Holy crap!?!

[KGIII]

I was doing what we all do from time to time, sitting there looking through domain name options while hoping to find a winner. You want a nice and quirky domain, and all of the good ones are taken. This has you looking at the many hundreds of other domain names.

There are now 1,437 domains out there, from .com to .shop, and more...

I've had this idea of a simple site that just scrapes RSS feeds and posts them automatically. I might even add a discussion element to it -- but I'd have to be careful to not step on any toes over here.

So, I was expecting some crappy choices, like .ai, .ml, .fyi, etc...

I plunked in 'linuxnews'.

HOLY FLIP!

Someone just recently let linuxnews.org lapse, likely due to a lack of payment.

And, better, the domain snipers didn't get it. I didn't wait. I bought it immediately. I paid less than $10 USD for it.

Realizing what I'd potentially scored, I decided to do a WHOIS history and a check of Archive.org's Wayback Machine.

The domain name was first registered in the late 90s and has been consistently registered until just the other day. It went through the 30-day grace period and had officially expired. That meant that I could register it.

Just as it stands, it's likely worth a few hundred dollars.

More importantly, I have an iconic domain name with a history behind it. I could just flip it, or I could turn it into something.

It had been 'on the market' for less than a week when I stumbled across it. I'd already bought a domain name today, but I was bored.

Hmm... I wonder if I can do some sort of project that complements linux.org. I don't think it'd be right for me to add a Linux-themed forum there. My moral code prohibits doing so unless I really have a reason to do so. Any reason I could think of would just be something I addressed here, with the rest of the 'staff'. So, there won't be a forum. I could have comments, however. Something akin to a blog, but hopefully lighter.

Anyhow, I had to share my good fortune! I'm in the process of doing a much larger hosting business, so domain names are on my mind.

I don't know what to do with them all, but I do make sure to keep them automatically renewed. Sadly, this was not always the case and I've let some go that I probably should have held onto. Oh, well...

And, I don't have THAT many domain names. I think I have 36 or 37. There are people with portfolios that contain thousands of domain names. They can make a good living out of it.

Anyhow...

Does anyone have any suggestions about what I should do with the site?

 

[gvisoc]

If you want to set up a collaboratively site to publish... Linux... News, I would like to help from time to time*.

(*) I have so many open and dead personal pet projects that I am about to rename my NAS to "pet_sematary"

 

[sofasurfer]

So, how often do you get an offer from someone wanting to purchase a domain? Is there any worthwhile money in it? I didn't know that trading in domains was a thing.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

You got very lucky!
However IMO it's worth more than just few 100's, many news sites and blogs don't have that pretty name.

Does anyone have any suggestions about what I should do with the site?

linuxnews can hardly be used for anything else than news.
It can surely be used for a blog also, treating one's posting as linux news is just fine.

If I'm you since you already have a blog I'd add this domain as secondary domain for same blog and then promote it as primary domain.

 

[Mike-BTU]

Wayback Machine

web.archive.org

Looks like it was a Chinese site.

What a find, though!

 

[Trml]

Looks like it was a Chinese site.

They probably said "The latin alphabet is so overrated going forward and anything penguin is a natural fit with the pinyin alphabet anyway".

 

[KGIII]

I would like to help from time to time*.

Be careful. I may take you up on that.

Is there any worthwhile money in it?

I've only sold a few. Domain names can sell for well into the 5-figure category.

linuxnews can hardly be used for anything else than news.

I'm thinking about an automated site that just grabs links and blurbs.

Looks like it was a Chinese site.

It depends on what ages you look at. It was also defunct or many years.

 

[MikeRocor]

I used to answer the phone and do application support for a company with the domain "flagship.com" and I often took calls from customers of other, unrelated companies in completely unrelated industries:
A car wash somewhere in Texas
A crossfit gym somewhere in California
A cellular telephone service
... and about a dozen more, but the most worrisome was a credit card payment processing service where their users would ask what to do because their "terminal was down". Since some of our own users logged in via a terminal (yep, straight up telnet!), it would sometimes be a minute before I realized they weren't my people. But seriously, If you're handling your customers' credit card information, shouldn't you know exactly what number to call when things don't work? But no, they just googled "flagship" and picked the first customer service number they saw.

Anyway, multiple parties were after the company owner to sell that domain name and he eventually caved and sold it, though I have no idea how much he got for it. Unless it was a HUGE amount, I'd say he made a mistake. Ironically, I note that the domain is currently for sale by "afternic ad GoDaddy Brand". I'm currently on hold waiting to see how much they want for it....

That was quick... bid on that starting a million bucks. I didn't bid.

 

[Trml]

the domain "flagship.com" and I often took calls from customers of other, unrelated companies in completely unrelated industries

It's fascinating how the .com TLD stays ahead in terms of trademark ability. It remains exactly the first association users have, when they see a business with a synthetic name. Obviously, exemptions apply, e.g. .org certainly is the one for Linux/FOSS and general non-profit, .io managed to secure itself a general software-tech association, etc.
I sometimes wonder if that's a generational thing, i.e. said crossfit gym could immediately get "flagship.day" or "flagship.fun" and link it to sporty slogan ad campaign. Now, if they did so, would they attract another generation of clientele with it? Or does it not matter anymore, because they rather spend their marketing money for campaigns inside social media, i.e. having their fb feed fresh brings more new clients than a fresh website.

 

[Perpetual Padawan]

I wanted to create a unique domain name related to my "hobby," of Living History / Historical reenacting. All of what I do is here at home in the US, but I would love to be a sailor in the British Navy during the Revolutionary War. I might try that...

Anyway where I live, in the "deep South" as we call it, there were few historical events and battles of much significance except in the War Between the States, so that's where my family and I find ourselves most of the time. Our Company is part of a larger organization of reenactors called "the First Brigade, Provisional Army of the Confederate States." So the domain name?

1stbrigade.army, of course!​

Don't try to visit it, there's no web site yet. I'm just getting started and all I'm using it for is email for now. But it's kind of cool when I tell folks my email they sometime may ask, "army? What army? Are you a soldier?" Then I get to brag about Living History. So it's just a novelty for now, but who knows, maybe I'll build a web site and recruit more soldiers and their families to join us.

 

[MikeRocor]

i.e. said crossfit gym could immediately get "flagship.day" or "flagship.fun" and link it to sporty slogan ad campaign.

Their domain was actually "flagshipcrossfit.com" but one of the pages on their web site erroneously had a link pointing to "flagship.com". I advised them of this but they didn't immediately fix it so then, whenever their customers would call me, I asked -them- to point it out. Still no fix. I suspect they had a contractor build their web site and they didn't know how (or didn't even have access) to fix it themselves. flagshipcrossfit.com now points to a french language web site, so I suspect that's no longer an issue.

It's fascinating how the .com TLD stays ahead in terms of trademark ability. It remains exactly the first association users have, when they see a business with a synthetic name.

Meanwhile, the company that originally had the flagship.com domain name rebranded itself as "Flagship Trade Net" so, of course, they snagged the domain "flagshiptrade.net". Oh, wait... no they didn't. They went with flagshiptrade.COM ! Aaaahhhhhh! That particular episiode was well after I had left the company so the owner didn't have the benefit of my insights and wisdom. The owner's a great guy and I loved working for him, but sometimes I just had to sit back and shake my SMH.

 

[osprey]

I plunked in 'linuxnews'.

Does anyone have any suggestions about what I should do with the site?

Congratulations! The first thought I had was "such a heavy responsibility" to the linux ecosystem for linux users who would visit a linux news site. It seems like it's a unique opportunity to provide something that hasn't already been provided by linux news sites such as the news aggregators and the various websites that keep tabs on what's happening in various areas of the linux world like the developments in the kernel, newly issued programs or apps, major new releases of old programs, the "politics" that occur in both community and the business sides of linux ... the list of interesting news is endless. I guess it's the endlessness of it that provides the opportunity to make a splash with a new niche with it's own focus.

 

[theLegionWithin]

I wanted to create a unique domain name related to my "hobby," of Living History / Historical reenacting. All of what I do is here at home in the US, but I would love to be a sailor in the British Navy during the Revolutionary War. I might try that...

Anyway where I live, in the "deep South" as we call it, there were few historical events and battles of much significance except in the War Between the States, so that's where my family and I find ourselves most of the time.

that's cool! my dad was into that when I was young - his favorite timeframe was the early 1800s as he's a big Lewis and Clark fanboy, he and my mom would dress my sister and i up in period garb and goto reenactments with others in the area who were into that. i grew up learning how to cast lead shot and shoot black powder rifles (they've got a mean kick).

where abouts in the south are you? I lived in New Orleans for a few years several decades ago

 

[Perpetual Padawan]

that's cool! my dad was into that when I was young - his favorite timeframe was the early 1800s as he's a big Lewis and Clark fanboy, he and my mom would dress my sister and i up in period garb and goto reenactments with others in the area who were into that. i grew up learning how to cast lead shot and shoot black powder rifles (they've got a mean kick).

where abouts in the south are you? I lived in New Orleans for a few years several decades ago

In my part of the country (South central Georgia) it's mostly the War Between the States. We got into reenacting because we home schooled our kids. One day I got it in my head to visit a Living History event for their American History class. The kids absolutely loved it, so we went to another - the third bloodiest battle of the war - in nearby Olustee, Florida (near Lake City).

I gave the kids an assignment, because after all, we're still doing school:

Go talk to the soldiers in both camps, and while you may ask the usual question like, "do you really eat that?!" and "aren't you hot in all that wool?", ask the hard questions like:

• Ask a Confederate soldier how in God's name can he fight to defend slavery of all things.
• Ask a Union soldier if the Union is a voluntary union of sovereign states or not, and if it is, why are you here?

I knew they would be very surprised at the answers they got, and they both wrote brilliant reports on what they learned. They wanted to see more, so we did, and it's just too much fun to simply sit there and watch! So I enlisted in a family-friendly artillery battery and from there, over the years, we did infantry as well, and the ladies did civilian impressions and went to tea parties and such. Many reenactments have a Victorian military ball as well, where everyone gets all fancied up and dance the old dances to a live period band.

Imagine my delight when my adult son, fresh out of a tour in the Army, asked me if I wanted to get back into reenacting! "Yup! I'm there!" Some time in the infantry was fun until my doctor said carrying that heavy musket could cost me the use of an arm (old fire department injury), so I now serve as Chaplain to the Brigade, and my son is Captain of his own Company - the 50th Georgia Infantry Company K.

 

[KGIII]

"such a heavy responsibility"

It's going to be a bit of a project. I won't have time to do much with it yet, but it'll hopefully get used soon.

 

[KGIII]

I would love to be a sailor in the British Navy during the Revolutionary War.

Also, do you know how horrible it was to be in the British Navy back then? You had good food and water for maybe a week. You didn't get good rum; it was watered-down grog. Lashings were common, as were a number of other punishments. The survivability of a wreck (or loss of the ship due to battle) was nonexistent.

Even if you were the captain, there were at least three mutinies that I can think of. Plus, they were fighting on multiple fronts, which meant you'd never be relieved from your service while you could still perform basic bodily functions. In some cases, even when they were close to shore, they'd not let you off the ship because they knew you wouldn't get back on the ship. If you did find a way to scamper off, they'll hang you for desertion.

 

[Perpetual Padawan]

'Tis true, @KGIII, all of that. But as a reenactor I'd still enjoy it.

 

[KGIII]

'Tis true, @KGIII, all of that. But as a reenactor I'd still enjoy it.

You can kind of do that here in Maine, USA. If you go to Castine, the Maine Maritime Academy, you can spend some time on the Schooner Bowdoin. It was really an ice clipper, or something like that, but it's still sailed and used to teach the students. They often have summer programs that last for something like a week.

I don't know all of the details, and I'm sure they've changed since I spent a week there learning to operate a sailboat.

Don't get me started on boats. I've since come to despise all boats, except for kayaks, paddle boats, and maybe canoes. However, the bit about how you can't sink a canoe is a downright lie. You just need two drunk people, a hundred pounds of supplies, and an attempt to switch boats in the middle of the night. That right there will cost you a canoe.

I've had some horrible experiences with boats.

 

[theLegionWithin]

once I sunk a canoe in a lake while getting fired on with bottle rockets. getting it back out of the lake took some doing - but then I got to shoot fireworks at the other guys there wasnt a whole lot to do growing up before we were legal to drive.

 

[Perpetual Padawan]

So sorry that boats have disappointed you. I love boats! My first full-time job was on a boat - as a crewman on a three-masted schooner for Windjammer Barefoot Cruises. I didn't qualify to get into the Navy or Coast Guard (too skinny and scrawny) and I needed something that offered room and board, so I took this job: $100/month plus room and board on the ship. I did the Billy Budd thing for awhile before moving on to a slightly more lucrative career.