> YC startups are abandoning .com

They are not "abandoning" .com domains. They are just really hard to find available or cheap enough to buy, so they launch with something else instead!

.com will always be king

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manueltgomes 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Bingo. either you bough a .com a while ago or you have to pay a lot.

A while ago we had the .ly domains. Now .ai. Things change depending on "fashion" if you can call it that.

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DanielHB 8 hours ago | parent [-]

Oh god my company just switched to .io and that was a huge PITA. I hope we don't go .ai...

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robin_reala 8 hours ago | parent [-]

You just switched to .io knowing that it might be decommissioned in the not-too-distant future?

	▲	computomatic 8 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Perhaps they finally finished their migration off .su
	▲	applfanboysbgon 8 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It would shock me if that domain were actually allowed to be killed off by pure bureaucracy. I would like to believe that at some point bureaucracy must give way to concerns for the humans it serves, and if nothing else there is enough money involved with the industry that uses it that they'll probably be able to lobby effectively, one way or another.

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khy 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Nobody goes there anymore, its too crowded.

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4d4m 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Agreed, this is just a way to save cash until it makes sense to buy the actual desired tld .com from the current owner

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charlieyu1 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Maybe. Still wild to find startups getting millions can’t afford to buy a .com domain

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jeffyaw 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

it's not that they can't afford to buy one. it's that they're not available. and now a lot of other tlds have gained traction so it's now reasonable to consider others.

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layer8 8 hours ago | parent [-]

I would assume that for most foo.ai domains, foo-ai.com would also be available. So it’s more about naming preferences, and sometimes lack of imagination for coming up with an available name.

	▲	ksbd-pls-finish 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		foo-ai.com looks like a phishing domain targeting foo.ai

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xhkkffbf 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The squatters really jack up the prices. Yet somehow they pay pennies to squat on domains for decades. It's really a scandal.