Ask HN: Would you trust a .me domain?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=473350

by hellweaver666 • 17 years ago

8 20 17 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hi all,

I'm thinking of launching my new startup idea on a .me domain name - I already have the .com and .co.uk version (I'm in the UK) but think the domain would sound snazzier with a .me domain.

That said, I'm concerned that with .me being a relatively new domain people will struggle to remember it or type it wrong or just plain not trust it because it's not a 'mainstream' extension...

What do you think? Should I risk it?

Thanks

tsetse-fly2• 17 years ago

It didn't stop del.icio.us. If you build it, they will come.

ErrantX3• 17 years ago

yes. but the URL is actually the name in that case - so it is a "flash" feature. :)

myapp.me.uk does not, quite, have the same draw.

To the OP I'd say if you already run it from a .com domain adding .me.uk cant hurt!

If the .me adds to the name (say, for example, find.me.uk) then 100% go for it :D

Trust is a funny thing: if your userbase is hardened hackers like the HN lot then you might end up (at least initially) with a trust issue - but the general public aren't going to care that much.

Though you do raise a good point about people being confused: but if you own .com and .co.uk variants then I doubt it will account for much loss of traffic :D

katamole• 17 years ago

"Trust is a funny thing: if your userbase is hardened hackers like the HN lot then you might end up (at least initially) with a trust issue - but the general public aren't going to care that much."

I think the opposite is true - "hardened hackers" may judge the TLD less than the general public.

Eg, I run a couple of small websites, and I know that .com is a matter of routing, and says little about the intention of my website. However, a casual user might see .com as more of a directory than a routing issue.

A few years ago I had a couple of people try and convince me that .org was reserved for non-profit organisations. While that might be the intended usage, it certainly isn't mandatory.

Jem3• 17 years ago

Don't confuse .me and .me.uk - two different extensions. :)

jacquesm2• 17 years ago

delicious changed their 'funny' name to delicious.com, the old one is simply a redirect now.

It may have helped them in the beginning but it seems that there must have been some detrimental side effects in the long term or I'm sure they would not have switched.

tsetse-fly2• 17 years ago

delicious changed their name after they were acquired by Yahoo!. This was in July 2008, five years after they launched.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del.icio.us

jacquesm2• 17 years ago

I think it would depend greatly on the kind of service you are going to offer.

If you mean 'trust' to stand for 'comercially trust' then I think the answer is no, simply because it is different. We started out as a .nl but within days it was clear that if we were to have any sales at all it had better be a .com, or people simply aren't going to pull their credit cards.

If you mean 'trust' to stand for 'are they going to put their data in to your site' then I think that that effect will be a lot less, and once you've built up a user base it will fade. del.icio.us is a nice example (even if it does still have the .us in there, and they eventually changed over to delicious.com).

Personally, for any commercial website I'd use nothing but a .com, unless it was targeted to a specific geographic location, then I'd use the domain for that country instead.

Tichy• 17 years ago

I wouldn't worry about trust, but I think people will definitely forget about the .me and just try .com instead.

For del.icio.us they also bought delicious.com eventually...

mdasen• 17 years ago

I think you'll be fine. The issue usually isn't trust. The issue is more often that people will go to your-name.com and not see the site and give up - no matter how much you tell them to go to your-name.me. Make sure you have both your-name.com and your-nameme.com so that you can redirect those to your-name.me if you're going to go this route.

I don't think trust is as big a factor (unless you're asking for credit card numbers) as them typing the address correctly.

Jem3• 17 years ago

I've not had problems getting (and keeping) users on a .me; but I'm not selling anything. I also have a fairly young audience (14-18 primarily). I'm sure both of these things have an effect.

matwiemann• 17 years ago

If you have a service for the tech-savy audience this shouldn't be a dealbreaker - actually it may be more exotic/interesting to some.

If you want to cater to a broader audience - a .com may be better.

vaksel• 17 years ago

I would try to avoid it. Top level domains are better performers

olifante• 17 years ago

Domains are becoming less relevant as more and more users just google the name instead of typing in the address. Choose any non-obscure domain name with one of the common TLDs (.com, .org, .net, .me, .eu) and you should be fine.

whatusername2• 17 years ago

yes - but then you need some funky google-fu so that when users google for www.yoursite.COM they get directed to www.yoursite.NET

The .com is still the best option

streety• 17 years ago

If: 1) You can secure the domain <yoursite>me.com and 2) It helps with your marketing

I would say go for it.

hellweaver666• 17 years ago

Thanks for all the feedback guys - I think I'm going to operate the site on the .me primarily but make sure I have the .co.uk .com and .me.uk point to the same place just in case.

Ask HN: Would you trust a .me domain?

Related Stories