programming and human factors
by Jeff Atwood
As I work on UI prototypes for the new web venture, I've been brainstorming names for the web site we're building. I've surveyed some of the finest minds in the software developer community (for very small values of "fine"), and we've come to a collective realization: naming a website is hard. Really, really hard.
You begin to have a new respect for all the crazily-named Web 2.0 startups. And then there are the domain names which must not be named. Some of them are actually serious. What were the people who named experts-exchange.com thinking? I'm not so sure they were.
We've racked our collective brains, and this is the best we could do. We'd like your input to see if we're on the right track. Vote for the name that best embodies what you'd like to see on a software developer community website.
(voting is now over; the winner was stackoverflow.com)
| humbledeveloper.com | 563 | 8% | |
| fellowhackers.com | 302 | 4% | |
| gosub10.com or gosubten.com | 334 | 5% | |
| writeoncereadmany.com | 157 | 2% | |
| humbleprogrammers.com | 179 | 3% | |
| privatevoid.com | 934 | 14% | |
| cargocultdevs.com | 109 | 2% | |
| dereferenced.com | 755 | 11% | |
| bitoriented.com | 492 | 7% | |
| algorithmical.com | 301 | 4% | |
| corecursion.com | 96 | 1% | |
| metaprogramming.com | 373 | 5% | |
| stackoverflow.com | 1,721 | 25% | |
| understandrecursion.com | 35 | 1% | |
| shiftleft1.com | 102 | 1% | |
| (other) | 442 | 6% | |
| 6,895 |
I can't quite talk about what this developer community website will do yet, but we think it's going to be somewhat unique. It sure helps to put a name on it first.
We appreciate all feedback, even if it's of the "they all suck" variety. In that case, vote for the (other) option and leave your ideas in the comments or email me directly. You can use the clever as-you-type search at Instant Domain Search to figure out what's available. I'm warning you: it's a wasteland out there. You'll have to be pretty clever indeed to come up with an interesting, simple name that isn't taken -- or, worse, domain-squatted.
Update: If you're curious what the website will do, in broad terms, this recent audio interview I did with Thirsty Developer explains.
Commenters also pointed out some excellent articles on naming:
How about codecrypters.com ? (CoDeCrypters.com)
Reino Gransson on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMI think the best bet are the ones you can easily read. Therefore I chose privatevoid.com. Personally, I had to spend too much effort in trying to read most of the others.
It's also easy to type.
JAtkinson on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMOf those listed in the poll, stackoverflow.com is my favorite.
Along the lines of fizzbuzz.com, is there another "classic" developer interview question or problem with a succinct name along the lines of "fizzbuzz" that might be available? (I'm afraid I don't have a specific suggestion.)
@Jeff:
Of course I registered them all beforehand, just in case. Cost of doing business.
You might have noted that in the main post, to save us from wondering!
Jon Schneider on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMHow about bittwiddlers.net or manualoverride.com?
Grant Johnson on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMI also like the idea of using 'this' instead of 'www' in the domain name for a bit of an OOP inside joke (at least for languages that use this)
John Ferguson on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMcodecafe is taken, as is codebistro
codercave and codercavern are open. These are probably more realistic places for developers to meet each other than cafes and bistros anyway.
Ron on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMI like stack overflow because, aside from having a little pizazz, it's also general to programming and isn't specific to one language (like VB or C) or one group of developers ("hackers").
Since I get the feeling you'll be writing about a lot of higher-level, only-slightly-technical stuff, I don't like the recursion ones because they give the impression of a computer-sciency site.
And while the "humble" names aptly describe many of the things you write about, they just don't have any zing to them. The name of a business or web site doesn't have to be incredibly clever, but contrary to what some of the nerds are saying in their replies, the name is your image and image is everything in for-profit ventures. Humility is a noble virtue but it isn't good for marketing.
I can kind of see cargocultdevs as well. The only thing bothering me about that is the abbreviation; if you want this to be read by higher-level managers and startup CEOs (which I assume you do), then it makes the name harder to "speak". What's a "dev"?
Just my opinion of course. Maybe you shouldn't be asking us, though - remember, never listen to your users. :-)
Aaron G on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMMaybe:? softwaredevelopercommunity.com or softwaredeveloper.com(munity)
Err, Jason on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMHackerCombinator seams to be a new one (Google cant find anything).
Reino Gransson on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMWoo hoo! privatevoid.com is doing well in the ratings! I'm disappointed you left my last suggestion off, though: ohdamnitisaftertwointhemorning.com.
Jon Galloway on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMSkinner: Only one question remains, gentlemen...what do we call
ourselves?
Nigel: How about, "Handsome Homer Simpson Plus Three?"
Barney: I like it!
Apu: Wait, I do not.
Skinner: Er, um, we need a name that's witty at first, but that seems
less funny each time you hear it.
Apu: How about, "The Be Sharps?"
[Everyone laughs loud at first, then less, then the laughter
tapers off]
Skinner: Perfect!
-- Important group naming criteria, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet"
I've no idea when it comes to purchasing domains that are "squatted" by those search pages (Maybe somebody can enlighten me?!), but personally, I'd love to own bit,com. Simple, short(!), fundamentally related and definately memorable! Along the same lines, what about codr,com? (As in the web 2.0 equivilant of "coder")
Wish you the best whatever you pick!
SiliconTransplants (what a compiler does).
Reino Gransson on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMprivatevoid sounds great
Ion Todirel on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMYou know, its pretty dumb to post potential websites up on a popular blog like this, unless you have already registered them all. Since it opens up a wide door for squatters to get all the names they could potentially sell in one place (it costs very little to register 10-20 names)
Jason Wang on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMpersonallyoown.com
noon on February 6, 2010 10:25 PMThe comments to this entry are closed.
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