Alright, Who Bought The “OK, Boomer” Domain Name? We Just Want To Talk

Somebody dropped 10k on a meme-themed domain name. Now, we’re not naming names, but whoever it was, the internet is collectively dying to know: Who are you? How old are you? And what great plans do you have in store for your pre-Black Friday haul?

According to Mashable, OKBoomer.com had been registered, left to expire, and deleted a few times, the last of which seems to have been in August 2018. So when Web.com snatched it up and it went to auction on its sister sites, SnapNames and NameJet, several people had already put in backorders to register it. The 88-bidder auction resulted in a $10,050 sale that closed on November 20th. 

It’s likely that someone with that kind of money doesn’t have a meme frame of mind and might just be holding onto it to re-sell. In fact, Mashable reports that it’s already been posted for re-sale at a secondary auction site. But what I’m focusing on is this: Why did anybody have this domain name to begin with? My best guess is that it once belonged to a Gen-X start-up bro with big dreams of launching the geriatric offshoot of OkCupid.

In case you’re still unaware, “OK, Boomer,” the now-infamous Gen Z retort, has become a battleground for intergenerational strife. Some people (mostly boomers) say it’s proof of our youth’s abject lack of respect for their elders. The New York Times even called it the “end of friendly generational relations.” And yes, the phrase is antagonistic. But so are claims that millennials murdered everything from dairy milk to canned tuna to democracy, and that Gen Z has a cruel sense of humour and an inflated sense of morality. “OK, Boomer” is the kind of thing you deadpan when you’re a 25-year old legislator getting heckled by an older colleague while presenting a climate change bill.

“OK, Boomer” is not the rallying cry of the war on age. Think of it as the TikTok generation’s version of “I’m rubber and you’re glue.” It’s our way of calling in our elders who should know better and pick on people their own size. And now, it has its very own website... and we can't wait to see what comes of that.