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I would like to start a website with the .me TLD and this domain name should be the brand name as well.

But as all .yu domains have been deleted, I'm a bit cautious.

Is it safe to register a .me domain? Is it possible that this domain name will be removed as well after some years?

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4 Answers

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Actually, .ME domains are perfectly safe - it is the ccTLD for Montenegro delegated by IANA and operated by a joint venture of Afilias, Godaddy and Me-Net (see http://www.domain.me/who-is-me). Also they are being used by the biggest Internet brands like Facebook (fb.me), Yahoo (me.me), New York Times (news.me), Wordpress (wp.me) etc.

As for .YU, it has been shut down - but domains have not been deleted... They have been migrated either to .me or .rs. I would strongly recommend registering .me.

Cheers!

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Thank you, especially the examples of the biggest brands has convinced me. And the fact that domains have not been deleted but migrated calms me :) [If it is true ... (Source?)] – Marco W. May 7 '11 at 13:52
Actually, news.me goes to a News apps for the iPhone, not the New York Times. – citruspi Aug 4 '12 at 21:51
And me.me is no longer used by yahoo.com. But the .me TLD is still interesting for many. – jimg Aug 4 '12 at 22:12
up vote 1 down vote

With all the nonsense domain names out there that have had great success, e.g. woofu.com, joomla.com, and, dare I say it, yahoo.com, don't get too caught up in the name itself. A lot has been written about this elsewhere but the bottom line is this: a good name won't save a bad product and silly name won't hurt you. These .me extensions are about vanity. It is not where the rubber meets the road.

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Oh, I think we disagree here. A good brand name has some importance, of course, I'm sure. It is obviously that a brand can be more successful if its name is easy to remember. But I agree with you: Even the best name can't save a bad product. – Marco W. May 7 '11 at 13:54
There are meanings behind a few of your examples: Joomla is the anglicised spelling of the Swahili word jumla meaning "all together" or "as a whole". Yahoo! is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle". Don't know about woofu... – jimg Aug 5 '12 at 4:14
up vote 0 down vote

Our company faced a similar decision when we rebranded our production company. Trying to find available domains to support the rest of the branding was challenging.

In the end we made the decision to move forward with a .be domain. We did purchase a "not-very-good" .com as backup in case at some time in the future we couldn't use .be any more.

(Not to be self promotional -- but the company is Busy Worker Bee (busyworker.be) and we use the bee, hive, honey, blah blah metaphor in our sales and marketing)

We have found that our clients enjoy it, and it always makes for a nice elevator smile.

Based on this experience I say -- go for it!

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I can see, for your company the .be fits great :) But what bothers me is the political stability and the fact that a TLD from Montenegro has once been deleted already. For Belgium, I would never fear that. – Marco W. May 7 '11 at 13:57
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It is ok with Country Codes when you business is in some particular Country (and you clients too). In other cases, I will avoid CC domains at all. Most of the noise around .me, .ly and other strange extensions is just marketing from GoDaddy and other registrars. They make millions of each new extension. You can consider additionally that most of CC are under non US jurisdiction.

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Yes, it is obviously true that registrars such as GoDaddy make millions of each new TLD. But I don't care in this case. My registration won't change their earnings. Whether the TLD makes my business successful or not - this is more important for me :D – Marco W. May 7 '11 at 14:00

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