What ever happened to .WS

[acesfull]

It's a little-known fact that the .WS extension started out at .WORTHLESS

To make the domain a little less worthless, they removed the middle letters resulting in the more-familiar .WS, and today domains with this extension seem to be worth less.

[incka]

Three letter .ws is $500 per year - but I'm still surprised You.WS and Tax.WS are available.

(Shameless plus - if you're into short domains I have me.cx which I'll sell to you for less than one year of you.ws)

[Nova]

Well, what if it had just started out with widespread excellent pricing and the ability to transfer? Would we be singing a better song here now?

Will time tell? We'll see.

I've just always felt this one should have fared better than it has. Also, maybe this angle in addition to the "website" idea would sell: wireless.

[Dynamic1]

Originally Posted by Nova

Well, what if it had just started out with
widespread excellent pricing and the ability to transfer? Would we be singing a better song here now?

Will time tell? We'll see.

I've just always felt this one should have fared better than it has. Also, maybe this angle in addition to the "website" idea would sell: wireless.

Its ruined now :>(

[Nova]

Originally Posted by Dynamic1

Its ruined now :>(

Why so?

[bigboydog_0]

what about www.encrypt.ws.... what do u think???????

[nextyear]

I agree .ws is good for development. If you could have stock.ws and start developing the domains. It would be very brandable.

http://www.mwzd.com/2008/01/23/the-significance-of-ws/
Resell potential = 0. Agreed.

[touchring]

Location, Location, Location.

The extension matters. Dot com is king.

[Nova]

Originally Posted by bigboydog_0

what about www.encrypt.ws.... what do u think???????

Looks very interesting, but I wonder if it would be ok for seo or instead might negatively affect it.

Originally Posted by nextyear

I agree .ws is good for development.

Yup, and no need to fixate on flipping names or parking either.

Originally Posted by touchring

Location, Location, Location.

The extension matters. Dot com is king.

Two thoughts:

1. The best keyword .ws's are certainly more desirable than many .com's out there. I'd much rather have stocks.ws than a lot of second tier .com's.

2. What if encouraging greater awareness and popularity for certain currently less known or less popular tld's only enhanced .com's value and people's general awareness of and interest in domains? What if promoting some of them had the opposite effect to that one might normally expect? The world is filled with countless examples of how the existence of less valued or desired alternatives only accentuates the value of what is considered best instead of harming it, since it is not realistic to try to restrict alternatives to only the most expensive that exist. That's why people are still willing to pay fortunes for certain automobiles when cheaper alternatives are easy to get, and millions for artworks when innumerable alternatives exist at local art galleries and shopping centers.

Ok, now that I've said all that, check out this .ws that I found recently, but make sure you've got your speakers on first : WorldWideWeb.ws