I found a perfect name for a site, but I could only get the .net extension. Should the name be used anyway or would it be better to come up with something else where the .com is still available?

It really depends on the name, and what you wish to do with the name.

Rule of thumb: anything business, go for the .com, grab the .net, and maybe .org if you can. ;)

The site would not be a business, and would be a sort of internet service. I might even have used the .net for the site even if I had the .com as well.

It's a brave man who sets up a business using a .net when the .com is taken. You'll lose a lot of your traffic to the .com. Better to get .com/.net/.org (at least) with an alternative name.

I second Stu on this. The current practice is that you MUST get .com in order to be successful. However, the original thought behind .net was that this TLD *IS* for anything internet-related (perfect for ISPs, for example).

Like I said, this wouldn't be for a business in the sense that I offer some product. The domain describes the site perfectly so that's why I'm having a hard time deciding. This isn't the actual name and purpose of the site, but it would be very similar to having the name webspace.net when you want to offer free subdomains to people.

Ok. I misread you post witt, sorry. You could go with it, but if it was me, I'd come up with a viable alternative which at least has the .com available as well, even if you use the .net. I would hate to see all my hard work benefiting the .com

some ppl can start with the .net, but you would be under the power of the .com owner and might lose lots of traffic to the .com version of your domain

i got my kuwaitnet.net first and never thought for the .com version till 4-5 yrs back and had to get the .com version to avoid losing traffic :)

Depends a lot on how people will be finding the site. If it's mostly links, it's not a big deal, but if it's mostly word of mouth, many people will forget the .net and type .com.

wrong thread