Ah, yes, cool.com — I interviewed these guys a couple of years ago at a venture-cap event in Seattle, specifically a very haughty flack who thought I ought to cover the site, which would be launching in “a couple of weeks” though it didn’t actually have any content yet, or plans to get any. Ah, yes, I remember… [cue Wayback Machine theme]

Scenes From A Dot-Com Boom: A Comedy In One Act.

(All dialogue approximate, but not far off the real deal.)

AG: So, what’s the site about? Where will the content come from? What’s the business plan?

Haughty Lady: It’s for teenagers. You know, studies show that “cool” is the most important word in teenagers’ vocabularies. It’s even more important than “free.”

AG: Oh. So, what’s the site about? Where will the content come from? What’s the business plan?

HL: Teenagers find it very important to be cool. They’ll naturally flock to cool.com and there will arise much content, for which we will pay nothing.

AG: Okay, then, what’s the site about? Where will the content come from? What’s the business plan?

HL: You keep asking these questions. You’re obviously too old to understand.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reporter tells us that the domain-name owner doesn’t want to elaborate on what he learned from turning down $8 million for that domain. Cool may not be so cool now, but inarticulation is forever.