Hyphen in a domain name or not?

[deronsizemore]

how much if any does a hyphen between two words in a domain name hurt you? EX: www.name-name.com

Obviously if its well recognized it wont really matter, but as far as a new site starting out, I think for some non technical internet users it could be an issue of forgetting the hyphen, but then again if most of your traffic comes from search engines then it wouldn't really make a difference...?

[Chris]

If you plan on optimizing your homepage for a competitive phrase I would use a hyphen if necessary, but no more than one.

[Cutter]

General rule: avoid dashes if you expect traffic to come through word of mouth or other media advertising.