Ask HN: AOL owns a domain name I could really use. How to get it?

4 points·cjbarber··4 comments

To be honest, the domain is worth more than I can afford. Can anyone offer any sort of strategy suggestion as to how to approach this?

They are not using the domain.

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You'll probably never get it without an exorbitant amount of money.

Try looking for a similar name plenty of people use search engines and bookmarks so a domain like thexxxx.com or getxxxx.com isn't that ridiculous.

Make a PDF/html email (pictures, etc etc) that comes off as a desperate plea for help with a project that you have a ton of passion for, then email it to every support email address you can find. If you can make it seem like they're helping a student, single father, struggling programmer, whatever, it might get a forward to someone who can help.

That's my only idea other than the negativity that seems to have infected HN as of late (or maybe it was just a period of positivity when I first showed up?)

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/02/27/how-to-buy-d...

See item 4d in the list. James Siminoff tells how he pleaded for and was given the domain Noble.com for free.

What makes the domain name valuable? People stopped looking for services by domain name about ten seconds after Google was invented. Unless it's a brand name and trademark-sensitive, there's not much you can do.

If you have a viable money-making idea, build it without the magical domain name, get rich, buy the domain.

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