Want to Build a Side Business? Just Buy Great Domain Name - <AUTHOR> http://www.deepsouthventures.com/build-a-side-business/ <comment><USER2> >I immediately gravitate towards the keyword descriptive dotCOM. It instantly exudes trust & authority

Strongly disagree. As a result of this type of thinking, I find that the majority of "keyword descriptive dotCOM" domains are usually click-bait or shady content marketing.

Sites like "VacuumReviews.com" are almost always full of content focused on SEO not quality, and questionable financial motivations.

But I guess if the general public still likes those types of domains it shouldnt affect their value.

<comment><AUTHOR> I can see your point of view.. What I was trying to convey - albeit poorly - was a more holistic view of the domain, ie. the domain on the side of a truck. The domain on a tablecloth. The domain on a bumpersticker.

If I saw a plumber driving around Atlanta with www.AtlantaPlumber.com on his truck, #1 - it'd be easy for me to remember, and #2 it'd be a more positive than negative perception of that business.

<comment><USER3> This is even more important if your business uses e-mail to communicate with customers.

I used to own a print business with a .net domain name. We'd often tell a new customer our e-mail address at the end of our first phone call. But too many times customers would just type .com in the e-mail address and then assume that our business has lousy service.

After a few months I paid a cyber-squatter (if that is still the appropriate term) $1600 for the .com version of our name and I never regretted that decision.

<comment><AUTHOR> author here:

yes.. this..

side story, a friend of mine owns a city dotCOM name that also has a university with the corresponding .edu..

He receives email regularly from students pleading (to teachers) for an extra day for thesis completion or a gpa bump : )

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I sometimes buy domain names on my phone, late at night, in my bed. Usually after hours of laying in bed building out a business in my mind and iterating over and over to see where it leads. Buying the domain name seems to be the last step in the processes, it helps me sleep.

I look at the list of my domains every once in a while and pick ideas to work on, but sometimes I have no idea what drove me to buy them, like parttimehuman.tips

<comment><AUTHOR> I do the opposite : ) I buy the domain, and then put myself to sleep skipping through biz avenues..

A fun tool to use for hand-reg domains (if you didn't know already)

[https://instantdomainsearch.com/](https://instantdomainsearch.com/)

<comment><USER5> good trap tool for godaddy to get domains you are interested in

<comment><USER6> I use geektools, they've been around forever and I've never had any domain I've looked through there sniped away from me.

<comment><USER5> same here with gandi.net, thanks for sharing!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Not to burst your bubble but I'm convinced we're moving into an era where your domain name and TLD are becoming less and less relevant. Google and Social are all that matter. Had you asked me 4 years ago if I'd ever consider building a business on .io or .co I would have laughed in your face. Now I'm building products on both of them.

FWIW, I used to buy/sell domains and I think it's a terrible investment strategy now. I can't tell you how many thousands of dollars I've wasted.

Unless you're able to pick up one-word / 3L .com's for very cheap and know you can easily flip them, it's just not worth it.

<comment><USER8> In the context of YC, here's what pg thinks about domain names:

"If you have a US startup called X and you don't have x.com, you should probably change your name.

The reason is not just that people can't find you. For companies with mobile apps, especially, having the right domain name is not as critical as it used to be for getting users. The problem with not having the .com of your name is that it signals weakness. Unless you're so big that your reputation precedes you, a marginal domain suggests you're a marginal company. Whereas (as Stripe shows) having x.com signals strength even if it has no relation to what you do."

[http://paulgraham.com/name.html](http://paulgraham.com/name.html)

<comment><USER7> How many companies have started without x.com that are now huge? Tesla was TeslaMotors.com before it was Tesla.com, Square was SquareUp.com before it was Square.com, DataDog was Datadoghq.com before it was Datadog.com; I can keep going.. (yes, they're still .com's, but you wouldn't consider datadoghq.com investable. In all likelyhood, Datadog only used that name because it was a $9 registration.)

The domains didn't make them succeed.

I mean sure, if you're going to invest in domains, I'm not going to argue that buying turtle.com for $9 is a good idea, but those days are long gone. Anything that's dropped or available now probably isn't going to be worth anything; unless you're paying $8k on NameJet and flipping for $10k.

<comment><USER9> To add to this, Steam is still steampowered.com.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Personally, I think of buying a domain as a form of procrastination rather than the first step of starting a business. It gives a feeling of achievement while staying in your comfort zone (seriously, it's just choosing a name and paying ten bucks, how difficult is that?).

What I noticed to work is reaching out to people, telling them about your business or project and getting their interest. Getting the first clients puts more pressure on you, but also gives a huge motivation to continue working on it.

<comment><USER11> Buying a domain makes you pick a name and I think having a name helps with morale and motivation. Buying the domain also helps because you've spent some money and you have this thing there, waiting to be used.

<comment><AUTHOR> agree.. and I've found the more I invest, the more dedicated I am to the project.. spend little, and it just turns into, 'eh, I'll start that project next week'..

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This is rubbish.

I am (was) a serial domain buyer. Now, I guess its somewhat true that buying a domain to go with your idea can really inspire you, I have a lot of domains I let expire or still hold on to because I haven't yet or never did anything with them. I don't think its a good idea.

<comment><AUTHOR> thanks for the feedback.. it works for some folks, not for others.. true. I wanted to simply try and shift the thinking for anyone out there dabbling. Once I saw domain names in this light, it really helped me focus and concentrate on building..

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Maybe it's just that I lack follow through, but I disagree. I have a horrible habit of buying domain names thinking that I have this great idea, I play with it for a day or two and then abandon it.

Actually, in the spirit of this article, if anyone here is interested in any of these, let me know:

addressauth.com -- Was going to be a physical address verification service using lob.com's postcard sending API.

atomicthings.com -- something vaguely iot related

[http://blankpage.press](http://blankpage.press) \-- a news site that only posted things that were important (but I realized that would mean I'd need to read all the news and figure out what was important).

[http://commn.co](http://commn.co) \-- an inventory tracking system for DIY entheusists that allowed you to track your crap, but also see other peoples crap and trade/sell to others if you don't need it anymore.

[http://difftos.com](http://difftos.com) \-- a tool to watch service's ToS for changes and easily see what actually changed.

hydramatic.net -- ifttt, but for programmers (it's the name of the first automatic transmission)

[http://shit.land](http://shit.land) / [http://shit.foundation](http://shit.foundation) \-- "The Society for a Homogenous Internet of Things Foundation", an obviously dumb name for a website that I was going to setup a wiki to track IoT stuff, mostly protocols and maybe eventually something with security vulns.

virga.link / [http://virga.space](http://virga.space) \-- My plans for a fully decentralized IoT 'protocol', there's actually a couple blog posts on here that lay out what I was thinking.

If you have an existing project that's not in risk of dying that one of these would fit, I'll gladly give it to for free. (I just ask that if the project does die you'd give it back to me and not sell it.)

Also, slightly unrelated, but since I'm listing domain names, [https://knock.ninja](https://knock.ninja) was another one of these, but I've actually gotten myself to keep working on that on, if a bit slowly. I actually am pretty proud of coming up with that name. (Although the content on that site it pretty shit, btw. I need to come up with better ways of describing it with fewer words.)

<comment><USER14> > _I need to come up with better ways of describing it with fewer words._

How about: knock.ninja automates your building's phone-based access system.

It omits some detail, but to be honest I didn't get it until I read the features anyway.

Depending who you want to appeal to, I think it might be better to call it a 'smart' phone-based access system instead of 'automated'.

Sounds great, by the way. Unfortunately my building's access is just fob- based.

<comment><USER13> Yeah, I think I need to get away from the term 'access system' everyone I've asked didn't get it and I think that was the main part of the confusion.

I'm thinking something more along the lines of

"Can your front door call you? Let the ninja get it instead.

Knock.Ninja can open the door for guests and deliveries automatically in any building that uses phone-based entry request systems."

That still gets too technical at the end, but I think more people would understand.

Edit: It also now occurs to me that that's actually more word, ah well.

<comment><USER15> _> Yeah, I think I need to get away from the term 'access system' everyone I've asked didn't get it and I think that was the main part of the confusion._

Have you looks through condo/apartment amenity listings and figured out what words they're using to describe these systems? I imagine people would probably pick up on and use those names?

I just call it a "buzzer" and explain to friends "enter the code or find me in the directory and it'll call me"

<comment><USER13> I've never seen any that actually specify it as an amenity. I think it's assumed that buildings will have that these days.

In searing for how they're actually sold, I've seen mostly "Phone Entry System" and "Phone Access System", but I felt like that was super generic without context.

<comment><USER14> > _I think it 's assumed that buildings will have that these days._

I've never seen it in the UK; hadn't heard of it until I visited Boston, MA.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I built [https://www.findlectures.com](https://www.findlectures.com) entirely without having a domain; my experience has been that having a domain too early locks you too much to the concept it references.

<comment><USER17> But at the same time not having it soon enough means someone else can swoop in and keep it from you.

Domains are cheap. I buy them for $10 before discounts. If the concept changes spend another $10. You'll spend far more than that trying to negotiate it back.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> I would pick a third option: SojournBikeTours.com

-There would be a high likelihood of that domain name being available as opposed to buying the KEYWORD domain from a squatter for thousands.

-Having a brand or name would give it more authority and a feeling of a mom and pop store.

-It is still descriptive.

Not to mention that if you do decide to go through the KEYWORD domain route you will be competing with a lot of people that are scouting for KEYWORD domains to build spammy affiliate websites or if by any chance the website has some history and backlinks then you will be competing with people who want to snatch it to build PBNs.

<comment><AUTHOR> An article I tend to share when folks consider longer or too descriptive domain names:

[https://blog.nuts.com/were-going-nuts-dot-com/](https://blog.nuts.com/were- going-nuts-dot-com/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> _" The next big step is combing through the 100k domains that expire every day. And creating a process to scan and filter so you don't go cross-eyed."_

For me the title gives away the idea of the post. I read it. Not impressed. [0] The following line gave me the impression the writer didn't realise the value of the above statement. Want a ^potential^ business, build a tool that allows you a better way to solve the above problem.

[0] read "Before the Startup" 'Game paragraph' on playing house ~ [http://paulgraham.com/before.html](http://paulgraham.com/before.html) cf _" We saw this happen so often that we made up a name for it: playing house. Eventually I realized why it was happening. The reason young founders go through the motions of starting a startup is because that's what they've been trained to do for their whole lives up to that point."_

</comment><comment><USER20> I've been casually interested in small time domain name "investing" (with and without intention to develop) since the early days and when it so happened that during a stint at GoDaddy, I was charged with the UX of the domain auction product, imagine my surprise to discover were a handful of very big players, some of whom ran bespoke software (not unlike a Bloomberg terminal) and were so profitable for the company that they essentially had their own in- house concierge.

That certainly dampened my enthusiasm when I realized it had long since become more like commercial real estate investment than the American West land rush.

Similarly illuminating was working at a regional bank and learning how much of their growth was based on investing in a patch of dirt as it was in the operation of the branch location that sat on that dirt.

Made me realize how uninformed I was about business in general.

<comment><USER21> > Similarly illuminating was working at a regional bank and learning how much > of their growth was based on investing in a patch of dirt as it was in the > operation of the branch location that sat on that dirt.

Reminds me of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc's famous quote "We are in the real estate business; not the hamburger business."

<comment><AUTHOR> Sears has a somewhat similar story I believe..

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> wow, I've run a domain registrar since 1999. Most domain name purchases are crap, domains are not assets but for a tiny tiny fraction of the top sites.

don't be a fool and give your money to a registrar. Build a business by solving problem that many folks have. After you solved a problem buy a domain to market your solution.

<comment><AUTHOR> author here..

why not find a domain that addresses a problem? then build business around it?

<comment><USER23> What some of the posters here have pointed out is that buying a domain name early scopes your idea and limits the possibility of you adjusting the purpose/audience/main concept of the start up.

Scoping is not bad per se, but starting up an idea is more of a creative process than concrete problem solving. You might not know what problem you're yet about to solve.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> I like the idea of using expiring domain names to generate business ideas (especially domain names that are fetching a good price).

But what if, instead of buying the domain name, you... didn't buy it? What if, instead of dropping $5K on an exact match, you spent $10 on a B+ domain name, where you can set up a landing page to see if there's interest in the business idea you've generated?

That way, if you are getting signups, or even actual customers, _then_ you try to get a better domain name; but if not, you're not out $5K.

Or am I missing something? I guess you can still sell the domain if you don't end up doing something with it, but what if it declines in value?

 _edit:_ punctuation

<comment><USER25> _" I like the idea of using expiring domain names to generate business ideas (especially domain names that are fetching a good price)."_

Personally, I think buying domains that seem good, and then brainstorming ideas for them is risky. You're more likely to end up with a questionable foundation ("Maybe it could be a site about dogs with funny socks?") or something outside your area of interest/expertise. IME, it's better to set your idea and then find the domain.

By all means, speculate on domains and collect a few strong ones (I do), but I'd be wary of picking ideas based on the domains you can grab.

You used to be able to make easy money from SEO-oriented sites based on keyphrases, but that's dried up a lot and content/concept is king again.

<comment><USER24> > _Personally, I think buying domains that seem good, and then brainstorming > ideas for them is risky._

Your ideas have to come from somewhere, but I think it's risky too. That's why I suggested buying a cheaper domain to vet the idea before buying an expensive one (if at all).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I still haven't figured out how to make money with butt.ventures

<comment><USER27> I own meatgalore.com, I thought it would be a cool idea to have a business that sold rare meats and cuts online... but never really got the supply chain worked out.

We should link to each other.

<comment><USER28> Have you heard of the money making machine called "gay porn industry"? Just a suggestion.

<comment><USER27> Something tells me I need more than a great domain name to get into the industry.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> Have a bunch of good domains in my portfolio and this article is just crap.

Content is king, and always will be.

Also, even his first example is inadequate, I would actually have chosen the Spanish sounding website, when going to Spain.

</comment><comment><USER30> Sorry, but i really dont like the style of the article, i always feel like the author wants to tell me one little trick, doctors hate him for, which enlarges your penis by two inches.

<comment><USER28> And it is exactly this kind of content, too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> For the amount of money he's spending on auctioned domains, wouldn't it make more sense to find a 'related' (eg. backyardziplines.com vs ziplines.com) name and do exactly the same thing (set up a site, contact a partner, etc) and spend the thousands of dollars on advertising?

Maybe it's just me, but google doesn't really put that much stock in the url itself, does it? A non-scammy site and some good lead ins will put you high in the search results regardless, no?

<comment><AUTHOR> Author here..My focus isn't a google seo play, it's a 'build a business' play that leverages all forms of marketing.. word of mouth, bumper stickers, billboards, search, social.. A neat, easy to remember domain can do lots of good when building a brand..

Related domains can do as much harm as good.. a good article to read:

[https://blog.nuts.com/were-going-nuts-dot-com/](https://blog.nuts.com/were- going-nuts-dot-com/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> In the long run, I tend to think it's better to have a good brand name rather than a descriptive domain name with keywords.

We all go on amazon.com to buy books, not on bookstore.com.

<comment><USER33> +1 for promoting an idea that a single-noun (such as Amazon or apple) could be purchased as a domain and be worth lots of money.

However, while the bottom statement is a truth, are you sure you have the cause and effect right?

We buy go on amazon.com to buy books because of a _plethora_ of other reasons that Amazon does better than a bookstore.com that comes before an affinity for the Amazon brand. This ranges from ubiquitous options to their cost-cutting operational and source efficiency to their shipping options to Amazon prime benefits.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> > I'm talking about viewing domain names as an asset

Another way to read this, which the author indirectly touches on in his listing of expired domain auction results, is the $$$ value of the domain itself.

It's kind of insurance for the situation where your _side_ project/business either fails to materialize or goes nowhere. A solid domain should at least retain its value so you can view the perceived authority/trust as free (or a dividend) on the initial investment in the domain.

This is the basis I've been using for some of the prospective side-projects I've been mulling. I've been buying some decent domains as investments both in the domains themselves and the value they would bring to my projects.

Here's a specific example:

I've got a few ideas related to energy, eg. a system that'll let IoT devices/smart appliances/software base decisions on the cost and environmental impact of the energy required for an application. So I bought [http://energy.io](http://energy.io) as the eventual home for this. It carries the authority/trust that the author describes, at least as a developer-focused business, and in the worst case I'm sure I can resell it for an amount comparable to what I paid.

<comment><AUTHOR> spot on Mike..

If your domain idea fizzles, there is still value in the domain name itself..

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Descriptive URL's like "BikeTours.com" convey the opposite to me. It's going to be swimming in ads and malware and full of BS reviews hoping for some affiliate link clicks.

Also buying domain names ("great" or not) is a bad way to get started. There are a million things that need to happen to launch a side business and a domain is literally one of the least important things. You can always buy getX.com, Xapp.com, Xnow.com, etc and buy X.com when, if, you make it big. Buying domain names is fun, I used to do it regularly but it just gives a short rush where you play through different scenarios and then you forget about it until you get the notification to renew it a year later. You want to build a side business? Then build a side business. Want to fantasize? Buy a domain.

<comment><AUTHOR> >There are a million things that need to happen to launch a side business and a domain is literally one of the least important things

Different strokes, different folks.. My thought is, why not come out of the gate, guns blazing, with a killer product/service and the exact match domain of the industry.. Instantly compete with the leaders of your market. No ramp up needed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> Aren't there bidding networks for expiring domains that practically guarantee you won't get the domain unless you pay one of them?

<comment><AUTHOR> bidding networks, yes.. those four links I included at end of article grant you access to those networks. Those sites will attempt to grab domains when they drop. Not all expiring domains truly expire, though.. some are what they call 'pre-release', and are auctioned before the drop at a selective marketplaces.. Namejet is a popular one..

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> If you're buying expired domains you'd be wise to learn a little bit about how to spot google penalties.

It would suck to buy a domain where a bunch of shady SEO had been done by the previous owner. It will make ranking in google that much harder.

<comment><USER34> What's the process to assess whether a domain is on the naughty list?

<comment><AUTHOR> something simple..

you can simply go to google and type

site:domainnamedollarstore.com (example)

if google returns no results = no bueno

<comment><USER34> Thanks... but is that the extent of it?

I'm familiar with this syntax but thought that Google's punishments take the form more of a sliding scale (which diminishes general authority or prevalence for certain searches) than a binary system (good/show, bad/hide). And that simply checking the index as above wouldn't reveal too much actionable info. Eg. if a domain is categorized as having adult content.

<comment><AUTHOR> possibly helpful: [https://www.semrush.com/blog/tell-site-hit-google- penalty/](https://www.semrush.com/blog/tell-site-hit-google-penalty/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> Offers.com (at the time a record-breaking price paid for a domain name) is still getting peanuts in traffic compared to retailmenot, which has the _dumbest_ name ever. And I'd argue offers.com has marginally superior content, except for the odd exclusive deal that retailmenot is able to swing based on their identity. But retailmenot got there first, and it hit the ground running building marketshare, and that has made all the difference.

<comment><AUTHOR> >Offers.com (at the time a record-breaking price paid for a domain name) is still getting peanuts in traffic compared to retailmenot, which has the dumbest name ever.

Is it possible to spend lots of money and build a brand on a junky domain and drive lots of traffic, yes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> I agree that if you think of a good domain name and it is available, then you should buy it. It's a very cheap investment. But be sure to write a super brief business plan explaining what this is for. You might forget by next year.

Even if you don't end up using it, you may be pleasantly surprised (as has happened to me) that in a few years someone offers you ten or twenty thousand for it.

I do not agree with the "just" buy a great domain. The domain name has very little to with the success of your business. I also, as others have said, disagree with "keyword descriptive" names. I don't think that search engines reward your for descriptive names, and they are poor choices for brand names. You want people to be able to Google your brand, and have your page come up first.

<comment><AUTHOR> Just to be clear, this isn't an seo play.. this is a 'build a side business' play..

And no, you're right, you don't 'just' buy the domain. I'm sorta suggesting that the domain be the inspiration for the business you create.. Maybe I shoulda said 'Start with a Great Domain name'..

Your grit and hustle will determine the success of your business, not a domain. If you have a great name, though, success is a little more in reach, I feel..

<comment><USER39> A great domain name can be a great personal motivator too.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> Wrong, very wrong. Generic names say that you are generic, not special.

Al Ries[0] describes this as the "The Law of Generic": a brand dilutes itself when it tries to refer to a generic category because it doesn't distinguish itself from competition. He gives 2 examples. There was a company making biscuits that called themselves National Biscuits Company. They abbreviated that to Nabisco and became a brand. There was a company making electrical appliances that used to call themselves General Electric Company. They abbreviated that to GE and became a brand.

[0] [https://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws- Branding/dp/0060007...](https://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws- Branding/dp/0060007737)

<comment><USER41> That hypothesis is difficult to falsify and therefore difficult to believe. Can you give an example company that can serve as a proxy for the counterfactual National Biscuit Company that never changed its name?

<comment><USER40> > Can you give an example company that can serve as a proxy for the > counterfactual National Biscuit Company that never changed its name?

If I could then it would be an evidence that the thesis is false. Look around, among most successful sites and companies in the world which one as a clearly generic name?

<comment><USER42> Minnesota Mining and Manifacturing (3M)?

Industrial Business Machines (IBM)?

<comment><USER41> No, the other way. A company that kept the long name and thereby failed. Specifically because of the bad brand and not for other reasons.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Now that we know for more than 15 years that domain names are a crappy business we are back at it? Why? I mean in the 90s it makes sense because there were still reasonable domain names not taken. But everything is taken now, despite a few creative ideas that only work for a short time. And domain names are also not as important any more since people tend to click on the first google link more often than the second, and they don't switch that pattern because the second link is dotCOM.

I would say having a random string as domain name that ranks highly for certain keywords is a much better investment than a cool, creative domain name.

So, why start the whole thing again? If you have money to lose, I can also give you my paypal ID and you just send it to me.

</comment><comment><USER43> The exact keyword match domain name business tanked years ago when google updated their algorithms. Back then, if you had the domain freepoker.com and someone googled for "free poker" your site would get a huge ranking boost due to the domain name.

<comment><AUTHOR> this ain't an seo play, this is a 'build a side-business' play. A keyword rich domain carries a lot of weight when you're knocking on doors, cold calling, meeting folks at conferences..

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> Great domain names are not going to save most. It's going to save one depending on how great the domain name is. But figuring out what is great is as hard as figuring out what products are great.

<comment><AUTHOR> >But figuring out what is great is as hard as figuring out what products are great.

I gotta introduce you to the Google Keyword Planner..

<comment><USER44> I know about that it doesent really change things imo.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER45> I own over 50,000 domains, mostly generics or short 3-6 letter .com. Sales revenues last year was few millions US$ and we had over 20M in offers, offers which we decided to wait on. Good .Com domains aren't cheap, anything decent is over 10K and anything good is over 50K. You can always start with .Junk (that's what they really are) but when you make it, in all likelihood you'll end up upgrading to a good .Com. I know because I see it every single day.

</comment><comment><USER46> I made [https://istodaywednesday.com](https://istodaywednesday.com) for the express purpose of a joke, and I have no regrets.

<comment><USER47> I got a really nice chuckle out of that, thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> There are still some good domain names out there for niches. For promoting practical cycling, I bought [http://familybikecamping.com](http://familybikecamping.com) [http://bikemove.org](http://bikemove.org) (move you house by bike) and [http://bikes-as-transportation.com/](http://bikes-as-transportation.com/)

</comment><comment><USER49> It's a zero sum game. You're not creating value, and you're paying rent to play the game. For most people the game is, by design, a losing one.

<comment><AUTHOR> I think people simply like saying 'it's a zero sum game'..

So, I'm not creating value if I build a real business on a neat domain name? If I bought MilkDelivery.com and launched a nationwide milk delivery service, I'm not creating value?

</comment></comment><comment><USER50> I like this idea! Yeah, I could see some folks using it to get into shadier practices. But i could also see it as being a trigger/catalyst for prompting me to get into a decent-enough business that I (might be good at but) would never have gone into otherwise. I think i'll give this a try.

Side note: Kudos also to the author for a lovely, and humorous writing style! (I've subscribed to your mailing list because of it!)

<comment><AUTHOR> you're too kind.. thanks. This amazing world introduced me (a city boy) into the dude ranching industry.. it can truly open up doors for you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER51> And put ads on it? That's so 2005.

I really should do more with "downside.com". It had the first search engine for companies that returned financial data from SEC filings, back in 2000. But now everybody has that. The SEC data updater stopped working at the beginning of 2017 because the SEC shut down FTP access in favor of HTTP, so I either have to fix the ancient Perl code or turn that off.

</comment><comment><USER52> It speaks volumes about human psychology. The fact that sometimes all it takes is a catchy name to build a company from nothing that has not one single innovation.

Just look at one of the most hilarious examples: "meundies.com" It has a cute little name that people like, so it's gaining traction. Is there anything innovative or good about the product or business model? Nope. The catchy name is all.

<comment><USER53> Probably more important than the name is that I hear countless ads for meundies. I assume they're spending a fortune on advertising.

<comment><USER52> Right, and if it was called what it is: "Online Polyester Underwear" their sales would be precisely zero units so far.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER54> But could we all agree that a shorter, easily spelled, 'radio-friendly' (unambiguous) .com domain can save a load on marketing costs? I work backwards from my startup ideas and check the drop daily for domains that match my keywords. It doesn't take a lot of time and occasionally I find something perfect.

</comment><comment><USER55> This is exactly what I do. It might not be for everyone but when I find a domain that I subjectively really like, I instinctively know what I'm going to build on it.

<comment><AUTHOR> Same here marsrover..

William Faulkner always spoke about the characters in his books, and mentioned that _he_ doesn't decide their personalities, _they_ do.

I sorta think my domains do the same thing.. I see them, and they tend to present business opportunities for me to consider..

</comment></comment><comment><USER56> Sometimes they sit there as unfinished side projects and you wonder if you should just sell it ? searchlint.com (going going not gone yet ) :P

</comment><comment><USER57> I bought qkbuck.com as a compliment to my web app [https://qKast.com](https://qKast.com)

What should I put on it?

<comment><USER24> Ad-supported site where people vote on ideas for making a quick buck.

</comment></comment><comment><USER58> Halfway through reading, I was going to criticize the author for lack of quantitative evidence, but he partially redeemed himself by using actual numbers in the Expired Domains section. Anyone can write an article saying "X is important!" but a business owner will not give attention unless dollar values are assigned to the importance. Still, I'd like to see some more evidence in this article than the Bobblehead case study that using keyword domains actually increases sales in that market.

<comment><AUTHOR> author here..

all I can say regarding building businesses on keyword descriptive domains.. it just makes everything easier..

Easier to communicate your biz. Easier to get your foot in the door somewhere. Easier for introductions. Easier for consumers to remember your name ([https://blog.nuts.com/were-going-nuts-dot-com/](https://blog.nuts.com/were- going-nuts-dot-com/)). Just easier all around. All those things added together can directly impact sales..

<comment><USER58> Yes, I believe it has an effect, but I think everyone knows that valuable domains are important. But when purchasing a $200k domain, is there any quantitative method a business owner can follow so determine whether the domain will be worth 200k?

Kind of off topic, but if someone has a domain as valuable as "nuts.com", why ruin it by putting a subdomain in front of it? Why isn't the URI scheme "nuts.com/blog/were-going-nuts..."? There's no significant technical reason anymore for splitting multiple services into multiple subdomains.

<comment><AUTHOR> Everyone has their own quantitative method..

Me personally, I simply look at how long it'd take me to pay off the domain. I like to pay them off in 1-1.5 years. So effectively, I'd need my company throwing off enough profit to pay off those domains in that time period. That rough guide keeps me on track so that I don't overpay at auction. But since most folks I compete with are speculators, and need to flip for a profit, versus me who wants to build a legit business, I can typically pay more as my profits can cover the extra expense..

And I'm with you on the subdomain on nuts.com. A really bad idea, imo.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> This feels like advice from 2010. I'm just not sure how much of it is relevant any more.

<comment><AUTHOR> Building a business isn't relevant anymore? And finding a unique way to promote it?

</comment></comment><comment><USER59> "...so cut out some vices and divert that cash..." GOLD

</comment><comment><USER60> until google stops marking keywords in the domain and urls as bold I won't believe domain names (and paths) matter less than page titles and contents.

</comment><comment><USER61> Waiting to do something useful with: go0gl3.com

<comment><USER62> Perhaps online resources for trademark law with information on defending against claims of infringement in court?

<comment><USER61> thanks for the suggestion.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER63> This is ignorant and does not help anybody. You do not create value.

<comment><USER64> Like this comment?</comment></comment>


Why it's great to write blog posts - <AUTHOR> https://sanderknape.com/2020/04/why-great-write-blog-posts/ <comment><USER2> I started my blog 15 years ago. The tactic I take is to write things I think I might need again. I often write very simple blog posts, at first, and then refine those over time. For things that I only do once in a while they're valuable to refer back to. I also get a lot of nice comments from strangers saying things like, "thanks for posting that". It's definitely worth it. I write for myself, first.

<comment><USER3> " I write for myself, first."

Exactly. I do this on my unknown blog and I love it. If someone else reads it, sure np. For me, it is more of a personal journal/diary of things that I want to write about or remember.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Just to add perspective, one reason why it's _not_ great is the deluge of poor quality information and therefore potential for bias and "the silent majority of experts", where you can read a bunch of stuff and feel like you know a lot, when in fact you have large knowledge gaps.

Eg. There is tons of info and blogs on machine learning out there. But in my experience, reading a lot of that can lead to a false sense of knowledge, where you seem to know a lot, but actually lack even the fundamentals.

Still, this shouldn't discourage folks to start blogging!

But it's an unsolved problem how to balance these concerns.

<comment><USER5> That's where "content is king" and search engine basics come to rescue. If search engine does its job well, high quality content will always turn up before low quality ones. If a programming article turned up on page-1, then it shouldn't matter whether it was written by someone with or without knowledge gap?

<comment><USER6> > If search engine does its job well

This is the problem of blogspam. There are plenty of "popular" blogs that are good at SEO and produce little to no good content.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I blog, though I tend to try to keep that on a more "professional" level. Stuff I'd want a future employer or potential customer to see. That can be hard to write, though, because it often requires being in a certain mood to write or edit, and sometimes it can be a while before I feel in a "professional enough" mood.

I find it also helps to keep a journal, just for me. Start by recapping what's happened since the last time you wrote, or big events or thoughts on your mind. I often find that I start writing in my journal without any idea what to write about, and I end up having written a thousand words by the time I'm done, most of it without any pain at all. It's not polished in any way, but it's cathartic, and it's practice.

Plus, going back and re-reading what I was thinking, feeling, and doing during critical moments of my life is often inspirational. Some things I handled far better than I remembered, others, well, let's just say I've grown more than I thought. =)

<comment> caleb-allen I'm the same way. Well, minus the blog. I've been meaning to put one up since.. well a long time. But in the meantime I've had my own journal, and it's a great place to make sense of things, past and present.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I started writing blog posts when I started my comapny last year. The plan was to wrie one per week, then one every two weeks, then one per months. I settled for one everytime I manage to.

Reasons are mostly time and capacity. Time wise, there are so much things to do that writting a blog post worth publishing is not feasible as often as I wished. Also, worthwhile posts take mental effort. Coming up with a topic, defining the exact content, and finally writting it. Also, my blog posts are about my work. So I don't want to spend every minute thinking about work.

That being said, it is a great excersice, in writting, in thinking problems through and in explaining them. And if some readers, of the few I have, take somehing usefaull away from it, even better!

</comment><comment><USER9> I certainly agree with the article. Something I have struggled with that has prevented me from writing more, is that I get near 0 eyes on the articles I spend a lot of time writing and thinking through. I'm not sure how to ever get eyes on my blogs, which has me discouraged from continuing writing more. I use Medium and post the articles to HN/twitter, but it hasn't seemed to help any.

<comment><USER10> Your website is [http://www.oliverpeat.com/](http://www.oliverpeat.com/), right? I couldn't find your medium profile from there (though I may have missed it). Could you maybe have your posts also on your website?

<comment><USER9> Yeah, great idea. I will add them there as well, thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> To me, the thing about getting back into blogging is that it's worked in tight co-operation with taking meticulous process notes as I do something adminny. When I'm programming, my product is the program, and all the writing and documentation therein, so I don't feel the temptation to write or take as many notes.

But when working on adminny tasks? I have to take meticulous process notes so that I can reproduce my work, because the product is a working system without self-documentation as to _how_ I got it working.

That naturally leads to a blog post, because I have a linear document of my work - what worked, what didn't, the hows and whys of my decisions, etc.

</comment><comment><USER12> I recently argued [0] why this is a great thing in academia especially. Getting cutting-edge information out of papers alone is extremely difficult. Asking experts is ideal, but not everybody can do that. Lecture notes, blog posts, StackExchange answers, and the like all fill a critical intermediate role.

0: [https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/148261/do- you-k...](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/148261/do-you-keep- your-study-notes-publicly-available/148275#148275)

</comment><comment><USER13> I have a blog but it's been a struggle to create new entries since I realized that my writing - at least in English - is not amazing - to put it mildly.

I was made aware of that by my friend who studied English for years and also dated a translator (some "expanding brain" meme potential over here), who agreed to correct one of my posts - and correct he did.

I have a lot to say, but just not enough time to write it down and publish.

So yeah, this will definitely land in my CV, but I don't expect it to be useful for anything else anytime soon.

<comment><USER14> Your English is great if this post is anything to go by. Also, I think people are quite forgiving of language mistakes if the content is interesting. Don't let your self-consciousness get in the way of sharing cool stuff!

<comment><USER13> > Also, I think people are quite forgiving of language mistakes if the content > is interesting.

True, but working with English native speakers I noticed that the level of engagement I can get from them depends not only on whether my writing is correct, but also on its style. The same applies to non-native speakers, but to a lesser extent.

Anyway style is something I know I need to work on if I'm to wow someone else than a HR person from a local IT company.

<comment><USER15> I regularly read blog posts written people who are clearly not native English speakers, and often they choose to not even use English at all (in which case I use a translation service). If you content is useful to me, I am perfectly willing to jump through hoops to get at it. I am much more forgiving of language mistakes than perfectly-written English blogspam.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> An idea I came across from some thread HN is to try to write a short TIL blogpost everyday, it might be small trivial thing, bit surely we learn something new on most days.

</comment><comment><USER17> I started blogging recently as a way to get things I find interesting written down somewhere, like how we process "goodbyes" as people and why they're a good thing. Mostly me just venting things I think are interesting.

I also started journaling recently (which I keep private) and it is a great way to vent, especially while in quarantine. It also help me clarify problems to myself by writing them down. It will also be pretty cool to be able to do a grep on my journal and be able to find my thoughts on the day of an actual event in the future.

All in all, I think it's great to write, and I think it's something that more people should try.

</comment><comment><USER18> I've personally had the feeling for a long time that most of the things I write don't feel very worthy of entire blog posts. That meant that I just didn't write anything. However, writing stuff up is a really great way to actually absorb what you read / study.

So I decided to start taking public notes: [https://paramsingh.github.io/notes/](https://paramsingh.github.io/notes/)

I don't hold my notes to the high standard of a blog so they can be works in progress or just random things.

<comment><USER19> I came across [https://write.as](https://write.as) and it seems great. In fact I use it to share one-off texts with few of my close friends. But there's no commenting and I don't want to use Disqus.

Is there any simpler workflow to use this - without Jekyll I mean?

<comment><USER20> An interesting alternative to Disqus might be Commento. [https://gitlab.com/commento/commento](https://gitlab.com/commento/commento)

It's a SaaS or self-hosted commenting application written in Go. I also set this up myself last week [https://pieterhollander.nl/post/commento](https://pieterhollander.nl/post/commento) .

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> The points he makes are great, but rather than self-aggrandizement (not to say all CV building is that,) I have become voracious about knowledge and the "right way to do things," like voting, public policy, guaranteed income, governance, philosophy, and I started a newsletter a few days ago [1] if anyone is interested.

I have used twitter in the past to post a contentious opinion and see what logical debates result. Most people shoot from the hip and are emotional, but some people are quite rational and are willing to look at the data and really understand things. So when looking for consensus, why not make an outlandish statement and be proven wrong? It's very helpful provided you don't take any hits personally.

I find that writing and blogging help me decouple my identity from my ideas, and evaluate them on their merits more objectively.

[1] [https://satisologie.com](https://satisologie.com)

<comment><USER15> I don't think you're ever going to hit on the "right way to do" the complicated things you've mentioned. However, there's nothing wrong with having discussions about it.

<comment><USER21> A good example is voting, because there is a lot of science behind it now. If you look at different voting systems and the amount of "Bayesian Regret" in each system, it's clear that Score Voting is the best system. Things like this I was astonished to discover, because there can be decades between discovery and consensus.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I'm working on launching an online "journal" of sorts, focused on publishing short essays from people who don't ever publish if only because they don't have editorial support or a place for their writing to live. It would also serve as a writers group, a way to support and encourage people looking to improve their writing.

Topics: The aim is to hone in on commentary about books, reading, writing, and broadly speaking, thinking and self-knowledge. I also want to publish stuff that is more exploratory and suggestive than conclusive. Maybe each essay ends with questions? Less tech, more humanities. No ads on the site, can publish anonymously, simple design, good typography, all text. No frameworks or scripts or portals, just the basics needed for a great reading experience.

I don't know. Something like that. If this sounds interesting to anyone, would love to chat.

<comment><USER23> hi, just wanted to send this over to you to have a look. i haven't used the site myself but came across it recently and it might be related to what you'd like to build. www.wattpad.com

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Tangentially related. I've been thinking to create content online. There are a few things I want to share about, and will think of two media of doing it, notably blog posts and videos (mostly on youtube). I don't think I want to engage in twitter/facebook/social media etc.

I see that all these people are using their real name persona on the internet. In this day and age, I think I need to carefully think about anonymity (maybe I also want to write about anonymity, blockchain, security etc, it will be an irony if I don't practice what I preach).

Now my actual question, what is the right balance? How do we create content while at the same time being anonymous. I think this is even harder on video. If there's any resource that can point me out here I'd appreciate it.

<comment><USER25> The approach I've seen controversial creators I respect take is to make it difficult to doxx them. So full pseudonym and deniable email address, when showing it to people you know personally, tell them you'd prefer it not get linked to you. Most do become known by their real names eventually, but by then the brand has enough fans that it's not a bad thing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> A lot of the more popular blogs seem to be about giving advice to the audience. "10 Reasons to do X." "Why You Should Y in Z." And so on. It always made me think that I would have to do the same to draw attention. But the blogs that I really enjoyed reading were technical dives or even what someone's day-to-day life is like. Blogs like Rachel by the Bay really hit this mark for me.

I haven't blogged much myself at all, but I did write about an SVG bug in Internet Explorer years ago that got a decent amount of attention on StackOverflow. That was pretty cool.

Similarly, this can apply to other media, like making games or YouTube videos. OP's advice could be creatively applied to those as well.

</comment><comment><USER27> Blogging about something useful is extremely difficult. If you:

• A lot of research goes into a new topic, most people paste • Writing useful examples without errors and confusing extras take forever • Making the text concise also takes forever

This is why I write rarely. PS - this guy serves as a prime example of someone who comes up in my search results a lot and never ends up being useful: [https://www.bennadel.com/blog/2782-route-resolution-using- fa...](https://www.bennadel.com/blog/2782-route-resolution-using-factory- functions-vs-services-in-angularjs.htm)

<comment><USER28> _> I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter._

\-- Blaise Pascal ([https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter- letter/](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter-letter/))

<comment><USER27> One of my favorite quotes. Apparently they can't find the correct attribution to it, like most good quotes. I first heard it quoted from Mark Twain (/Sam Clemens).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> I've started writing down things I learn, notice, or think about. My memory of those things and related things has started to improve since.

Anecdotal, perhaps, but interesting.

</comment><comment><USER30> I'm a huge fan of writing, especially as a form of technical marketing (or just personal branding). For my last startup, we tried paying a marketing firm to post articles and the results were terrible. Instead, I took a few hours each week and wrote very detailed (timely) articles about our backend technologies, use of different infrastructure products, etc. Those posts got 50-100x more views and a lot more interested customers.

</comment><comment><USER31> I'm approaching 300 blog posts (closer to 400 if you count drafts). One thing I learned over the years is to reduce as much friction as possible to write your posts.

Also, be careful about scheduling posts. Once you do that, everything changes from a "pure" thing to something with a potential ulterior motive. So just understand what you're getting into there.

</comment><comment><USER32> A big list of blogs:

gopher://sdf.org/1/phlogs

Gopher only, I know, but those have high quality for sure :D.

You won't see a lot of bullshit like Agile and VooDoo management magic in order how to get your shit done, just real life stories, minimal tools and great new and legacy software, and a different experience altogether.

</comment><comment><USER33> I like the table of contents at the beginning with the links. I'm going to steal that for my next blog post. The author is a really clear writer, and I love the table of contents because you can jump around and things are bite- sized.

</comment><comment><USER34> One tip that helped me a lot was to forget about the audience - write for yourself. Use blogging as a tool to flush out your thoughts, and truly understand something. Once that concept clicked, writing once a week has been a blast!

</comment><comment><USER35> I've been slowly building up the tech I need to create a low friction publishing process (Static site fed by CI/CD type deal).

So yeah definitely planning on blogging more

</comment><comment><USER36> I am thinking on writing notes/journal. But, I have to draw things which I am not really good at. Does anyone knows about quick drawing solutions?

<comment><USER37> What kind of drawings? If you're just looking for diagrams, [https://github.com/mermaid-js/mermaid](https://github.com/mermaid-js/mermaid) is good.

<comment><USER36> Simple hand made drawings. Like a block of array, arrows here and there, graphs and stuff.

<comment><USER38> TikZ would let you do all that fairly easily with code. Helps if you know Latex. You'll find a bunch of tutorials and references online (e.g. [1]), but I think the best source of information is the manual [2], which has tutorial chapters, and StackExchange. TeXStudio is the best editor for it I know of, and installing TeXLive will get you every relevant package (and more - deselect some on installation).

[1] [https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/PGF/TikZ](https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/PGF/TikZ)

[2] [https://pgf-tikz.github.io/pgf/pgfmanual.pdf](https://pgf- tikz.github.io/pgf/pgfmanual.pdf)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> I thank Seth Godin for his advice on writing.

Blogging has become a daily ritual in my life for sometime.

wake up > make coffee > write a post.

</comment><comment><USER40> Not every writer can be a big blogger. For example, there is only one Scot Allexander. If you want to do it as a hobby, it's very good as well.

</comment><comment><USER41> " I write for myself, first."

I love this sentence as well! When I first start out, I write as a mean to add coherence into my thought process when I am learning something new. Over time, it is also important to learn how to organize this information that may provide meaningful insights for my readers. This allows me to 'digest' my newly acquired knowledge and apply them in my thought process! Here's my blog that I hope to share with all you readers (:

[https://blog.phuaxueyong.com/](https://blog.phuaxueyong.com/)

I started writing about design patterns as well, and wish to hear from you all on what are your thoughts on this topic as well. Do leave a comment in my blog page! (:

[https://blog.phuaxueyong.com/post/2020-05-03-3-more-cloud- de...](https://blog.phuaxueyong.com/post/2020-05-03-3-more-cloud-design- pattern)

</comment><comment><USER42> Another my work is my hobby cat

<comment><USER43> Kind of, but you don't necessarily have to blog about work-related hobbies. You can blog on other interests!</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Non Tracking Newsletter Solution - <AUTHOR> I am starting a weekly newsletter with curated news from my hobby. I don't want to track anyone so I am looking for a solution that doesn't track and is as much privacy oriented as possible. <comment><USER2> Self-hosting is your best bet, in my opinion. Personally, I use Sendy[1], but other options are Mailcoach[2], and Mailtrain[3], both options I am considering switching to.

While they all offer the option of tracking opening, clicks, and whatnot, you can disable these features easily.

The same can be said about hosted solutions, though, so maybe take a look at Buttondown[4], if self-hosting is not an option for you.

[1] [https://sendy.co/](https://sendy.co/)

[2] [https://mailcoach.app/](https://mailcoach.app/)

[3] [https://mailtrain.org/](https://mailtrain.org/)

[4] [https://buttondown.email/](https://buttondown.email/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! Buttondown looks like just what I need. Checking it out now.</comment></comment>


Design patterns in Tcl - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/level44/design-patterns-in-tcl <comment><USER2> Reminds me of work I did at Yahoo a long time ago that eventually resulted in publishing basic programming patterns in sed: [http://tech.bluesmoon.info/2008/09/programming-patterns- in-s...](http://tech.bluesmoon.info/2008/09/programming-patterns-in-sed.html)

<comment><USER3> This is pretty cool! I'm glad you shared it. I still drop into sed every once in awhile and will keep this around.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I miss you Tcl. Upvar, uplevel, how's it hanging guys? While this is a neat little repo, this is totally unnecessary in Tcl. Being a much more flexible language than a C++ inspired OO, it had its own idioms that were much more succinct.

<comment><USER5> Tcl is awesome. It's like Python having a baby with bash, and the baby is actually pretty :D

For me, it's one of those languages that change your way of thinking about programming and you will take that with you, no matter what language you will be working on.

<comment><USER6> IIRC, the TCL interpreter is included in the python one. The baby analogy is pretty apt, just backwards.

<comment><USER7> No, it's not. But it comes with Tkinter, since Tk is a Tcl extension.

<comment><USER8> It is actually. Tkinter is the python interface to embedded Tk, which necessarily includes Tcl.

Larry Wall once quipped "Tcl tends to get ported to weird places like routers". If only he knew...

Ref: [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16439936/how-to-call- tcl...](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16439936/how-to-call-tcl- procedure-using-python#16440585)

<comment><USER9> note on this - Tkinter does come with a TCL interpreter for sure. But not all Pythons come with Tkinter (source: I've packaged Python for embedded systems)

<comment><USER8> Ahhh... I think we were talking past each other a bit above, but your comment above is clear, and probabaly what everybody in the thread really meant...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I learned tcl because it was "that thing you had to learn to script an eggdrop" back in the bad good old days of IRC.

I find the syntax particularly obtuse and unwieldy. Most other code I've written I can open up after a few years and more or less pick up where I left off. But I feel like I have to relearn tcl every time because the syntax is so dense.

But I still think it's an awesome toy language.

</comment><comment><USER11> Tcl is a great example of a language that should have fixed literally a couple of bad design decisions early on to be sensible. Instead, it is a complete nightmare to debug. I refuse to allow its use on any project.

One great example is how a variable _name_ can be expected yet its _value_ is extracted instead, and _seem to function sort of_. Yet it's stomping through your code base and messing with values you didn't think it would. Finding this is simply not worth the trouble when arguably dozens of other languages would not even have the problem.

Or, the "error on line 1" where the "line" is a massive nest of loops and other statements. Tcl (at least at one point, supposedly this improved) couldn't offer any more help. And again, this was a completely unnecessary debugging headache that no other language would have.</comment>


Clever bike lock scales light posts - <AUTHOR> http://www.dothegreenthing.com/blog/a_clever_bike_lock

<comment><USER3> Conrad is a catalog-based mail order company for electronics, tools and so on. From the final image of the video, I think this is a commercial for the Conrad company, showing the cool things you can build with their parts and so on.

I don't think Conrad is developing this bike lock as an actual product.

<comment><USER4> "Entstanden im Rahmen unserer Aktion "3 Teams, 14 Tage, 150.000 Möglichkeiten" und entwickelt von Team A aus Hamburg." \--- It was a contest - <USER2> translated 3 teams, 14 days 150.000 posibilities. The lock has been developed by Team A from Hamburg.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> What happens if another guy with one of these locks comes along and parks his park on the same post as yours?

Also as far as I can tell this lock relies on the poles/posts being of a certain diameter

<comment><USER6> > What happens if another guy with one of these locks comes along and parks > his park on the same post as yours?

Presumably, if these were mass-produced, each device would have a rare or unique signal similar to car remotes.

> Also as far as I can tell this lock relies on the poles/posts being of a > certain diameter

I thought of that too. There are standard light pole sizes, but they might be different in different countries. I wonder if it would work s well on wooden posts.

<comment><USER7> I think the bigger issue would be how would your bike descend with another bike under it?

<comment><USER8> Same issue as "what happens if someone locks their bike next to mine and they are dumb enough to put their lock through my bike".

You'd have to assume that anyone who double parks on the same post with a lock like this probably isn't smart enough to ride the bike in the first place.

The actual question should be "what happens when there are too many people using these locks so no-one can find any places to use it?"

<comment><USER9> > You'd have to assume that anyone who double parks on the same post with a > lock like this probably isn't smart enough to ride the bike in the first > place.

Such thinking is exactly the sort that is guaranteed to end up with your bike stuck up a lamp post due to a double parking incident ;)

(it doesn't quite fit, but the spirit of "Foolproof systems do not take into account the ingenuity of fools" applies)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> It's a fun experiment but unfortunately totally impractical. Who wants to carry and recharge a heavy battery just to have their bike become a prime target for vandalism and police?

<comment><USER11> My first concern with any new anti-theft solution for bikes is "does it cost more than my bike?". If someone fails to steal my bike but can still vandalise the bike and the lock, I'm out twice as much money.

I've had multiple bikes stolen in the Washington DC area.

<comment><USER12> Your first concern should be - does it work?

From the close ups in the video there appears to be way too many leverage points that you could simply break it with a hammer. By looks it's hollow aluminum, a decent gauge but I work with aluminum and this doesn't appear at all sturdy for brute forcing the lock.

Aluminum is rather malleable, meaning it looks like force could easily be used to open the device enough to get it back down to ground level, at which point brute forcing becomes much easier. It also looks highly susceptible to leverage forcing or even wedging (which can be done very simply with two hammers)

Standard bike locks have the advantage that leveraging the bars generally only fastens the locking mechanism tighter meaning force has to be applied parallel to the bars against the lock - noticeably along the mechanisms strongest axis. Every other way generally fails in a way that makes it harder to separate the lock from its bars.

This being a circle allows forces to be applied to directly manipulate hinges, welds, and the lock. However, given that it fits tightly against the lamp post, it is highly susceptible to leverage - unlike a standard bike lock that has a solid 1 foot gap between the end of the bars and the mechanism, which reduces the leveraging potential enormously. You could easily get 40x the leverage on this climbing lock than you could on a standard bike lock.

The actual lock they place on this wouldn't last 2 seconds against a $5 screwdriver, I'm assuming it would be a genuine locking mechanism. However the device will have at least 4 welds at best, or likely a non-welded joint, 1 hinge or set of hinges and 1 lock. This means your lock is only as strong as your weakest element and if you're using a hinge, it's likely only as strong as a 1/8th screw.

Step 1: brake the wheels with hammer and bring it to ground. Step 2: Force a prybar under the hinge plate. Step 3: hammer the prybar and brake screws. Step 4: ride off on bike.

<comment><USER11> That's still my second concern and also has to be satisfied before I would buy it. But if I can get around town on a $100 bike and the anti-theft device costs $300, I'll stick with a more affordable lock and buy a new bike occasionally.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I'm concerned about the visual pollution of all these bikes halfway up lampposts, blocking sight lines. If it becomes popular, it'll get banned.

Also if it doesn't go up all that high then it'll be at the right level that passing pedestrians have to duck under it.

<comment><USER14> .. and what happens if it falls on a passer-by?

<comment><USER15> What happens if a meteor from space hits a pedestrian? Clearly the government must intervene to build a space shield to protect us all!

<comment><USER13> Y'know, it's poor argumentative technique to respond to "What if [fairly likely scenario]?" with a sarcastic "Oh yeah, what if [very unlikely scenario]? Clearly [outlandish idea]!"

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> As someone who is an award-winning keychain loser, I am concerned about recovery in case you lose the damn remote.

<comment><USER17> That's no different to a sufficiently secure bike lock, though.

<comment><USER18> I can't vouch for its security, but I've seen lots of people use combination locks on bikes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Two thoughts.

Would this be a nuisance to utility workers who have to access lights or wires on city poles?

This inspires an idea for a similar product. The bike could have an RC- operated hook and winch. The owner can toss the hook onto any high mounted object such as a street sign or low aerial utility line such as phone or cable. Then real the line in with the remote, pulling the bike out of reach. There would be many more potential "parking spaces". The utility lines are supported with steel guide wires that can handle a significant amount of weight[1] and they're much lower than power lines so a careful toss is more of a danger by missing and falling than by reaching an electrical hazard.

[1] as a former cable technician I can testify to this, we were trained to hook our ladders onto the lines half-way between two poles if necessary

</comment><comment><USER19> What happens when the batteries die (in either remote or lock)?

</comment><comment><USER20> I wonder if you could sell ad space on those wheels? They will really capture some eyeballs.

Ya know, if you asked me before this, I would have said, "Bike locks don't scale." :-)

This gimmick seems impractical but it's good to see that there's always a new solution to every problem.

<comment><USER21> Well, it appears that this solution scales vertically, not horizontally. Vertical scaling for bike locks is a commercially solvable problem but ROI drops precipitously after about 20 feet.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Maybe he should consider actually locking his bike up correctly in the future. I notice from that picture he hasn't locked his wheels, which tend to be pretty prominent targets.

</comment><comment><USER23> The bad thing I see about that is if (for whatever reason) it fails and falls you (and possibly that company) will have your pants sued off. Also birds perching on your bike seat and doing their business...

All and all though nifty idea.

<comment><USER24> I guess there's a reason this wasn't invented in the US.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> We have these things in Miami [http://miamibikescene.blogspot.com/2010/09/secure-bicycle- pa...](http://miamibikescene.blogspot.com/2010/09/secure-bicycle-parking- university.html)

<comment><USER26> Cycling in the same roads as Miami drivers must feel like a gamble for your life. (I cycle every day here in SF, and I used to live in Fort Lauderdale, I speak from partial experience).

<comment><USER27> I've spent many a morning in SF dodging taxis, oblivious pedestrians and potholes and can't even imagine how Miami/Fort Lauderdale could be any worse.

<comment><USER26> It's suburban, which means the roads are generally 40MPH or faster, and cars drive extremely aggressively there.

Though a busy SF street may seem chaotic, the upper limit on speed gives drivers a lot more time to react to you and vice-versa.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> It seems to me that one of the best preventative measures for both theft and vandalism is having a bike that 'doesn't stick out' or attract attention. This fails at blending in.

</comment><comment><USER15> I just bring my bike into the store with me.

<comment><USER29> Some people like going up a lamp pole with their bicycle. Each to his own.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> And then it gets stuck halfway up because the user didn't notice that there was a traffic sign attached to the post.

</comment><comment><USER31> That thing weighs more than my bike!

<comment> a-priori I heard a joke once that the weight of bike+lock is a constant regardless of price. People with more expensive bikes buy bigger, heavier locks to protect them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> Strippers can climb that pole and take that bike.</comment>


Ask HN: What Watson service are you using? - <AUTHOR> Conversation? Speech to Text? Personality Insights? Visual Recognition?<p>Something else? <comment><USER2> The text analysis API they bought from AlchemyAPI is not great but it is better than public competitors.</comment>


Dear Apple: How Will You Handle Death-By-Push-Notification? - <AUTHOR> http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/03/25/dear-apple-handle-deathbypushnotification/

<comment><USER2> I'm not worried about friends trying to reach me. I'm worried about all the other apps that will use any excuse to contact me obtrusively -- "Hey, it's been 17 hours since you've played 'SteamMirror.' What gives? Don't you like it anymore?"</comment>


Alex – A CLI tool I open-sourced - <AUTHOR> https://email@example.com/alex-a-cli-tool-i-open-sourced-773610ebbcd1 <comment><AUTHOR> Here is the direct link to library: [https://github.com/kaushik94/Alex](https://github.com/kaushik94/Alex)</comment>


Riot.im Chat Export - <AUTHOR> Can anyone help me to figure out how to export a chat from my riot.im account which was shut down. Is it possible. I still have my credentials. <comment><USER2> How was the account shut down? Assuming the account was on the matrix.org homeserver, we can't restore accounts which didn't have an email address set, as there's no way for us to verify the owner's identity. We also don't restore accounts which were shutdown due to abuse.

Technically you could do a GDPR DSAR to get at any data which remains, but a) you'd have to prove the account was yours in the first place, b) depending on how the account was shutdown, the data may be gone.

Your best bet is probably to ask the people who you were conversing with to share their history or invite you back into those conversations under a new account.</comment>


Librelist.com, Lamson 1.0pre1 Soon - <AUTHOR> http://zedshaw.com/blog/2009-07-19.html <comment><USER2> Be advised: this should not be used if you need it to interop with everything and deliver all the mail it receives. The author is on record as being willing to discard mis-encoded messages.

<http://lamsonproject.org/blog/2009-06-14.html>

<comment><USER3> Mis-encoded messages don't mean anything. You have to know what encoding some text is in for it to be meaningful.

<comment><USER2> As I understand it, speakers of non-Latinate languages tend to use mail clients which can guess encodings, because there's still a lot of legacy code which does MIME incorrectly or not at all. Hell, Firefox 3 can still do this, and displaying a Web page incorrectly is nowhere near as serious as _not delivering email_.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> People may not appreciate Zed's bluntness but he does tend to make useful stuff that people want. A web server for rails, a non weird-1970s-era framework for email, and now a 'just-works' mailing list system for end-users who, like most, don't really care about the hoops majordomo makes people run through to run a simple mailing list.

</comment><comment><USER5> I couldn't help reading the site's name each time as "libelist." That's not even a mark against Zed; that's just the effect of trying to smush French and English together without spaces.</comment>