Almost every popular site is no more than 2-3 syllables, memorable, easy to pronounce, and a .com. Google, MSN, Yahoo, Digg, Reddit, GMail, the list goes on...
Too bad the squatters have got almost every other URL out there that satisfies these criteria :)
Throw those criteria out the window. Squatting is such an uncreative thing, so squatters probably are unable to "think outside the box."
I have stopped thinking these sites tell anything useful. What do you think of this one?
oi.oio.io
It's up for grabs (as of now), and I bet you'd remember it after a few seconds. It doesn't even need to follow a syllable rule. Too bad I don't have a product to match this name, but I think it's great. If you think otherwise, be sure to explain why.
'... Too bad the squatters have got almost every other URL ...'
in some ways it really hurts. You think of an idea, go for a domain and it's being sat on. Just another stumbling block. I reckon it has forced people to be more inventive in their titles.
Does folksonomy qualify as a good name? I registered a name that violates almost every point in every guideline list I have read to date. To oops or not to oops.
The irony of a site not following it's own suggestions. Maybe the suggestions are skewed to theoretical commercial sites. Anyway they are only suggestions. For every case you could find a valid corollary. Delicious is a great one. Just how did it get so popular with that name?
del.icio.us is hard as hell to type. Here is my speculation.
First, "del" and "us" are easy to remember. Now you just place in the dots. So in terms of your memory, the difficult part is in the production phase (typing), not the storage and retrieval.
Second, I imagine most of its initial users were relatively well educated and web-wise.
Third, the lack of .com makes it unique, and at its time, a pioneer. The pioneer always has imitators, and we have seen plenty. Flickr is another one of those "pioneers."
And pioneers don't follow guidelines, because guidelines were based on the pioneers. So much for these tips; they should make a portfolio demonstrating how creative they are, like logo firms do. "Here are some example names we've come up with: 1. Folksonomy..." 4 syllables, 10 characters, and if you type properly, the second half of the word uses way too much index-finger.
'... First, "del" and "us" are easy to remember. Now you just place in the dots. So in terms of your memory, the difficult part is in the production phase (typing), not the storage and retrieval. ...'
Nice explanation. The way I remembered it was 'del' 'icio' 'us', pretty much the pattern you describe.
'... And pioneers don't follow guidelines, because guidelines were based on the pioneers. ...'
Almost every popular site is no more than 2-3 syllables, memorable, easy to pronounce, and a .com. Google, MSN, Yahoo, Digg, Reddit, GMail, the list goes on...
Too bad the squatters have got almost every other URL out there that satisfies these criteria :)