.net vs .com Question

[ToadWhipserer]

Lets say I'm starting a forum about Widgets and the domain name widgetforum.com is taken and not being used, however, widgetforum.net is available. When folks want to find some place to discuss widgets they're going to do a search for "widget forum". Would I be better off picking another name like "WidgetTalk.com" or risk losing traffic because everyone assumes it's .com?
Another option I thought about is to get both and use widgetforum.net as the main address but call the site "Widget Talk" then have widgettalk.com re-direct to widgetforum.net. Or is this making things more complicated than need be? I would really rather not have to buy a domain name in the secondary market.

Thanks, Joe

[edited by: ToadWhipserer at 10:15 pm (utc) on Nov. 29, 2008]

[Quadrille]

I've heard various views on this, but for me, now, I'd never buy any domain name where I couldn't get the .com

As you rightly suggest, "everyone assumes it's .com" - but, worse than that, some browsers and other software have that assumption built in.

It's possibly worse still when the .com is unavailable but unused - they can not only steal your audience, but your ideas, too! (It's easier if it does exist, and it's rubbish!).

[Webwork]

.Net vs. .Com tends to be a temporary inconvenience, a matter of seconds. Small change in a WWWorld where people "waste" endless hours each week on various distractions, wanderings, side-tracked minutes/hours, online trivia, etc.

There reality is that once a site is built and starts getting links it will stand on its own. It will rank in the SERPs. It will be bookmarked.

Yes, there may be a smattering of "Oops!" moments, as people learn they're in the wrong place (.Com vs. .Net) but that's just part of doing business on the WWW. People search.

I think the more important questions are how committed are you to the success of your venture and how "able" are you to deliver?

[ToadWhipserer]

Thanks webwork, I'll stop wasting time worrying about it and spend that time on content.

Joe

[mvander]

Webwork makes a great point that comes back to the 3 rules of the web. :)

content content content

[pageoneresults]

.Net vs. .Com tends to be a temporary inconvenience, a matter of seconds.

I'm finding that to be true myself being in a situation similar to the OP.

Even after more than a few months, I still find myself typing the .com by mistake. It's almost like not being able to speak certain words and just stuttering instead. Da, da, da, dot com. No! It's .net.

And then you'll get the wise arses who say dot what?

ASP.NET < That's a humdinger! :)