Some domain bashing

Grr… I hate looking for new domain names. Everything’s already taken and when it’s not, it’s because some arcane country code top level domain rules that won’t let you get it.

Case in point: my quest for a shorter domain for Imagery (elzr.com/imagery seems unfair now that it receives far, far more visits than this very blog). Sean was kind (and fast) enough the other day to grab imgry.com and imag3ry.com but, I don’t know, they are simply not that satisfying. So my first stab at it was trying to pull a ma.gnolia.com, to no avail (magery.com, agery.com, gery.com, ery.com, ery.com — all taken). Then I tried a del.icio.us, again to no avail (it turns out there’s no .ry code and .ru would have been nice but image.ru, which sounds pleasantly japanesy to me, is already taken). And then it hit me, straight from high above I swear: ima.ge/ry! It was free, it was cool, it was weird: my quest was over — it should have been over. But it turns out the damn .ge is only available to Georgian residents! Grr…

On a related domain pet-peeving note: since 1997 you can’t buy a something*.mx* domain (you have to get a second-level domain, like .com.mx, .gob.mx, etc). Why? Go figure. I can buy something*.us* (U.S.), something*.am* (Armenia), or something*.tw* (Taiwan) but not the one from my country. Grr…