YOU NAILED IT! That's part of what I want to explore next too. One of the other common thing I've heard is to check other social media platforms to check if a username is reserved. But, namevine.com already did that. Maybe it doesn't do it as accurately anymore. Almost all platforms are super protective of their API usage in that way. In any case, that's definitely the next challenge to solve for.
Interesting. I think you're right (on the API category this falls under). Also love the approach on keeping this API async. Makes so much more sense that way.
Interesting! Didn't think about it that way. Currently, it's a super dumb system. There's a list of ~1.7 million records and the API simply looks-up against that. Super lazy approach. Was avoid running an API across OpenAI or other model but didn't think about hosting a classifier/LLM myself. Might consider it in the future.
Full disclosure: I'm not a developer. I understand tech architectures well. Can code (have coded in JS pre-AI too) BUT will figure this out as I go along. Thanks and truly appreciate the input.
I think there's a general aversion to subscriptions at the moment so wanted to offer this on a usage-based pricing to begin with. While I may have to (hope not to though) will switch to subscription if that's what most users end up asking for. Thanks for the note and comment though. Much appreciated.
You're right about the variations there. I did think about it but decided NOT to add that in this version (felt like over-complicating the process), which I've now come to understand IS a required criteria. Will work on improving this.
As for @cocacola — that's on me. I've not yet gotten to the bottom half of the list of categories here: https://docs.username.dev/reference/categories (need to work on "government" and below). "company" is listed there and I suspect "cocacola" should be covered there.
In hindsight, I should've reserved names that I'm showing in the flipping text of the hero title but I didn't want to game the system or make it seem more reliant than it currently is. Which, again, I'm learning is not so reliant to begin with anyway.
PS. Love the passion around the topic here. One thing that I'm happy about is getting the problem validated. It's not in my head, I'm not the only one experiencing it, this is real. AND I WILL SOLVE IT :)
True. I've tried to add language where possible. I think currently, it's only on dictionary words so if the username is a dictionary word in another name, it would be flagged. It may or may not show-up under the "restricted" category though.
Well, to clarify, this API is really for folks who're building platforms that require usernames. For ex: imagine if you were building the next Twitter or anything that requires usernames. There, you'd want to know what's happening with these kinds of usernames, where, people are now prepared to pay for too (premium usernames). Similarly, for cases where the names are offensive or profane, you may want to block outright.
As for definition of specific categories (more specifically public figures), you're right. Currently, it's just me building this and so I had to decide where to draw the line. I just drew it around the entire earth which I know is NOT the best appraoch but that's the one I went with just to ensure I cover all bases. Honestly, the API would tell if and why a username could be deemed reserved/premium. What to do with this info is really up to the platforms that are consuming it. They could let it slide, do nothing, just flag and monitor, block etc.
Fair. I suppose most newer platforms may not think too much about it. So here's the pitch though: Imagine you're building the next Twitter (or, you know the platform has the potential to become the next Twitter). Knowing what we know now about social media platforms, where, users are open to paying for premium usernames (ex: @apple, @cocacola, @media etc.), it would be nice to at least flag/know if there are folks trying to reserve with these usernames. You could decide later / async what to do about it but you'll at least have a way to flag. Similarly, you can also avoid profanity or abusive words from seeping in the platform also. You may want to restrict/block 'em outright.
As for bugs: what I see happening now is folks either have a static list (which is already bad; not a bug) or have pattern-matching to avoid these (which isn't full proof). Regex/pattern matching can only help in cases where we have "real" or "try" or "something" as a pre/postfix. More complex cases but don't really identify a wide range of premium / reserved names. IMO, for this, we will need a dictionary of sorts, which is what I'm hoping to achieve with this API.
It's a giant manual list. I'm a human maintaining it. Just need to do better in terms of the API / deliverability side of things.
> Fair. I suppose most newer platforms may not think too much about it. So here's the pitch though: Imagine you're building the next Twitter (or, you know the platform has the potential to become the next Twitter). Knowing what we know now about social media platforms, where, users are open to paying for premium usernames (ex: @apple, @cocacola, @media etc.), it would be nice to at least flag/know if there are folks trying to reserve with these usernames. You could decide later / async what to do about it but you'll at least have a way to flag. Similarly, you can also avoid profanity or abusive words from seeping in the platform also. You may want to restrict/block 'em outright.
How many people are trying to build the next twitter? I would guess it's approximately zero, so I think you'll need a wider target audience to generate meaningful revenue.
It's much easier for the next twitter to just institute a policy that says handles can be modified by the platform as needed and deal with the "problem" post hoc.
> As for bugs: what I see happening now is folks either have a static list (which is already bad; not a bug) or have pattern-matching to avoid these (which isn't full proof). Regex/pattern matching can only help in cases where we have "real" or "try" or "something" as a pre/postfix. More complex cases but don't really identify a wide range of premium / reserved names. IMO, for this, we will need a dictionary of sorts, which is what I'm hoping to achieve with this API.
Based on what you've said, you're also using a static list, correct?
Long term, I suppose the actual value proposition is not that using a list is a bug, but you have the "best" list due to your scale and people can outsource managing their own version?
To me, the issue is that this isn't a solvable problem using your current approach because people are more creative than a list of banned strings and you're severely outnumbered at scale.
Right on all counts. Twitter is a rather simplified example. I see it as something that literally every platform can use. Say, ProductHunt, other platforms that offer product launches, link-in-bio tools etc. etc. I'm a bit bullish around the market because, regardless of me knowing all of 'em, the challenge of using usernames exists in general.
On the static list, yes. Me too. But I keep updating mine as well. For ex: on day 1, "apple" was just a dictionary word. On day 2, it was also classified as a brand. Also, every quarter, half-yearly or yearly, there are newer companies, public figures whose usernames keep getting to be significant. Currently, though manually, I intend to maintain this list for the long run.
As for a better, permanent solution, on another comment, I came across using an LLM/classifer for this (based on my understanding, that's not just asking OpenAI but building an LLM of my own) where I have the "best" source of truth and the LLM handles all variations. I think it actually is solvable to an extent now. Though, I'm not sure what the final solution looks. I WILL SOLVE THIS THOUGH :D
