Someone reached out a few days ago, trying to sell me “dctechevents.com”– which once upon a time was the domain for my DC Tech Events site.

Have I grown to like dctech dot events?

Yes.

Am I nostalgic for the old domain?

Also yes. But not $500 nostalgic.

Thankfully, my friend S here didn’t actually own the domain. When they wrote that email, the domain was in PendingDelete status, which is final. Whoever had owned it, stopped paying the bill. Once a domain has reached PendingDelete, nothing can stop it from eventually hitting the open market. At that moment, S might as well have been trying to sell me the Brooklyn bridge.

If I had expressed interest, they probably would have tried to grab it once it hit the market, through a back-ordering service, sell it to me, and pocket the difference. That would be the most honest way this scheme could work. Would they have taken my money before having the domain in hand? What if the backorder failed? If they have my money, why even try?

I don’t have to find out, though. I didn’t respond to their emails, and I was able to back order the domain successfully. It’s all (once again) mine!