I mentioned "http://subdomain.", so the context was the web server.

It's mostly the local development server, where I set up different sub-domains to point to different web applications. (application.local.ourdomain.tld)

What you suggest I might do on the live server though, at the moment I just use a wildcard - But for the record, Slashdot doesn't handle www.apple.slashdot.org either.

Every time I set-up a sub-domain for work I always have to tell my boss "http://subdomain." out loud first, in the hope that he'll not prefix "www".

Sometimes he still just does both, then asks me why it isn't working. This results in a lengthy conversation where we're both saying "http colon slash slash" and "www" to each other. Makes me want to stab him in the face.