In the spring of 2000, I wrote a column about the many unused domain names available on the Internet. It was surprising to me at the time that so many great options were still purchasable despite the growing popularity of the medium.
Now, over five years later, a majority of the domain names I referenced in that article remain unclaimed. Considering that there are about 45 million domain names in existence, it's remarkable how many good URLs are still available for the virtual taking.
My updated research, conducted on Monday, Dec. 5, 2005, concluded the following:
* Many obvious and practical uses for the Internet are still not being utilized. For example, no one has registered havemybaby.com, anyoneneedakidney.com or howdoifixthisdamnthing.com.
* Planning ahead for Valentine's Day, I noticed that iloveyou.com is available. When I checked five years ago, there was a site there that allowed you to "post your personalized message over the Internet for the world to see and express your feelings for someone you love." The site had a pop-up with the header "sex sex sex sex sex sex sex nude girls nude shows nude men young teen." It may seem pointless for me mention that pop-up in this article, but my own Web page could use some extra hits from people searching the Internet for "sex sex sex sex sex sex sex nude girls nude shows nude men young teen." Are you listening, Google?
* On the subject of pornography, picsofmyexgirlfriend.com and picsofmyexwife.com are still available for registration. Somewhat ironically, picsofmygirlfriend.com and picsofmywife.com are in use, but each is designed to direct people to other sites.
* For those with non-pornographic intentions, totallyclothed.com, respectfulphotographs.com and hotwetandamish.com are all available.
* Somethingintelligent.com is also available, but let's face it, that's not what the Internet is for.
* Five years ago, bestsiteontheweb.com and bestsiteontheinternet.com were both taken, but nothing was posted on them. Now, bestsiteontheinternet.com is available, and bestsiteontheweb.com is still promising content "coming soon."
* Worstsiteontheinternet.com and worstsiteontheweb.com have both been claimed, but they still have no content, which puts them on a par with the best.
* Anyone looking to create a Web site that all other Web sites can be judged against should know that averagewebsite.com is still available.
Paul Lundgren is a newspaper columnist and a very nice man. His e-mail address is paul [at] geekprom.com. Paullundgren.com is still available for anyone wishing to start a fan site, hint-hint.