The last remark basically killed it.
Trademarks work like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4zwq6MEaKw&list=UURyDduT...
Trademarks work like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4zwq6MEaKw&list=UURyDduT...
A bad name won't kill your project, but trademark infringement definitely can.
But to answer your question, .net domains are still untrusted IMO but doing a domain hack or adding a prefix for a .com domain is legit. (thefacebook.com, getdropbox.com, etc)
A bad name would kill this project, it's sort of pointless trying to convince you of it since I can't say what the name is, but it's not just an arbitrary aesthetic name like many startups use. It literally describes what we're doing and it's catchy as hell. Everyone we've told thinks it's perfect so it's something we aren't willing to compromise.
That said, thanks for your insight. I'd considered those two scenarios actually (getdropbox, thefacebook) and we will probably do something similar for the time being.
My advice: save yourself the headache, and come up with a new name. A lot of names don't make sense if you thnk about it. Facebook? My father thinks it's a photo booklet with headshots from your friends...