There was a time when those Pinduoduo “help me cut the price” links seemed to be everywhere. What stuck with me most was how friends and coworkers would casually throw a link into chat and ask for a click. If I said I had already uninstalled the app, the response would be, “Then just download it again.” At that point, there was really nothing to say.

The first time I ever installed that app was because a female coworker from the same company asked me to help with one of those price-cutting campaigns. She later became my wife 😂. Since I was a new user, my click supposedly worked better. Even so, I never had a very good impression of the app. After that came all kinds of manipulative little tricks, which only made me dislike it more. So whenever someone asked me to help cut the price, I would usually just send this image back:

That may sound like I’m drifting off topic, but what I really want to talk about is domain names. In a strange way, they feel a bit like that whole thing: when you don’t have one, you want it; once you do get it, it turns out to be... not that big a deal.

Looking back, I’ve probably bought close to 20 domain names in total. To be clear, I’m not a domain flipper. This is just a personal hobby. Men tend to have their own odd little interests—fishing, gaming, figures, and so on. Domains are no different. The only catch is that domains need to be renewed every year, and the better ones often aren’t cheap to keep. So there’s a line people often use that fits this perfectly:

It’s a nice hobby—you just have to spend money on it.

A few days ago, I picked up 2.ls, a single-country-code domain from a friend. It’s the only one of that type I own. As for whether one domain is better than another, I don’t think it works that way. The best domain is simply the one that suits you.

And then last night, I grabbed pengpeng.net as well, mainly because that name has some personal connection to me.

...

In the end, domain names feel a lot like collecting. As for their market value, I honestly don’t care that much. If I like how it looks and it feels right to me, that’s enough.