NerdZone is rebranding

[Retro]

Right ppl, I'm still not 100% on discussiondock.com and have done some more searching. I've just registered discussioncentral.net and discussioncentral.uk, so what do people think of these?

I actually like the .uk version better as it's one letter shorter and I think .uk looks cool, but it's country specific, while .net is nice and generic and everyone knows it. Of course, some asshat cybersquatter has the best domain, discussioncentral.com, so I'm not about to pay thousands for that.

Note that the Discussion Central theme was inspired by troublemaker @Astro What's Ideology Central. Check it out, it's a great new forum:

Ideology Central

Where beliefs shape our life

ideologycentral.com

 

[Astro What]

Wouldn't know what to talk about for a start lol and there are many small YT channels out there with hardly any activity too.

This is a back burner issue for me, and would work well for the niche of my site. I already have a lot of the equipment that I would need. Decent wireless microphones are the next project, and I have them in a shopping basket already. But until we can get to where we are doing more traveling in the RV I have pretty much postponed it. I want to really document it as both a target as a "travel-blog" and also for the capturing from different locales.

 

[Astro What]

discussioncentral.net and discussioncentral.uk, so what do people think of these?

Thanks for the mention. I am actually surprised that IDC is getting the traffic it is since I have not really pushed it hardly anywhere.
It's been up about 2 weeks, has 7 users and 21 topics/158 posts.

Discussioncentral.com would be better than .NET. Using the UK TLD is going to get people thinking it is restricted to UK related discussions.

Using Central in a domain can work for certain niches. For the Ideology one I was actually shocked that it had not already been taken. I think the main reason was that it is so long and ideology is an abstract idea that many don't think about.
I have already been offered $1500 for the domain and site, but I really want to try and make a go of it.
I still think Discussion Dock might be the better option. But if you already have both, you can use DD on the main site and redirect your DC domain to the DD one. Then track traffic on both in Google Analytics and see which is getting heavier hits.

 

[Retro]

Thanks for the mention. I am actually surprised that IDC is getting the traffic it is since I have not really pushed it hardly anywhere.
It's been up about 2 weeks, has 7 users and 21 topics/158 posts.

Yeah, I think it's gonna take off and likely because it's got a catchy .com domain. Plus, you know, ideology is something that gets people fired up nowadays lol. I was surprised too that it was still available for you.

Amazing you're already being offered money for it. I'd push for much more than that and then sell it unless you really don't need the money. I've never been approached like that for NZ <sniff>.

I still think Discussion Dock might be the better option. But if you already have both, you can use DD on the main site and redirect your DC domain to the DD one. Then track traffic on both in Google Analytics and see which is getting heavier hits.

I'm trying to understand here: if I used DD for the rebrand, then why would anyone use DC to try to get to it? They simply wouldn't know about that domain, would they?

It's possible that DD might be better, I dunno, it's just so hard to guess, as I pointed out a couple of posts above. I'm sure that discussioncentral.com would be the best though had it been available.

 

[Retro]

This is a back burner issue for me, and would work well for the niche of my site. I already have a lot of the equipment that I would need. Decent wireless microphones are the next project, and I have them in a shopping basket already. But until we can get to where we are doing more traveling in the RV I have pretty much postponed it. I want to really document it as both a target as a "travel-blog" and also for the capturing from different locales.

Oh, I'd be your number one fan if you started this channel, so perhaps best that you never do it lest those ankles are put in danger...

Misery (1990) ⭐ 7.8 | Drama, Thriller

1h 47m | 16

www.imdb.com

Great movie, huh? I've watched it so many times over the last 35 years and saw it at the cinema, too.

 

[Astro What]

Amazing you're already being offered money for it. I'd push for much more than that and then sell it unless you really don't need the money. I've never been approached like that for NZ <sniff>.

I have no plans on selling it. As you commented, for now it can be easily targeted as a "hot-button" type domain that can draw traffic easily if the content is decent. And if it doesn't, it's only $11 a year to renew and I am already paying for VPS/dedicated servers, so it's no additional major effort to run additional sites other than creating content.

I'm trying to understand here: if I used DD for the rebrand, then why would anyone use DC to try to get to it? They simply wouldn't know about that domain, would they?

Keywords. Same way for a while that I had dso.photos registered (but let it expire).
Try going to https://etexastro.com and see what site (and page) you come to.
It's all about pulling in traffic.
That domain (and page) was thanks to Brandon. He registered on my site originally using that username and I thought "shit, that would make a great user group for my Nobita's Social Groups add-on", Then got to thinking how nice it would be for anyone looking for that domain to be redirected to that social group page. So, a little discussion and now that domain (which is for my locale) goes to a page on my site.

 

[Hitcore]

Such excellent points above that I that I don't have anything much to contribute as I've nodded my head reading each thoughtful post here too. I truly believe a website name works best when it names what the niche is. Personally, I also like the niche name to be the first name in a domain name for a better relevant search, such as "nerdzone". Nerd is the first part of the domain name. If I was going to have a website for dogs and cats, for example, I might choose dogwhimsy or catwhimsy.

One other point to consider that I don't think was mentioned here, and my apologies if I missed it, but take a look at the meaning of "xen" and perhaps that might help. I fell in to the "xen" trap for a little while in domain naming because I thought it was an alternative to "zen" but learned it wasn't, plus an amazing friend of mine kept shaking their head "no" when I would mention it.

I've browsed through the comments here, and I'm really with Tiffany on this. NerdZone is straightforward, clear, it says it all: it's a zone (forum) for people with nerdy interests. Some lean more into old videogames, some are more into science, but in the end what all connects us is that we're nerds in one way or another. That being said, Peter's observations are not wrong:

I find that significant rebrands are almost always unpopular to people who recognize the current brand, which can sometimes (note: sometimes, not always) be sort of a false indicator.

It basically boils down to homeostasis. People don’t like change. If you have good sound strategy behind your decision to rebrand, and the new brand is good, then after the initial discomfort people will gradually grow to like it just as well as before.

A loooooong time ago, like 2005'ish, I was a member of Hype.FM. It was a forum for people who are into EDM, and each style had its own subforum. Then there was the audio livestream, hence the .fm TLD, and it was because of this 24/7 player that the forum was well known, even among people who didn't post but just dropped by for the music. Awesome place, made some real life friends because of it, friends I went to dance festivals with.
At some point it was renamed to RIGEforums. The forum remained unchanged and there was still the livestream. Most of the already-members were fine with it, me included. But it was a bit vague to newcomers. It just wasn't as recognizable anymore.

I'm a newcomer, only been here for like a week, so in that sense I am impartial to either the name NerdZone or xenForums. I am here now, and a name change doesn't affect me. But let me tell you this: it was the current name that has drawn me to this place. Instantly I knew what it was about, and it is exactly what I have been looking for: I have found my fellow nerds!

Again, a name change won't bother me much. But think about clarity and potential, and perhaps the fact that SEO and linking from other sites may have to start from scratch again. If you want to grow a bit, it's best to not tamper with it too much. NZ has gone into its third year now, and this is round the time when a name can be considered as established. So in this poll I vote "other", with the explanation that you might want to be a little bit conservative on this matter, which I say not out of personal preference but because of future users.

I hope this makes sense.

 

[Mars]

Such excellent points above that I that I don't have anything much to contribute as I've nodded my head reading each thoughtful post here too. I truly believe a website name works best when it names what the niche is. Personally, I also like the niche name to be the first name in a domain name for a better relevant search, such as "nerdzone". Nerd is the first part of the domain name. If I was going to have a website for dogs and cats, for example, I might choose dogwhimsy or catwhimsy.

One other point to consider that I don't think was mentioned here, and my apologies if I missed it, but take a look at the meaning of "xen" and perhaps that might help. I fell in to the "xen" trap for a little while in domain naming because I thought it was an alternative to "zen" but learned it wasn't, plus an amazing friend of mine kept shaking their head "no" when I would mention it.

Same here, Tiffany. I read 'xen' but think 'zen', with all the cool connotations attached to zen. Then I go and look what xen means, and was very happy when Retro dropped it. It has its root in xen as 'foreign', not good.
As I said my heart lies with NerdZone.

 

[Mars]

I've browsed through the comments here, and I'm really with Tiffany on this. NerdZone is straightforward, clear, it says it all: it's a zone (forum) for people with nerdy interests. Some lean more into old videogames, some are more into science, but in the end what all connects us is that we're nerds in one way or another. That being said, Peter's observations are not wrong:



A loooooong time ago, like 2005'ish, I was a member of Hype.FM. It was a forum for people who are into EDM, and each style had its own subforum. Then there was the audio livestream, hence the .fm TLD, and it was because of this 24/7 player that the forum was well known, even among people who didn't post but just dropped by for the music. Awesome place, made some real life friends because of it, friends I went to dance festivals with.
At some point it was renamed to RIGEforums. The forum remained unchanged and there was still the livestream. Most of the already-members were fine with it, me included. But it was a bit vague to newcomers. It just wasn't as recognizable anymore.

I'm a newcomer, only been here for like a week, so in that sense I am impartial to either the name NerdZone or xenForums. I am here now, and a name change doesn't affect me. But let me tell you this: it was the current name that has drawn me to this place. Instantly I knew what it was about, and it is exactly what I have been looking for: I have found my fellow nerds!

Again, a name change won't bother me much. But think about clarity and potential, and perhaps the fact that SEO and linking from other sites may have to start from scratch again. If you want to grow a bit, it's best to not tamper with it too much. NZ has gone into its third year now, and this is round the time when a name can be considered as established. So in this poll I vote "other", with the explanation that you might want to be a little bit conservative on this matter, which I say not out of personal preference but because of future users.

I hope this makes sense.

Yes Hitcore, definitely makes sense!

 

[Retro]

Instantly I knew what it was about, and it is exactly what I have been looking for: I have found my fellow nerds!

I think this is the core of whether I should rebrand or not and I get what you're saying about SEO, so let's see how things go before rebranding. It wasn't something that I was going to do immediately anyway and this gives me more reason to hold off.

I have to admit that I've now got a real itch to rebrand, but I see that the general preference from members is to keep the NZ branding and this might just be a new beginning for our forum. Let's see how it goes.

Shame that hype.fm is no more, with some cybersquatter looking to make a buck from the domain name. Looks like that was a great community. Searching RIGEforums didn't come up with anything useful, either.