Ha. So here it goes I guess, I’ve been working on this pretty consistently for too long now (backend mainly).
Inspiration for the project was based off one I made over half a decade ago. And I gratefully got recognized on HN for it! I saw (my) username that posted it, tried a few of my go-to password ’s, and boom, I still got it :)
And the new one is called DecentDrops.com - Would have totally used DomainInferno again but looks like some squatter had it, hey that’s what I get for neglecting I guess. Still not sure why.. Updated daily. Sorry I’m bad about rambling and don’t want to do a (bigger) wall of text but if you’ve got questions shoot em!
As recently expired names, you should be aware that they may suffer an array of detriments.
Notably:
"Pinned" security properties like recursive HSTS may apply until they expire. Even if you have only ever operated http://clown-photos.example.com/ and never https://clown-photos.example.com/ the previous owner of example.com could have set policy saying all names are HTTPS-only.
Certificates issued in the Web PKI as much as three years ago for names in these domains may still exist and be valid. In principle some of them might even not be in CT logs. As new owner you are entitled to have those certificates revoked, but to do that you first need to know they exist.
Adverse user permissions decisions apply indefinitely. If the previous owner spewed notifications, or had unsolicited video content the resulting adverse decisions by users survive the change of ownership. (The other side of this applies too, if you buy a popular cat video sharing site, you're going to inherit lots of "allow autoplay" type permissions) but that's something you'd probably explicitly plan for rather than being a surprise.
White and black lists maintained by third parties may impact you. Whether that's a DNS blacklist that means some PiHoles block your whole site because the previous owner was an advertising network, or a spam blacklist that ensures your newsletter is never seen by its subscribers, that could be a real problem. Some list maintainers are very responsive, others not so much.
Speaking of lists, the domain could be on the PSL. Again you can ask to be removed (or indeed added if your planned use would mean the domain should be on the PSL and isn't). But if you don't realise the domain is PSL listed, you'll be astonished that it's impossible to get a Let's Encrypt certificate for *.example.com, or that cookies and frames and other origin-restricted stuff doesn't work as you expect.
You know, someone needs to make an Iron Chef styled reality TV show where teams of web developers are each handed a random recently-expired domain name and challenged to make a viable service that fits that domain.
You joke, but I know people who hunt to acquire domain names first, and then come up with business ideas based on them. Putting it bluntly, I feel that this is an astoundingly misguided way to operate business ventures, and, so far, the market seems to agree.
If anyone's wondering why the results started looking a tad more strange (and higher rate of unavailable domains on the list), it's because todays list was just processed over the course of the past. ~20min. Have some jobs spread out a little to be nice to the server and inconsistencies.
For the next who knows maybe hour or so, from this minute actually, you'll probably notice a few more than average domains one the list are already taken. Don't worry i've got my best robot people on it
Surprising. I just purchased couple that I found there. My rule for a domain is that needs to be easy to pronounce, preferably it's not a real word, doesn't have many Google results for the name, doesn't contain w/v, i/y and h.
So for instance snuno doesn't mean anything, 5 letters, easy to pronounce in all language, people don't get confused when you pronounce it. The name eventually becomes associated with whatever you put in.
After I saw Mt.Gox taking off, I realized, that the name is challenge only initially. People will figure it out once they think there is value.
If you agree "naming is hard", then most names are by definition pretty bad... At best, this list is random, and at worst it's the set of terrible names people gave up on and allowed to expire
Hello, very cool site. Nicely done. I have a few questions for you about some domains I've had for a long time. Please contact me via email at my username on gmail if you have a moment. Thanks!
I remember seeing a hacker talk about picking these domains up and setting up an MX record to collect emails meant for the past registrar. .. Including 2FA and passwords resets if I recall correctly..
Good on you for restricting people from sending "4" or less for the character count; I'd probably hide that too and use that for my own needs in your position, though it only raises the barrier from opportunistic searchers to people with a mild amount of curl/grep knowledge.
I don't own a single one nore have tried but I understand many would. Honestly I did that 100% because they're simply always taken by bots on the spot. It'd be a waste of space on the site/cluttering the feeds. Our process is muchhhh slower around the clock as we check all domains and delete any no longer avail, again to keep the lists tidy, it'd only get everyone's hopes up just to have them let down. I can guarantee it
If I did want a 4 letter domain, how would I get one? Is the best way to pony up a few grand for one? I plugged a few into a domain-name service and some were available for as little as $3k...
Check out Dropcatch.com, Namejet and GoDaddy Auctions. You can get a decent 4L com for under $1000 if you're patient. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but generally speaking you're going to get a much, much better name by spending $100-1000 at auction then by handregging. There are bots and people trawling through pending delete lists catching anything good before it becomes available.
b) Kinda sad to read all those names and think that someone once thought, 'hey, this could be my baby.' Sure, I imagine a bunch of them were just hoovered up by domain squatters, but at least a few of them are failed sites, right? … right?
Why is it heartbreaking? Think positive. Probably just a domain used for a wedding registry and RSVPs leading up to the event and then no longer needed after the big day.
Really impressive, and de-motivating for me! :) I was working on something similar as a side project. The only information that was not easy to get, because it was not delivered with every DNS request, is the "expiration date". How did you manage to get it? Or even more interestingly: Are you willing to give some insights, how you realised it?
Anyone have recommendations for a nice and easy, "no BS" site for selling a domain? Or even some "we'll (try to) sell it for you and take a commission" type of place?
I've got one domain that I think I could actually sell for a decent price, but I just really don't wanna deal with it...
Sedo is by far the easiest. Just list your domains and it's painless. I've sold well over $100k worth of domains via Sedo over the years with zero hiccups, despite their somewhat clunky website - can't say the same about other marketplaces.
Combinations of (something)cloud.com did well, by companies wanting to start their own cloud services for their industry. Not branded / trademark terms, just normal words combined with cloud dot com. I'm sure that trend is winding down but there's always a next big thing.
Dan.com is amazing. Can’t recommend it enough. Quick signup, modern interface, and a nice looking sale page that handles everything, including analytics. You can offer buy it now, auction, or installments or a combination of those.
Nice site! Just from a UX perspective, I’d advise against a modal dialog within a second of landing on the page. Consider a dismissible header for the introduction instead.
You know I briefly looked in to it because I'm not dumb I understand it'd make this unstoppable, but there's very few options with very high prices. You never know with what the future holds but yeah, not cheap. Definitely doable though.
The good thing about 'our' filtering is that it would take down the number of daily requests to their API, but still...a. lot. I wouldn't say it's out of the question even remotely, I have the funds but am cautious with my finances/investments. But you're right and I should definitely give it some serious though..
You could just pull number of google results as a proxy. You have the link to the google search now, being able to sort or filter by that would weed out a lot of junk.
Would also be nice to sort/filter by Wayback hits.
You can’t use it for anything and the only value is in hoping they randomly decide to contact you and ask to buy it (you can’t approach them because that is extortion of trademarked property) rather than going through the courts.
Inspiration for the project was based off one I made over half a decade ago. And I gratefully got recognized on HN for it! I saw (my) username that posted it, tried a few of my go-to password ’s, and boom, I still got it :)
Here was the thread for a trip down memory lane https://web.archive.org/web/20160322215116/https://news.ycom...
And the new one is called DecentDrops.com - Would have totally used DomainInferno again but looks like some squatter had it, hey that’s what I get for neglecting I guess. Still not sure why.. Updated daily. Sorry I’m bad about rambling and don’t want to do a (bigger) wall of text but if you’ve got questions shoot em!