The Next Big Web Thing Hall Of Internet Shame

How Are You Spelling That? The Top 25 Stupidly Named Web 2.0 Sites Of 2006

By David Lloyd: September 20th 2006

Now, if there's one thing that really makes me wince like someone just dropped a bag full of hungry ticks on my nadsack, then it's the oh-so-too-cool-for-their-own-good Web 2.0 site names and domain constructions.

Ok, so Google and Yahoo are examples of when it works and non-dictonary branding becomes the commonplace, but these days, everyone has to do it. I tend to come from the somewhat old fashioned and naive school of thought that says you make things as easy as possible for people. If you're coming up with a URL, make it memorable, but in a way that people can type it in and arrive there and then tell their friends to visit and they can also type it and get there.

Web 2.0 seems hell bent on throwing this school of thought out of the window in favour of faddish, trendy and cleverly constructed domain names. They favor words which tell you nothing about the site and make it as difficult as possible for you to get there. Apparently cutting edge means cutting out those not clever enough to comprehend site designer's artistic whims and conceits.

Let's have a look at the insanity in a bit more detail. We'll use a simple and completely arbitrary scoring system (of my own invention) to grade some of the domains in the top 25 - so here's why these traits are annoying, and the scores they can pick up.

We Dropped A Letter

Nothing screams 'the domain we actually wanted was already gone' than the insistence of many Web 2.0 sites to drop a letter from the word that the site would have been called if the domain was available. "Yeah mum, my photos are on flickr! No, not that site, it's flickr.com, like flicker.com without the e. No, just f-l-i-c-k-e-r but with out the e." etc. Head, wall, bang, bang.
Annoyance rating of 2 (out of a possible 5).

If that's not enough - Web 2.0 won't fix on a specific convention and stick to it. Just when you get used to dropping the penultimate e, they move goalposts and drop an o from the middle of the word. As the dropped e is a fairly common thing now, it's power to confuse is weakened somewhat which makes dropping other letters a real pain.
Annoyance rating of 3 (out of a possible 5).

Made Up Words

Self-explanatory really - because nothing says fresh and cutting edge more than inventing your own language. If you can make the word sound like a normal one but spell it wrong - for added effect you then add an 'ly' or and 'ety' on the end of your nonsense word.
Annoyance rating of 3 (out of a possible 5)

One New Word Out Of Two Old Ones

Another form of making a new language is to find two perfectly good and descriptive old words and make one new word from them.
Annoyance rating of 2 (out of a possible 5)

Spell It Phonetically

If you can't get the word you want, why not spell it phonetically? Nothing inspires a feeling of security than being part of a site where all the Ss have been replaced with Zz.
Annoyance rating of 2 (out of a possible 5)

Spell It If You Can

Multiple words, weird spellings, abbreviations and real word mashups - if you need to ask how to spell something, or spell it out to a potential visitor, forget it.
Annoyance rating of 3 (out of a possible 5)

Contrived And Difficult Pronunciation

If you want your new site to get word of mouth, it helps if people can easily pronounce the words - some short snappy ones may capture the imagination, but if you need to spell it out, you've lost.
Annoyance rating of 2 (out of a possible 5)

Absurdity

Some names just love their cleverness so much, they're blinded to the fact that they sound absurd, and not in a good way. Would you lend money off a bank called Coin Danglers?
Annoyance rating of 4 (out of a possible 5)

Subdomains From Hell

If the confusing words and silly spelling wasn't difficult enough, then what could make things even trickier for the average web surfer. Add a full stop in a couple of places in the word. Result!
Annoyance rating of 4 (out of a possible 5)

Obscure TLDs

Before now, you only ever needed one or two TLDs (Top Level Domains) to make sure your site shone (com and co.uk or net). Now though their seem to be more and more domain appendages than domains.

On it's own, an obscure domain can be effective branding. In this situation:
Annoyance rating of 1 (out of a possible 5)

However, fiendish website designers can use this to make domains even more confusing by including the obscure TLD as part of a word. In this case:
Annoyance rating of 2 (out of a possible 5)

But the ultimate is when the word they complete with the obscure TLD is... A made up word and also utilises a subdomain from hell. In these instances:
Annoyance rating of 5 (out of a possible 5)

The Top 25

So, without further ado - here's a list of 25 poorly thought out, staggeringly silly and downright annoying domain / site names I've come across in my web travels during 2006. It's by no means comprehensive, and if I missed your domain out then I can only apologise.

#25 - Quimble.com

It's not amongst the worst out there, but they've made up a new word by putting two old ones together. It certainly sounds a bit absurd, but they do get mad props for getting the word Quim into their URL which will always solicit a childish giggle - Take a look at Quimble.
Overall Score: 5

#24 - uLinkx.com

Another one that falls down on instant memorableness. ulink would be fine, but the extra x on the end just screams of 'all the decent domains were already gone!' Take a look at the media organisation of Ulinkx.
Overall Score: 5

#23 - Bibli.ca

Whilst the word is of foreign extraction, the obscure domain and spelling difficulties give it a score. Despite being quite a worthy name, I'm childish and want to go bib, bib, bib-licker. I know. Bibli.ca
Overall Score: 5

#22 - Complore.com

They've obviously made up a new word by adding two together, but frankly, the new word trips the absurdity filter and reminds me of jam rather than a cutting edge collaboration site. Go collaborate at Complore.
Overall Score: 6

#21 - Ma.gnolia.com

Whilst the word is fairly straight forward, there's the spelling penalty invoked by a subdomain from hell - although in fairness, they did have a pukka domain rather than relying on a more obscure TLD. Get all recommendational and share stuff with Ma.gnolia.
Overall Score: 7

Next >>

Page 1 - Numbers 25 - 21
Page 2 - Numbers 20 - 11
Page 3 - Numbers 10 - 01
Page 4 - The shortlist

Return To The Next Big Web Thing Hall Of Shame Index

Latest Posts On The Next Big Web Thing

RSS Button - Subscribe to feed here | Subscribe With Bloglines (Free)