I've been doing some version of this since college. ...holy shit that's almost 20 years.

It started as a bit of a joke on the "That's a good band name" line. It became "That's a good domain name". Yes, I went to a stem college.

Anyway, i've started 4 pretty decent businesses based entirely off that bit. My friends and I would be riffing out behind the pizza place/bar we frequented, someone would say something and then "That's a good domain name" comes out. I'd make a quick note and think about it for a few days. I found that if I come back to it after a week or so then it's maybe worth something.

Business and domain names can make or break a company.

On top of all that, i've also bought and then sold hundreds of domains for a profit based off this bit. I use various registars when they have sales, buy em up cheap for a few years, then park em.

After reading the OP, it's kinda funny. I did something similar with a garlic grower back in the early 00's. I had a domain, my brother worked for a garlic farmer, the farmer wanted to export to asia. It worked out well for a few years.

Very interesting, I feel like domain names definitely have values but I don't know much about domain names that much but how do you buy or sell hundreds of domains?

I found websites/newsletters like https://ungrabbed.com/

Personally It would be interesting to see some domain names for cheap and if I have an idea, I can perhaps have domain name for cheap or something similar to it but I don't really know if I should go into this hobby perhaps and no guarantees that I would but I am curious about resources basically and I wish if you can tell me more about it

I feel like the issue I feel as if is that most domains would just be parked in there or would be sold for losses perhaps.

> Yes, I went to a stem college.

I don’t understand this.

My guess is that he took a meme for normal people ("that would make a good band name") and twisted it into a more nerdy version ("that would make a good domain name").

That makes sense. I assumed posting on hackernews implies the nerdiness.

Lots of nerds go to regular colleges so perhaps he’s saying he’s extra nerdy. (Though I think at this point we’re overanalyzing, the worst thing you can do to any joke.)

Yeah but if you keep analyzing it hard enough, the funniness underflows and then it's maximum funny.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)

Yes, that part I knew.

Science is the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained.

Okay, but why?

Probably: "band names" -> Science, Engineering, TECHNOLOGY, Math college -> "domain names"

Learned about more things tech, started thinking about domains more than bands.

I wonder if the sunk cost worked in his favor here. If he'd only spent ten dollars on the domain, he probably would have built nothing.

author here... you're correct - it's highly unlikely I would have built anything unless I had this unique, exact-match domain. I needed that unfair advantage to start, as the name sortof branded the project for me in the early days and helped drive new customers.

author here... in my defense, it was an accidental purchase : ) I thought it was gonna sell for $5k or more... but the music stopped when I bid ...

I was also quite chocked that you did this ^^ I'm not sure who is the naive one, either you or me, but I would never have assumed that such a name would sell for more than 2k (but at least it was worth it for you here).

I'm really wondering how important the domain was here. I feel it's more just what got you the motivation to do something rather than anything else then your hard work and the quality of the product made the rest (that makes me think of Dumbo's magic feather) but I read in another comment and your bio that you seem to feel strongly about domain names and how much they impact the success of a business (you probably know better)

The domain is the main driver for success in early days. It provides a tailwind to help the project get off the ground. After that, the product & service we provide helps it grow. I have another friend who runs Bobbleheads.com and he had the same experience as me (starting from scratch). I mention him in this essay I wrote: https://www.deepsouthventures.com/build-a-side-business/

“ The way Faulkner treats his characters, I treat domain name projects. I buy them with an intention to develop. And I let them take the lead. They’re the inspiration for the business itself. They guide me towards what they need to become. I’m just the dude behind the keyboard (sorta).”

To me it makes sense. Without a domain name, it’s just an idea. The domain name makes it real, and it’s a foundation the biz can stand on. Too many people try to start a biz without a foundation.

been sitting on fullstackjavascript.com for years. been too busy writing javascript to do anything with it and now I work almost exclusively in elixir.

I was going to make a joke on how fullstackelixir.com would probably still be available, but I checked just in case and it's not ^^

It's a good domain name for what its worth. But are you/ anybody not worried about the javascript trademark by oracle and the lawsuit of oracle vs deno and the times oracle sends cease and desist to even books about javascript one time or any conference with javascript as an example

This I think is the reason why javascript conferences are instead called ecmascript conferences

I’ve had swiftbestpractices.com forever and still haven’t done anything with it. Meanwhile I’ve been going ham on my latest purchase of myfacespacebook.com. It’s weird the things that actually motivate us.

I wonder how you can then produce onions as a side business.

He doesn't. He partnered with a farmer.

Not really sure what's so crazy about that. A brick and mortar shop will spend way more than that on renting a good location for their business when they have no clue whether they'll turn a profit. This is just the digital equivalent of that. People trust authoritative domains like vidaliaonions.com way more than something like vidaliaonions-direct.net and they're given more SEO weight as well. At least I know that used to be true; not sure how true that is today but I'd imagine it still is.

Yeah, exactly. Go price the equipment it takes to rig out a new upstart plumbing biz (trunk/van, all the hardware, insurance, etc). Startup web businesses is insanely cheap, even with a couple grand on a domain.

You believe brick and mortar shops put money down on a location with no plan at all? This is what OP did, your analogy is pretty weak.

Yes, I have seen it happen many times.

I've hung on to spellign.com for a bit over twenty years now. Creation Date: 2005-10-19T05:59:21Z

The name still makes me giggle. I'd love to build something relevant and silly enough to put there, but I haven't found it yet.

Suggestions are welcome! :)

One place where I genuinely believe LLMs could be beneficial is correcting spellign mistakes. I just don't think the interface is there yet. I want to keep control over my writing. After feeding it through an LLM, it doesn't sound like me anymore and changes random stuff. Rather, i'd like something like a diff viewer that shows you your sentence and the LLM's corrected sentence right next to each other. You can review each suggestion individually and decide whether to incorporate it yourself.

Isn’t that pretty much Grammarly?

Your could do a spofo Wikipedai cloen.