At times it may be challenging to differentiate between core and supporting subdomains. Complexity is a useful guiding principle. Ask whether the subdomain in question can be turned into a side business. Would someone pay for it on its own? If so, this is a core subdomain. Similar reasoning applies for differentiating supporting and generic subdomains: would it be simpler and cheaper to hack your own implementation, rather than integrating an external one? If so, this is a supporting subdomain.
