Obviously you will always want the .com of a domain, but what if the next best extension available is .org? With many people locating your site by just searching for the name anyway, I wonder if it really matters as much these days.<p>For the domain that I am currently looking at, the .com and .net both just redirect to some generic keyword search page.
Appending "get" to the front seems a popular alternative. getdropbox.com, getballpark.com, getclicky.com, etc. It is pretty easy to remember (I pulled three off the top of my head just now without thinking hard, and I don't use any of those services).
Find some concrete data that compares the two. HN probably isn't a sufficient sample. What sort of startup is it?<p>It might be easier to make up a new name than to settle for .org. A site like boingboing.net does well enough - though I often forget the URL because the .net isn't part of the brand. I've seen links to boingboing.org/com, which might have an effect on search rankings. If you do choose .org, make the .org memorable.
My best luck with generating domain names has been sitting down with my cofounder at instantdomainsearch with us simultaneously brainstorming.<p>That didn't work for my most recent domain. Try <a href="http://www.bustaname.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.bustaname.com/</a> or code your own for increased speed/flexibility.