4 ms·

That sucks. I know it's a tired point, but it nevertheless amuses me that someone would search for BattleNet. The name is literally the domain name: battle.ne

by bhauer 8y ago

That sucks. I know it's a tired point, but it nevertheless amuses me that someone would search for BattleNet. The name is literally the domain name: battle.net.

slavik81 8y ago
That's not an assumption you can make in general. For example, paint.net is not found at paint.net.
sp332 8y ago
Ok but there's no way to know that without searching. Unless you have one of these https://mobile.twitter.com/PulpLibrarian/status/844278365590863874 https://mobile.twitter.com/PulpLibrarian/status/844278365590...
- gpm 8y ago
  I mean, you could guess. The name even hints at it for anyone aware of the `.net` tld. That's not a great solution, since many people are barely aware what at url is, but I think it should still be one that you and I (as people who are) use. Similarly the article is fixed by guessing that google chrome is probably at chrome.google.com (also chrome.com), firefox is probably at firefox.com, cnn is probably at cnn.com, gmail is probably at mail.google.com, gmail.google.com, or gmail.com (actually all 3), hacker news is probably at hackernews.com (oops), etc.
  - Scoundreller 8y ago
    and using news as a third-level domain is a poor choice: Lynx always thinks I'm trying to open an NNTP connection :(
  - stordoff 8y ago
    > I mean, you could guess. The name even hints at it for anyone aware of the `.net` tld. Which also risks ending up on the wrong site (e.g. Steam is not at Steam.com). I'd trust Google to know the correct URL more than my guess.
    - gpm 8y ago
      Steam isn't at steam.com, but there also isn't a phishing site for steam at steam.com, and if there was you can bet that valve would do something about it. Basically I'm trading Google/Bing and ads known to be malicious, for ICANN/registrars, self interested companies, and a reasonably functional "legal" system. Edit: And less tracking, and faster access to websites.
  - the_clarence 8y ago
    That .com trick works mostly if you are american going on american websites mostly. You seem to be unaware of other tlds.
    - thaumasiotes 8y ago
      Point of interest: Chinese websites are expected to use the .com TLD. China technically has its own TLD, .cn, but using it is not normal. .com is pronounced 网 wǎng, "net", which doesn't leave much conceptual space for other TLDs.
  - jstanley 8y ago
    But what if you guess chrome is at chrome.com, and that turns out to be malware? Guessing domain names is even worse than Googling.
the_clarence 8y ago
This is not a very clever point. Plenty of things used to be caller "somethingnet" in order to advertise their ties with the internet. It was never about a tld. Kind of like how having "block" or "chain" in your app's name makes you "cool" nowadays.
- cptskippy 8y ago
  I wonder if it was to associate with the internet or with Microsoft branding. Microsoft went apeshit and called all their products .NET in the early 2000s. The branding was all over the place so I could see how calling your product *net might get you installs by association.
Sunspots 8y ago
The name is not even BattleNet. It's literally always been branded "Battle.net"
EpicEng 8y ago
This was soon after the switch to battle.net and I may not have realized that the address was actually 'battle.net'. I don't remember. Honestly, I still search from time to time even when I know the address (didn't back then) because sometimes it's fast, and sometimes it's just muscle memory.

by bhauer 8y ago

That sucks. I know it's a tired point, but it nevertheless amuses me that someone would search for BattleNet. The name is literally the domain name: battle.net.

slavik81 8y ago

That's not an assumption you can make in general. For example, paint.net is not found at paint.net.

sp332 8y ago

Ok but there's no way to know that without searching. Unless you have one of these https://mobile.twitter.com/PulpLibrarian/status/844278365590863874 https://mobile.twitter.com/PulpLibrarian/status/844278365590...

gpm 8y ago
I mean, you could guess. The name even hints at it for anyone aware of the `.net` tld. That's not a great solution, since many people are barely aware what at url is, but I think it should still be one that you and I (as people who are) use. Similarly the article is fixed by guessing that google chrome is probably at chrome.google.com (also chrome.com), firefox is probably at firefox.com, cnn is probably at cnn.com, gmail is probably at mail.google.com, gmail.google.com, or gmail.com (actually all 3), hacker news is probably at hackernews.com (oops), etc.
- Scoundreller 8y ago
  and using news as a third-level domain is a poor choice: Lynx always thinks I'm trying to open an NNTP connection :(
- stordoff 8y ago
  > I mean, you could guess. The name even hints at it for anyone aware of the `.net` tld. Which also risks ending up on the wrong site (e.g. Steam is not at Steam.com). I'd trust Google to know the correct URL more than my guess.
  - gpm 8y ago
    Steam isn't at steam.com, but there also isn't a phishing site for steam at steam.com, and if there was you can bet that valve would do something about it. Basically I'm trading Google/Bing and ads known to be malicious, for ICANN/registrars, self interested companies, and a reasonably functional "legal" system. Edit: And less tracking, and faster access to websites.
- the_clarence 8y ago
  That .com trick works mostly if you are american going on american websites mostly. You seem to be unaware of other tlds.
  - thaumasiotes 8y ago
    Point of interest: Chinese websites are expected to use the .com TLD. China technically has its own TLD, .cn, but using it is not normal. .com is pronounced 网 wǎng, "net", which doesn't leave much conceptual space for other TLDs.
- jstanley 8y ago
  But what if you guess chrome is at chrome.com, and that turns out to be malware? Guessing domain names is even worse than Googling.

the_clarence 8y ago

This is not a very clever point. Plenty of things used to be caller "somethingnet" in order to advertise their ties with the internet. It was never about a tld. Kind of like how having "block" or "chain" in your app's name makes you "cool" nowadays.

cptskippy 8y ago
I wonder if it was to associate with the internet or with Microsoft branding. Microsoft went apeshit and called all their products .NET in the early 2000s. The branding was all over the place so I could see how calling your product *net might get you installs by association.

Sunspots 8y ago

The name is not even BattleNet. It's literally always been branded "Battle.net"

EpicEng 8y ago

This was soon after the switch to battle.net and I may not have realized that the address was actually 'battle.net'. I don't remember. Honestly, I still search from time to time even when I know the address (didn't back then) because sometimes it's fast, and sometimes it's just muscle memory.