One annoying feature of the free marketplace for top level domains is how many of the best end up in the hands of speculators who buy them to hold for future resale and “park” them with a link farm operator. When NBC Universal took over scifi.com and turned it into a dumbed down online presence for its equally dumbed down version the Scifi channel, there was one less serious place on the net for scifi fans.
Bucking the trend, one domain speculator decided to invest invest in a domain and actually do something with it. After putting up $175K to buy sciencefiction.com, Patrick Ruddell is actually publishing there.
When domain name investor and blogger Patrick Ruddell (aka Chef Patrick) came across the name ScienceFiction.com, he couldn’t resist: he dropped $175,000 to buy it.
The domain name had been held back by a finance company called Domain Capital due to a defaulted loan, and Ruddell contacted two sci-fi geek friends to turn it into a business.
Fast forward to today, and ScienceFiction.com has launched as a way for fans to access information about all things science fiction, ranging from movies, TV shows, games, books, comic books and technology. (Tech Crunch)
Kudos and congratulations to Patrick and company. May the new sciencfiction.com live long and prosper.
Thank you Garry, appreciate the kind words. We are very excited to see what the future holds for us!
~Patrick Ruddell