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Let's say I have an open project called Some Project. Would you recommend hosting the project site under someproject.com or someproject.org, and why? I realize that .org suits an open source project better, but I'm afraid that on longer term, I may want to (cough...) start making money out of it, and .org would become misleading, while moving to .com could cause troubles in the sense of SEO and promotion. I hope someone could shed some light on this dilemma.

Dominic Rodger
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mxgrn
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    What's the programming part of this question? I don't see where this is programming related. This sounds like business strategy. Can you clarify this question? – S.Lott Nov 10 '09 at 15:59
  • I agree it has no direct relation to programming techniques, but I find it no less relevant than a question about the future of old developers for example (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/972611/old-developers-any-future/972627). I do software (I don't sell cars), and I'm willing to hear what's the best way to promote it. Please, correct me if I'm wrong. – mxgrn Nov 10 '09 at 16:22
  • @Sergei Kozlov: Your question applies equally well to selling cars as it does to programming. That makes it a poor fit for a site focused narrowly on progrmaming. – S.Lott Nov 10 '09 at 19:25

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The definition of .org (from various sources) is "top-level Internet domain used by associations and non-profit organizations mostly in the U.S. and Canada." So, this could become misleading (not that people don't do it). I would follow the lead of WordPress, where .org is the Open Source project and .com is the commercial entity.

MarkPowell
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Register both, use the .org for the open project, save the .com for if/when you need it.

Murph
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Register both. Use .org as the main domain, .com is supposed to be for commercial ventures but you wouldn't want it to be taken by a domain squatter.

Kelly S. French
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Depends what the project is. For example, .fm is often used for music sites.

Either way, if your project rocks, it doesn't matter.

BenB
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