If you’re like most online veterans, you probably like buying domain names for fun and profit. I know I do. I’ve been doing it for about twelve years now.
But it was not until very recently, as in about like 10 minutes ago, that i realized this: how I end up buying domain names is probably very different than the way you do. Read on, and then if you want you can share your opinions in favor or to the contrary in the comments, or win a shiny new domain name.
That is, if you’re a real a person and not some robot spider sent by Google.
Many of us buy a domain name because we think somebody else might want it later, or perhaps somebody forgot to do something obvious, like register their own name or company or slogan or whatever.
I guess I might do that sometimes. But that’s usually when the domain name doesn’t end up being worth much.
I usually come at the whole domain thing a little differently. Usually when I decide to buy a domain name it is because there’s that semblance of a seemingly marketable idea bouncing around my head and I think I might as well go ahead and buy a little insurance policy on that idea. Like a $10 policy. $50 if i want the 5 year one.
Who knows, maybe it was a great idea. Maybe in 4 or 7 or 10 years I’ll circle back to that idea and think; right time, right place. Let’s do this. Or you will. No worries, you can have it. If it is the right time, right place for you, then I would be happy to contribute to that. Redirect and transfer!
Then I will have given someone a present while having a new story to tell…for $10 - what a bargain!
So here’s a little sample of five particular gems i’m sitting on right now. If you have a good idea for using one of these things, tell me below. If I like it, the domain is yours, free. My call.
feedbreaker.com
pillowbank.com
snufflebug.com
tastemakr.com
scubapals.com
May 19th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Wow. These are horrendous. I’m sitting on a few myself, but they are a couple of orders of magnitude better than this, um, no, I don’t want to use that word, it’s too good for these.
May 19th, 2008 at 1:38 am
I have this idea for an online TV show about a group of scuba divers who are all best friends. Every week there’s some kind of sticky situation — Cindy finds an underwater treasure stash and claims it for herself, Kyle falls in love with a dolphin, whatever — and it threatens to tear the group apart, but by the end of the episode they remember they’re all pals.
I call it “Snufflebug.”
May 19th, 2008 at 1:38 am
Whooaaaw. Those are impossible to convert to money. Don’t epic fail me bro.
May 19th, 2008 at 2:11 am
pillowbank, haha. You should make a site with sleep tips, or some sleep oriented tool to track sleeping habits. The anti GTD.
You owe yourself more sleep.
May 19th, 2008 at 2:23 am
I want feedbreaker!
Site aggregates your favourite feeds, uses some smart thinking to remove the dupes from different sources. Result? Less feed articles, better content.
May 19th, 2008 at 2:24 am
I am launching a social networking website within the next month and the name tastemakr would make for a good app/website to along with it. I am also working on a web app to help hide/notify you of information online that is related to you which you don’t want known feedbteaker would work great for the site. Well thanks
May 19th, 2008 at 2:25 am
Hmm… Pillowbank.
I see a site for letting you track your sleep cycles. Shows you how much sleep you’re getting, gives you tips on when’s best to sleep. Can show it in a nice pretty graph. Includes integration with your Twitter account so you can let people know when you’re going to sleep and to leave you alone!
May 19th, 2008 at 2:27 am
Okay… Snufflebug.
I don’t have a lot to go on, but maybe a cutesy cartoon Flash series for the preschoolers? There’s a ton of Flash animations out there, but no-one’s done it for the really young kids yet (AFAIK).
May 19th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Tastemakr…
I see a cool social cooking app. People submit recipies which tag together with their ingredients. You can find “taste mashups” of combined ingredients (eg. click on “chocolate” in a chocolate cake recipe and find other related recipies such as chocolate and avocado dip). Recipies and combinations all user-submitted and voted on.
May 19th, 2008 at 2:32 am
Scubapals…
A community site for divers who can use it to organise diving trips, mailing lists and ride sharing. Includes events calendar and RSS/email notification of upcoming trips
(Web developer/entreprenuer here. Into building RoR apps at the moment, do interface design, Flash, etc, too. I love this stuff)
May 19th, 2008 at 2:49 am
(Not actually interested in Scubapals or Snufflebug, just thought I’d give it a shot.)
May 19th, 2008 at 7:56 am
I’m with Imran on this. I love the idea and the name Snufflebug is great. Forget the obvious ’scubapals’ one
Imran, where do you get the time 
May 19th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Send me a list if you have anything good related to work. Thanks.
Also, the domains you listed are all potentially useful names if you have an application that makes sense to go along with them. So keep looking for the right people..
May 19th, 2008 at 10:04 am
@Imran: LOL
@Pete: I like the idea for tastemakr; back that up to some recipe database from food network or something and simply monetize by ads, could work…pillowbank could be cool too, but how to automate it more? what about integrating it with your alarm clock….
May 20th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Hi,
My name is Scu. Scu Bapal. I would like to have Scubapals. Thank you so much.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Mr. Bapal, I think you’re going to have to produce a birth certificate…
May 20th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
@Adam
Pillowbank: Dashboard widget/gadget that integrates with your account to display your ideal sleep cycle. Build it RESTfully and you could think up any number of ways to integrate it: Facebook app, iPhone app, AIR app, etc.
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:57 am
OK, Thanks all of you for participating in this little contest.
I’ve decided to give away two domain names:
Imran, for most creative entry - he’s going to get snufflebug.com for his scuba diving reality television show, because he made us all laugh our pants off!
and Pete, for your entrepreneurial spirit - you get pillowbank.com to help us all sleep better at night!
Get in touch with me and let me know your details and I will transfer over the domains accordingly.
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Thanks! I can’t find out how to contact you
September 24th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Hey got any more Domains to give away ? i have a super small tech blog im doing all by myself not very good yet but i wish to have a “.com” domain the subdomain stuff sucks let me know if you feel like getting rid of one(struggling,broke collage student )