

yahoo.com was first registered in January 1995 and the search function started that year.

The reason Yahoo took off in 1994 was because of the directory. The What's New page at CERN was a long single page list of new web sites/pages, which kept growing, and took forever to download with a modem. The Yahoo directory broke the list down into categories with small page sizes and then added more sites that were not on the CERN list.

I was a beta tester for Google in 1998. It just worked, and there wasn't all the clickbait or garbage screwing up the results back then. Simpler times.

 

[Particle]

The first domain I registered, in 1994, is my last name in dot com and I still have it. My daughter was born that year so she got her first name in dot com. But we had fun with domain names back then because they were free.

I don't know if any of you remember Morph's Outpost, a physical magazine for programmers that was published between 1993-1995. At one of their San Francisco parties, I bet the editor I could put a web site up before the magazine did. So I went home, registered dwarf.com and created Dwarf's Outpost, a parody of the magazine. It outlasted the magazine and then after the magazine died I let the domain name drop.

I had an email address on the Disney BBS long before the web showed up (disney.com was registered in 1990). When they shut the BBS down everyone lost their [name]@disney.com email addresses. But then, ironically, I was interviewed to migrate the Disney email server over, and I realized I'd be the one removing my own email address. So instead I registered didney.com and parodied the Disney web site. That one was before the Internet Archive started archiving web pages.

I think the real reason the parody domain names got dropped is because Network Solutions started charging money and they simply didn't get renewed. Whose dumb idea was it to charge money?

 

[Particle]

The April 1, 1996 April Fool's post on Dwarf's Outpost criminalized the use of domain names:

As of today, it becomes a criminal offence to give out a domain name in order to solicit commerce over the internet, or to use domain names to connect to computers that could have been contacted instead by a perfectly usable IP address.​

https://web.archive.org/web/19970521003149/http://www.dwarf.com/dwarf/news/safe-internet.html

 

[nicenic]

trippandjoint.org, 16/04/2010.
Still mine.
Still online even if not updated from a long time.
Maybe on the market [ just the domain name ] sooner or later.

Hope your wish comes true, Miver!

But honestly, it’s a bit pity to see it just sitting there collecting digital dust. Hope you’ll bring it back to life with some fresh updates soon!

 

[nicenic]

I think it was a co.cc domain maybe it was my name i was like 8 or 9

Aww, that’s adorable, bro! Who knew you were rocking your very own domain name back then? That’s like having a rare collector’s toy!