Any experience using made-up domain names?

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

I recall that, starting around the twenty-oughts, there was a mad rush to register every conceivable domain name, in the hope of charging huge sums to sell the names to people who actually wanted to use them. Is it therefore a big risk to ‘invent’ a domain name to use in a story, in case it’s already claimed by somebody? I really don’t want to get sued for trademark infringement.

Would I dodge the bullet because this would be in a story on a free site? Or by changing all references to //[whatever].com// to //[whatever]’s website//? Have you ever posted a story here that cited a domain name (made up by the author)? If so, were there any repercussions?

 

[CalBishForNow]

Forget about URLs, I've used brand names in stories here and there. I'm sure better-known writers than me have used them more extensively then I did. No one cares.

It might be a good idea to be vague about it or make something up if it's a major plot point, for example, if your villain is clearly inspired by a real person who works at Google or something. But it's simply that your characters met through Bumble? No one cares.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I recall that, starting around the twenty-oughts, there was a mad rush to register every conceivable domain name, in the hope of charging huge sums to sell the names to people who actually wanted to use them. Is it therefore a big risk to ‘invent’ a domain name to use in a story, in case it’s already claimed by somebody? I really don’t want to get sued for trademark infringement.

Would I dodge the bullet because this would be in a story on a free site? Or by changing all references to //[whatever].com// to //[whatever]’s website//? Have you ever posted a story here that cited a domain name (made up by the author)? If so, were there any repercussions?

I have a story, soon to be accompanied by a sequel, called WhoreBnB I add the .com sometimes in the text. Seems like a business opportunity to me.

 

[IWroteThis]

You can check to see if a domain name is available or already purchased. There are a ton of WHOIS tools out there that will return owner information (or the lack thereof on available ones).

What I've found is that the shorter the domain name, the more likely it is to have been purchased. Ignoring the value the site itself gives to the names, lit.com has a higher resale value than literotica.com.

I use one in one of my WiPs. It's long enough (four words crammed together into a 22 character string) that I doubt it will ever be bought, unless my story makes it desirable, but I'll check it's availability again before I publish.

 

[Britva415]

Is it therefore a big risk to ‘invent’ a domain name to use in a story, in case it’s already claimed by somebody?

It's trivially easy to check whether someone already has it. It's even easier to see whether there's a website being actively hosted on it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Would I dodge the bullet because this would be in a story on a free site? Or by changing all references to //[whatever].com// to //[whatever]’s website//? Have you ever posted a story here that cited a domain name (made up by the author)? If so, were there any repercussions?

The site won't allow anything that could be a genuine link (if not now, maybe later), so make it really obvious it's a fake domain or website name.

I had to remove a reference to Tumblr years ago, which was easy, I just referred to a nameless blog. Which is all I do now, if I need to.

 

[Britva415]

You can spell a domain name in a story without hyperlinking it.

Especially if it's not real.

 

[SimonDoom]

I recommend getting rid of the top level domain portion of the name, so there's no risk that you are referring to a real domain.

I wrote a story in which a woman maintained a page on something like OnlyFans.com. I called it OnlyFun, and I left off the ".com" part. I think it worked out fine. I got the point across and I did not run afoul of any rules.

 

[RejectReality]

Best bet is to skip the .com when making up a website or naming one that actually exists. There's a fairly high chance of getting rejected over it. Absolutely don't make it look anymore like a real link with www. or anything else.

If you absolutely have to have something in there for a joke or plot point to land, spell it out rather than structuring it as a link would be. Just know you're more or less playing Russian Roulette. ( And that there could be another spin of the chamber at any time if somebody reports the story for it after publication )

That's a far bigger concern than some unbathed basement dweller wanting to sue you for using a domain name they've been squatting on since the turn of the century.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

There wouldn't be a link, or anything to take someone to an actual site. The site wouldn't exist in reality, just in the story. What I'm seeing so far from you folks, however, tends to support my hunch that writing a domain name could be more trouble than it's worth.

 

[jsmiam]

SomethingOrOther.C0M
SomethingOrOther.c0m

Most people wouldnt notice that’s a zero and not a letter o, and it wont be detected as or converted to a clickable hyperlink.

As far as unused names, you could use any Whois checker, but you might as well go to one of the granddaddies of them all, network solutions. https://whois.networksolutions.com/ Only mildly enshittified compared to completely like most of the internet nowadays.

It still may be more trouble, but here are ways. Could Literotica be the site you mention? Could be a fun loophole.

 

[BeechLeaf]

I had a character who spoke the name of robots dot text, and I styled it like that: I was capturing the words he was saying. Doing that with dot com would get over the possibility of automatic linking.

As with anything risky, point it out in the note to admin: say that you mention a fictional website show-me-pron dot com and it's not meant to be a working link or an advertisement.

 

[Writer61]

I recall that, starting around the twenty-oughts, there was a mad rush to register every conceivable domain name, in the hope of charging huge sums to sell the names to people who actually wanted to use them. Is it therefore a big risk to ‘invent’ a domain name to use in a story, in case it’s already claimed by somebody? I really don’t want to get sued for trademark infringement.

Would I dodge the bullet because this would be in a story on a free site? Or by changing all references to //[whatever].com// to //[whatever]’s website//? Have you ever posted a story here that cited a domain name (made up by the author)? If so, were there any repercussions?

In my current WIP, three couples are brought together through a swimwear brand and its associated fan site. Both are made-up names, but I never include the TLD (that's the .com, or whatever, at the end of the URL), just referring to 'the website'.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

You can spell a domain name in a story without hyperlinking it.

Especially if it's not real.

I have done this with an imaginary website before.

"tornwallpaper.eu" didn't hyperlink but indicated a website hosted somewhere in Europe.

Otherwise, even if it is a genuine website, spelling it out avoids the hyperlink ban too: "Google dot com", for example.

 

[Voboy]

I do this sort of thing fairly frequently, and I do leave off the last part of the domain name most of the time.

EARLY on in my writing, I decided I wanted something with Facebook's functionality without calling it Facebook; I had lived through the birth, life, and death of Myspace and I knew that where it had once been ubiquitous, it eventually became a joke. I figured Facebook would probably end up the same way (this was back in 2016 that I was pondering all this).

So I invented Pixboox.

It has always been my go-to site of choice whenever I need the internet to do anything at all. I have given it unlimited functionality: it has replaced Instagram and TikTok, and it even has aspects of YouTube, Craigslist, Amazon, and Tinder. I've given it a porn offshoot and a premium subscribers' page, and it supports things like webcam streaming when I've needed it to.

I guess what I'm saying is that you can get a lot of mileage our of a made-up domain name.

 

[MrPixel]

I dabble in domains, not so much as a squatter, but for projects which have or may have some interest to me. I have four live domains I created that are referenced in stories. They're either single pages or are on my registrar's parking page. All are anonymized to registrar ownership only.

So I invented Pixboox.

I invented TikiePix. It's not one of my domains.

 

[TheLobster]

URLs seem to be a no-no, no matter if they're fake or not.

I had a story in the form of an email exchange, with all bells and whistles of From:, To: and CC: header, each one with a fake email address. It for rejected, and I needed to strip the addresses to get it submitted which sadly removed some of the tacit humor I was shooting for.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I got around this issue for one story by using a fictional country with a fictional TLD. There's not much likelihood that anybody will have n_kapustina@****.edu.sj as their email address any time soon.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

I've started searching the text to find where I've written the phony domain name, and to my surprise there have been very few instances. I've been able to rephrase them out of the text without Compromising The Integrity Of My Artistic Vision. I think my awareness of the phony site has been a part of the furniture behind the writing, which led me to believe that its presence in the text would be ubiquitous and non-negotiable. So far, it isn't. This might be whatcha call yer serendipity, amirite?

 

[Britva415]

TikiePix

Pixboox

I have a fictional universe within which the antisocial media giants are Licktit, Facefuck and Shitter.