Our old domain, rhinosplode.com, lapsed a couple of years ago. Someone bought it and wants $648 for it. Six hundred forty-eight dollars. For a domain name.
Now, I’m not knocking the ‘Splode–it’s a decent little site, after all–but $648? In its current incarnation as a WordPress blog, our biggest day in terms of pageviews was just over 50. That’s not very much at all, even in this age when everyone and their moms have blogs. My mom does not yet have a blog. –Ed.
But I guess it’s worth something. I’m assuming the value of domain names is determined by some weird formula involving searches or something. It couldn’t be that some shady character is convinced that what we have to say here is worth shelling out $648 for, could it?
Anyway, I’d maintain that this place is worth something. As a group blog (a very small group, but that can change), the writing here is certainly a bit more polished than your average tweet. The value, though, at least for me, lies in the community that we have–er, had–on Rhinosplode. There was a lot of writing here, and photos and jokes and all kinds of other stuff, including a thriving message board. And I’d love to have that back, but I think the times have moved on and left this sort of site behind.
Still, it’s kind of fun to go to the Wayback Machine and look through some of the old things. Like this letter, reprinted in its entirety:
Dear Rhinosplode,
I have recently had the misfortune of being hounded by gypsy ladies who want me to kiss their baby. Please send me as many free products as possible.
Yours truly,
A concerned citizen
Filed under: Matters Technological, Thing of the Day
Surely this $648 is but a trivial amount for your esteemed benefactor, Zeus Moscow (or he can send some enforcers to “persuade” the domain owner to give it up)!