What they don’t tell you in Business School is that the hardest part of starting a new company is coming up with a good web address. Since they must be unique across the world, there’s a good chance that whatever URL you think you want isn’t available. There’s a good chance that your first hundred choices aren’t available.
You want a name that’s short, that’s descriptive, that’s easy to spell, that’s memorable, that matches what people might type into search engines, etc. That “short” part is particularly tough – nearly every short combination of letters has long ago been snapped up.
I knew all that. What I didn’t know is, what I know now, is that you also don’t want a URL starting with the letter X.
When you travel around to various wi-fi hotspots, you’ll discover that some locations block access to xwordinfo.com assuming it must be a porn site. It’s, basically, not, although there are numerous references to ASS, TIT, OGLE, SCREW, and several other perversely provocative words.
We recently got an offer from a company wanting to sell Viagra through our site. We declined.
Maybe we should change our name. We happen to own crosswordinfo.com as a backup. On the other hand, we’ve invested a lot in our current name. Besides, that X ups our Scrabble score.
Perhaps this is why you are blocked by Burbank Public Wifi and Burbank USD in California. I have to use my hot spot at work.