Thanks for sharing your thoughts guys, I must admit i'm quite surprised by some of the replies.
I agree brandables are not everyones cup of tea but, I'm still surpised by the degree of rejection. It would seem almost like comparing a purely technical approach to domaining to an artistic one. Don't get me wrong without a good understanding of the processes for the technical approach or the palette of the artist neither of us would be getting anywhere. It may also explain why when I vist many a good domain name built as a site - you see colours and layout that really lack visual appeal and cohesiveness. There really are two sides of the brain at work here and it appears they don't cross over too well here at Acorn.
Like PaulK i have done very well out of brandables and believe me it isn't the hit or miss scenario that some of you think it to be. I can ponder a phrase or letter combo for literally days sometimes even weeks before arriving at an optimum 'phrase' or wording usage and the domain actually evolves before you take the step to registering - of course that means we have the luxury of time to think before we register.
just as aside I do get fairly frequent approaches for thedon over it's registration period, certainly several dozen - I tried to curtail that by pushing the registration out to it's max 10 years, most aproaches by, if not all from Americans i agree.
I do think that there is a balance that can be struck between creativity and functionality of domain names but, I'm guessing most of you guys are too busy (and happy) with the development side of working generics.
And hey I'm all for further understanding, hence my frequent requests for some appraisals here for some of the generics I do own. Before arriving at Acorn i believed the .org.uk had absolutly NO commercial appeal whatsoever and was completely extinct outside the Womens Institute, and i still find it hard to accept the reality