What’s in a (Domain) Name?
Alan Levine aka CogDog barked this November 13th, 2005 5:42 pm
It’s rare I feel like passing on something forwarded via e-mail, but this message form my colleague Jan in Melbourne is too good to pass up. Look carefully at the double meanings in these URLs (all real and well meaning):
Make sure you don’t make the same mistake when setting up your web page. It’s not always easy choosing the right domain name… but you can’t do much worse than these people.
First there is “Who Represents?” - a database for agencies to the rich and famous:
http://www.whorepresents.comSecond is the Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views:
http://www.expertsexchange.comLooking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island:
http://www.penisland.netNeed a therapist? Try:
http://www.therapistfinder.comFinally we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales:
http://www.molestationnursery.com
And my own story… my personal domain dommy.com is named for my first canine friend, a dalmation named Dominoe that a former room-mate nicknamed “Dommy”.
One day I got an email from a self-proclaimed “dominatrix” who informed me that in her world, “dommy” means “Dominant Mommy”.
But I guess that world is pretty small, as in 7 years, no one else has made that mistake in seeking services 
So look closely at your domain choices! Have someone else look at it sideways.
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November 13th, 2005 at 5:50 pm
This was actually in the UK Sun earlier this week - http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005510723,00.html and was played up by Fark.
Good advice though - there are many non-IT oriented people who get burned like this.
November 15th, 2005 at 5:22 pm
HAHAHA, that was great! I’ve been to expertsexchange.com many times before and never noticed that until now.
November 30th, 2005 at 4:35 am
How funny! I’m glad my gemini curiosity made me click on one more link before I got back to working on my blog!