25 years of .com

mjp

mjp

Founding member
Today is the 25th anniversary of the first .com domain registration. On March 15, 1985 a computer company in Massachusetts registered symbolics.com.

I registered my first domain name in October of 1995, close to 15 years ago. The price to register a domain at that time was $0. A government agency (NSA) underwrote the domain registration system.

The oldest one I currently own is smog.net, which is a little more than 12 years old.

bukowski.net was registered in 2001.

At one time I owned/managed over 400 domains. Now it's a mere 68.

Isn't that fascinating? Hey - wake up!
 
Gerard K H Love

Gerard K H Love

Appreciate your friends
I still wish I had a @gofuckyourself.com e-mail address.

It is hard to believe that they had domain's in 1985 but it was in 1985 a car dealership got scammed out of a couple of thousand dollars for a bogus used car locator computer link. The dealer they scammed has now established that he deserved it.

Yesterday was Pi day 3.14 and Einstein's birthday.
 
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
The price to register a domain at that time was $0. A government agency (NSA) underwrote the domain registration system.
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And now certain domain names are big business being bought and sold for lots of money. Too bad I couldn't foresee that. Then I would've been rich by now. :)
 
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mjp

mjp

Founding member
Bukfan said:
Too bad I couldn't foresee that. Then I would've been rich by now. :)
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Well, a lot of people didn't foresee it. Early in 1996 Network Solutions took over the registry, and they sent every domain owner a bill for $100 (It was $50 a year at that time and you had to pay the first two years up front) when their domains came up for renewal. A lot of people who had registered what are now very valuable names let them drop rather than pay $100 for them.

In 1996 I had the chance to buy pop.com for $500, but I passed on it because I thought it was a bit too much (and that was a lot of money to me at that time). Ha. There's a lack of foresight for you.
 
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Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
Right, pop.com is probably worth a small fortune by now. Thank God, people like us don't care about such worldly things like money (cough-cough).:rolleyes:
 
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jordan

jordan

lothario speedwagon
the company i work for is trying to buy a three-letter domain (the initials of the company)... mjp told me that three-letter domains are usually sell for six figures, although the web marketing manager seems to think that she can use a domain broker to buy it for under $500. i'm curiously watching this play out, since that's an awfully big swing between $500 and $100,000.

(also, i'm tending to side with mjp - her valuation is based on some metrics she ran, like links pointing to the monetized site, and she concluded that the site isn't monetizing well and is only "worth" $32.00.)
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
Yeah, I'd be interested to know what they ask for it, if they are willing to sell (which is unlikely). They will get a good laugh out of a $500 offer though. I would like to see that email exchange.

That "six figures" range is for a three letter .com. You can get more obscure three letter domains for less. Like mjp.us. I didn't even have to buy that from anyone, I just registered it (though I did it in the first few minutes the .us domains were available). The only thing your company has working in its favor is that the three letters don't spell a common English word. If they did you'd be in a different price range.

Look at it this way, the schmoe that owns caroles.com wants five grand for it, and he's been sitting on it for 8 years. You don't get shit for $500 anymore. Everyone thinks every domain they own is worth a million dollars.
 
ROC

ROC

It is what it is
I'd like to own roc.com but I have nothing new to contribute, nothing interesting to say, no reason to create a website and not enough money to buy it.
 
jordan

jordan

lothario speedwagon
my old boss had hundreds of domains, thinking that he would cash in on one of them eventually. the only two people ever offered to buy - mybike.com and santabarbaradiet.com - he asked $20,000. no dice, although the one of the guys that wanted mybike.com got creative and built a site caled "my byk" (mybyk.com).

also, they were registered with godaddy, who would periodically send lists of suggested domains that he asked me to peruse - domains like mybigdick.com, mybigtits.com, etc. godaddy rules.
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
Nothing. A "domainer" owned it and it was just a generic ad page.

charlesbukowski.com expires next year. HarperCollins owns it, but big companies like that often have pretty crappy domain management. Squirreling in and snatching that away from them would be a lovely thing.
 
hank solo

hank solo

Just practicin' steps and keepin' outta the fights
Moderator
Founding member
Of course it is.

And eventually, it will be google.com too :D

[INSERT IMAGE:- 'Google.com - a friendly place']
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
james said:
so it's no longer bukowski.net?
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It will always be bukowski.net.

I only bought charlesbukowski.org to keep it out of the hands of someone who would sit on it for the next 10 years, serving up a page of click-ads that they make a penny a day from. Domainers, they call themselves, and they are scabby little wiener lickers.

Not the good kind.

If someone or something Bukowski-related needed the .org for something they could have it. For now it just points to this site.
 
S

Stavrogin

mjp said:
charlesbukowski.com expires next year. HarperCollins owns it, but big companies like that often have pretty crappy domain management. Squirreling in and snatching that away from them would be a lovely thing.
Click to expand...

Congrats on the .org snag but mask this one. Some HC tweak and twitter Snicker eater might google this and break out in nut-sweat with your nefarious plans. A heartfelt carbon credit to you if you can parcel this piece of webbery from corporate lands.
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
No, man. I'm hiding in plain sight. If they know I'm after it, all the better. It's a huge company. The harder they try to keep it, the more likely they are to do something stupid and lose it.
 
Kingcargo.jb

Kingcargo.jb

mjp said:
I only bought charlesbukowski.org to keep it out of the hands of someone who would sit on it for the next 10 years, serving up a page of click-ads that they make a penny a day from. Domainers, they call themselves, and they are scabby little wiener lickers.
Click to expand...
Heh. Wiener lickers.
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
Fair enough. Thought you might have heard something around the water cooler while you were discussing last night's American Idol.
 
jordan

jordan

lothario speedwagon
water cooler? my friend, this is the 21st century. the marketing director is in bozeman, montana, and the web marketing manager is in littleton, new hampshire. they "telecommute."
 
nervas

nervas

more crickets than friends
mjp said:
It will always be bukowski.net.
Domainers, they call themselves, and they are scabby little wiener lickers.
Click to expand...

I always wondered about those sites that led to more sites about the subject, etc. So I guess it would be a domainer that owns bukowski.com right now?
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
Not exactly. It used to be owned by an email company, now it's owned by OpenSRS (Tucows) which is the third largest domain seller. They have it as part of a system for email and web sites, so if you want wienerlicker@bukowski.com they can provide it. But they do place a ton of ads everywhere, don't they. And those are paid ads, they aren't necessarily relevant.

Domain names are a strange world full of strange things and everyone trying to make a penny. The woman who let charlesbukowski.org drop was trying to sell it (and .info) for $20. If I had known that I would have bought it from her and saved the trouble of catching the drop.

And you'll never guess what kind of person picked up charlesbukowski.info...ha ha.
 
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