The Struggle to Find Unused NPM Package Names
Trying to get npm package names is almost impossible. It's almost as bad as securing a domain name. And what's worse, most of these names are unused, languishing in obscurity.
Earlier this month, I introduced Pulsejet, an API project I'm working on that'll have built-in functionality to help streamline development. There are a few other packages I'm working on too—things I usually implement in projects or evolutions of past creations that I want to be part of Launch Quest.
I'd love to share these with the community under easy-to-use names, making them accessible and recognisable. Most packages that are successful have great names.
Unfortunately, trying to get npm package names is almost impossible. It's almost as bad as securing a domain name. And what's worse, most of these names are unused, languishing in obscurity. I submitted a bunch of not-so-aptly named "name dispute" tickets with GitHub/NPM for old abandoned projects, but I could be waiting months for responses, only to perhaps get a no.
I've decided I don't want to fight against the current. Pulsejet will become @launchquest/api and the logging package I wrote the other evening, initially published as thruster (do you see a theme?), has become @launchquest/log.
(Interested in an easy to use, expanded console.log replacement? Read about it in more detail here: Structured, colourful, and configurable logging library.)
It's a shame that building things is so tough now. Domain names gone, usernames, social handles, even software package names, all used up.
Perhaps there's a new market here.
