Does TLD Dot Com (.com) matter

In 1997, when I first realized that the domain name is something that you as a public can afford to buy and maintain, then I started searching for the domain name that might suit my need. As the internet was evolving almost from scratch, it was certainly a difficult job to find what you need and what you do not, and in which direction the whole system will move ahead. I was not sure whether I really needed a domain, but as a fun I started to search one TLD (.com domain) for me.

My first choice was Geotech.com, icon.com, gte.com, soil.com, clay.com, gyan.com. At that time, Network Solution Inc. was the sole distributor of the dot com world and the lone / single handed registrar. They used to charge $50 (later reduced to $35), and they wanted us to provide DNS server IP address which was the most difficult part at that time because the number of web hosting companies were limited and had monopoly in their webhosting charges. Web hosting or the domain parking charges would cost you another $100 or more dollars. The Network Solutions Inc. used to offer 35 days (or like that) payment duration via check or cash to credit card by telephone or postal mail.

At that time, domains used to expire on two fronts: failure to renew by he current owner, or failure to complete payments to the invoice sent to the supposed to be owner of the domain. In both cases, if you wanted domains be registered in your name, then you have to keep on watching manually every day: twice. At that time, we did not have any other website offering the "soon to be deleted domain name list" like we have such list providers today. I was also looking for a great name like eBusiness.com which I missed by few minutes because of the time required to fill the form.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get any dictionary word domain names (by the end of 1997). There might be some left, but manually checking these empty slots in a crowd of words in a dictionary was worthless. At that time, everything looked so raw that you did not know what would be the best way to secure your future in .com world. I remember that all the two character domains names were also already taken away. It happened because there are only around 26x26 combinations of two char domain names. Now a days, if you find any 2 chars domain that is listed as a domain soon to be deleted, you should not dream of registering it because ICAAN's new policy won't let you buy it.

By the end of 1997, 3 char domains were also completely registered (26x26x26=16000), especially, the majority of the prime domains were taken away by a company in HongKong. I still remmember vividly that I registered (temporary) f-g.com type of hyphenated domain, but I did not realize at that time that it would prove a worthy move. I just let it die because of the indirect costs involved at that moment. At hindsight, that was one of my great mistakes.

I would have tried at least 4 chars domain names of my choice: plenty of 4 chars were available at that time. I missed that chance too. Well, at the same time around, Register.com came and it offered discounted registrations at $40 for two years registration, and a free parking. That opened a wide door to register the domain at cheap cost. I tried to register a few of the domains that I thought would prove hotcake: by prefixing "e" and "e-" or other chars infront of dictionary words, e.g. e-vine.com, p-business.com, eGeoTech.com, eCivilEng.com .... but eNepal.com, Pokharel.com, .....

All these domains that I registered in the search of a stable domain died upon their 2 year cycle, and I even gave gifts to others free of charge, egeo.org is one of them. I even got appreciation letters from these domain receivers. I am not sure whether the current registrants of these domains are the same set of people to whom I presented the domains that were not of use to me. At that time, .net and .com did not have that much of distinction as we have today. Today, .com is no more comparable with any other dot extensions. Now, if a .net domain is a gold biscuit, then the same .com domain is a polished diamond of same carot. If you put your picture in a dot NET domain, the other side of the person will probably type domainNet.com instead typing domain.net. People are so much stereotyped that when someone says, I have a domain, then they think you have .com domain. For example, suppose you uploaded your picture at nepal.net, people will try either nepal.com or nepalnet.com before actually trying for the nepal.net, unless you provide actual link.

Back in 1999/2000, a few more extensions (TLD) were announced: .biz, .info, .com in multi language characters. The multi language char .com never came to realizations, and these domains just died in due time. I guess that Network Solutions, and Register.com made a lot of money, and they should be sued for making false promises that was never realized. I lost at least couple of hundred dollars: I registered soil mechanics / geotechnical engineering in Japanese language: jibankogaku(in Japanese).com. I finally gave up these domain names when I realized that I was wasting money. At hindsight, I do not regret for my expenditure, because I learned so many things in this course. Well, I do have some good domains by now: geotechnical.org, geomech.com are the two important domains that I am trying to develop. It is the profession that I belong to. When the ICAAN announced .biz and .info as new TLDs, then my target was Geotech, Finite and Nepal, plus some 3 char domain names. I was able to have Geotech.Info and Finite.Info, plus one more domain name that had .biz extension: gyan.biz. Later, I gave up gyan.biz because it was on my own name, and did not like it a good idea to keep domain in my own name. I used to think that .biz will be a competitor of .com, but unfortunately .com surpassed all other domain extensions, and .biz suffered a great defeat: primarily because it requires to be owned by a company, and secondly .com looked cool: .com stands now for common, commerce, complete .... it really is cool. You can check the 4 char .biz with excellent names: e.g. secy.biz, bosy.biz ... but can you imagine to have secy.com, or bosy.com? The answer is big NO! Because of these reasons, I slowely gave up all most all domain names that I owned and had .net, .org, .biz, .info. I did not renew them, just let them slip from my hand. In 2004, I focused only on 3 chars of any type, but it needed to have .com, and sometime, I even hunted within a minute of its expiry, and GoDaddy.com sent an email that they were able to regiser it, but later they had return to the money because other companies also tried to register it at the time they were deleted and made free for public. Well, then I realized GoDaddy.com had pre-registration option, if you pay $18 per domain. With this $18, you could ask GoDaddy.com to try to register a domain that is going to be deleted very soon and you want them to try at the instant the domain is open to public for registration. I spent a few sets of $18. Finally, I was able to grab y-0.com, and is the only 3 char domain name that I own. It does not look that much charming, but it gives me some satisfaction that I also have one 3 char domain name. I have not decided what kind of website should I develop with this name. y=0 means horizon i.e. x-axis, and it might be a good name for something that relates to horizon. If you have any great idea, you may post your ideas. And, to fulfill my thirst for dictionary domain name, I tried ePlease.com, and I got it. Since then, I have practically stopped hunting down any new domains. I am still trying to find some good domains that starts with Geotech___.com and was successful to have GeotechOnline.com upon it was made open to public for new registration. I wanted to buy GeotechNet.com, but I found Geotech.Net on sale. If I can get my website developed to the level of getting some revenue, then I am ready to buy Geotech.Net: they are asking for $1500, which is not worth at this moment. I am just thinking whether GeotechNet.com is better than having Geotech.Net. I am just not sure whether I should give any weight to the TLDs other than .com. I have started to think: Tiger does not eat grass. I should not be spending any extra bucks on domains that does not have .com TLDs. This is based on my experience with so many domains (about 100s) that I ever purchased in last 10 years (almost). Thanks to Register.com in the early years, and GoDaddy.com in later years that brought the pricing to ground level, and made domain names affordable to people like me, and let me try so many domain names. It is very funny that my domain Geomech.com was rated #1, when I searched the word GEOMECH. I am sure my domains are getting better. I have to include better content in addition to my blog. Thanks goes to Drupal for its free CMS, that changed my dream come to true. Because of the CMS, I could make it a dynamic website. I tried several time to write programs by myself, but I always failed because of vast resource required to write an independent CMS. I also thank PHP that is so great that you can write programs inside the html files. The current attempt to develop my website will certainly get success.

In my next blog, I will write something on my adeventure to find affordable web hosting companies. How could I finally arrive at my current webhosting company: 1and1.com. How did the addr.com, .... digitalspace.com frogspace.com, help me to learn new things on webhosting stuffs. Thanks to their low priced web-hosting services they offered at the time that I got their membership.