Emails, Domains and the Drop

December 25, 2008 12:15 PM

Domains, Email Addresses, and The Drop: Following an earlier question on MeFi, I'd quite like a unique professional email address, but my name is common and almost all ".com" variants have been snapped. Lend me your kind ears and your valuable hive experiences and advice.

The situation is this, firstnamelastname.com is taken up and registered till August 2010 on EasySpace, firstinitiallastname.com is registered till July 2015 on GoDaddy.

Short of that for the meanwhile, I'll settle for the ".tv" domains, specifically, option A: firstnamelastname.tv or Option B: firstinitiallastname.tv domains.

Now here comes the first question, how realistic would getting firstinitiallastname.com be? I've been reading this article, but still can't gauge...would firstnamelastname.com be any better?

Eventually, i'd like to move to ".com" domains as well, and so in light of ".com" 'get-ability', here's the second question: What would you think is the better choice to settle down on, A or B (see above of options)?

posted by ashaw to computers & internet (21 comments total)

There's nothing special or important about the .com top level domain.

Have you considered .nu? NuNames is the sole controller of that domain and they don't play the kind of games that .com registrars seem prone to.
posted by Class Goat at 12:29 PM on December 25, 2008

Why not use the name tld? firstnamelastname.name is available and it's pretty easy to remember.

Why do you assume that firstnamelatname.com won't be renewed?
posted by rdr at 12:35 PM on December 25, 2008

Are you in the UK? There's a .me.uk TLD; I have my firstnamelastname.me.uk which I quite like.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 12:46 PM on December 25, 2008

I use myfirstname.ms. Works well, MS is easy to remember, and you can say "Like Microsoft".

However, from time to time, I do get the "wait wait, name.ms.com?"
posted by aleahey at 12:46 PM on December 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

you could try getting ashleysh.aw (.aw is aruba), to play the web 2.0 domain name game..?
posted by slater at 12:52 PM on December 25, 2008

I wonder if a unique fitting domain is really that important; after all, an email address is [e-mail]. The "somewhere" part is pretty much variable and could be varied according to the level of professionalism desired: "techguy.com" or "SmithManor.com" or "TheSmiths.com" or something completely different - there should be hardly any problem finding something suitable and memorable.

I know it sounds tempting to get an email address with only one part to remember (and I pulled that one off for my mail: "[e-mail]", or at least something similar in German), but most people nowadays expect an email address to have two separate, different parts. "[e-mail]" seems a bit like overdoing things.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 12:55 PM on December 25, 2008

There's nothing special or important about the .com top level domain.

Technically true, but in practical terms, people almost always assume .com, and you generally have to make special effort to ensure people know otherwise. ("It's DOT TEE VEE!!! NOT dot com! That's a porn site!")

So I still think .com is best, if at all possible.

For the record, my personal domain is firstnamelastname.com and it has worked very well for me. I would have preferred lastname.com, but it was long gone.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 1:05 PM on December 25, 2008

.com is the best but .net and .org are well known enough too. I'm firstname.net - upside of an unusual firstname; sadly firstname.com is owned by some twit who runs a rhyming dictionary for lousy poets.
posted by rhymer at 1:16 PM on December 25, 2008

I'm tempted to go with ashaw.tv for the meanwhile, with firstnamelastname.com (the dream) on back order...

Anyone to veto? firstname.org/net are taken unfortunately, would firstnamelastname.org/net be sufficiently more professional to topple ashaw.tv off the top spot?

Thanks for the thoughts everyone, it's helpful!
posted by ashaw at 1:32 PM on December 25, 2008

Have you thought about adding a middle initial to the candidate domain names? That might not work if your middle initial is P, though.
posted by oaf at 1:53 PM on December 25, 2008

If it's not out of your budget, why not get two or all three domains for now?
- ashaw.tv
- firstnamelastname.net and/or firstnamelastname.org (I think after ".com," ".net" is easiest to say and be understood quickly, but that's just me.)

Then you can see which works best for you, or if you change your mind about using a .tv, you'll already have at least one alternate domain to use.

Or you might use [e-mail]/.org for people or places you don't mind giving out your full name, and use [e-mail] elsewhere. They could all deliver mail to the same inbox, if you'd like.

Fuzzy Skinner has a good point: some people will forget that it's not a .com, and use that when emailing you, and similarly, some people may also mistakenly check to see if you have a corresponding website at the .com domain. ashaw.com goes to a godaddy parking page, for now, but hopefully it won't turn into a sketchy site. Does firstnamelastname.com go to an established, non-sketchy site or a sketchy site? Just something to think about.
posted by macguffin at 2:37 PM on December 25, 2008

As far as being "professional", I see the .net and .org as being more professional than .tv, unless you happen to be in the entertainment industry.

I'd go with (let me presume to know your name here): ashleyshaw.org or ashleyshaw.net.

If you are planning your domain to be used as a commercial enterprise, then .org probably isn't appropriate, though there isn't any formal enforcement.
posted by schrodycat at 2:46 PM on December 25, 2008

Personally, I'd go with either the Aruba .aw domain (ashleysh.aw), as slater suggested above, or firstnamelastname.org or .net (or both, registration is cheap). The .tv is a little odd, unless you're a TV personality or a tranny or for some other reason "tv" is a logical part of your personality.

Looking at various registered shaw.x domains, it may be worth noting that the squatter sitting on shaw.org has a link at the top of the page where you can get an email address through them, so [e-mail] may be possible (if you trust them).
posted by kprincehouse at 2:49 PM on December 25, 2008

also, you've checked firstname-lastname.com, and firstnamemiddleinitiallastname.com, right?
posted by kprincehouse at 2:50 PM on December 25, 2008

My lastname.com was taken. So I bought my middlenamelastname.com address and then I created a [e-mail] email address (that I forward to gmail). Thus I have email that is my full name.
posted by cda at 3:15 PM on December 25, 2008

5haw.com is available.
posted by furtive at 4:05 PM on December 25, 2008

So, I'd suggest that instead of trying to get your name as a domain, you work out a memorable but benign domain name that's available in .com and do "[e-mail]". Even if your domain winds up being deepstupor.com, I think "[e-mail]" looks more professional (and will be easier to remember for contacts) than "[e-mail]" or whatever.

Also, if you aren't in the industry, don't use .tv.
posted by Netzapper at 4:35 PM on December 25, 2008

I'm quite fond of firstlast.info (though I haven't actually done anything with mine... Oops!).

It's just a superbly logical address for tossing up a resume or portfolio.
posted by SemiSophos at 6:01 PM on December 25, 2008

firstnamelastname.org/net be sufficiently more professional to topple ashaw.tv off the top spot?

Yes. The .tv domain is needlessly confusing unless you actually live in Tuvalu, or work in television, I guess. Seriously, what does it even mean? Or signify? Is it particularly clever with your actual name or something?

Please get the .net for the sake of simplicity.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:50 PM on December 25, 2008

As far as professionalism goes, .net or .org are better bets than anything else, particularly country-based TLD. Also highly recommend you do not get cute with 5haw, sh.aw, or anything that has a likelihood of confusing people.
posted by camcgee at 10:31 PM on December 25, 2008

Lots of options in .US if you're amenable to that and it would be my preference over .net or .org. For what it's worth - as a registrar I see lots of people registering various ccTLDs of first names to use as a vanity address.

Finally, I snagged kellie.tv because well, I wanted my first name as something and that was, in my opinion the best one available.
posted by FlamingBore at 1:27 PM on December 30, 2008