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Another way to look at this (and this only works for domains, not things like hosting) is supply and demand. There's a limit to the number of domains out there,

Another way to look at this (and this only works for domains, not things like hosting) is supply and demand. There's a limit to the number of domains out there, and there's a huge increase in people who want them. It's almost like Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies... scarcity is built in to domains. At some point, they'll all be taken.

iameli 7y ago
How would we run out of domains? Register every single 253-character string as a domain name? Sounds expensive.
- deleted 7y ago
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input_sh 7y ago
How's there a limit when there's a new TLD on an almost bimonthly basis? If you're going for something lower than 8 characters, odds are you're either paying thousands or buying something that's not .com.
- vel0city 7y ago
  Being able to register a .ninja or .space domain does not eliminate the limit of practical .com domain names. Does an apartment building opening in Pierre South Dakota have much of an effect on the scarcity of housing in New York or San Francisco?
wila 7y ago
Except that you keep on forking over money every year for "owning" a domain. So if all are taken, they still have a steady income stream.
IAmEveryone 7y ago
just because it’s predicted by economic theory doesn’t make it harmless. Take your idea one step further, and they should start individually assessing each domain name, and charging the maximum possible. Google.com would cost a billion the first year. Then, it suddenly starts redirecting to Bing because MS outbid Google. This hasn’t happened yet, but, as far as I can tell, there are no rules preventing such behaviour, only the ever-changing power dynamics. This scenario has been a reason for me to avoid all these new TLDs. Because those are run by smaller organizations less susceptible to bad PR, I expected them to pioneer the shakedown. Which leads to the question: which registrar would you trust most? Are there any that are contractually or, better yet, bound by law to limit increases to what’s reasonable? Absent such guarantees, maybe something like .eu is the safest? Despite common cynicism about politicians and money, I tend to expect them to shy away from controversial schemes to get rich quick, and to be far more susceptible to public pressure.

iameli 7y ago

How would we run out of domains? Register every single 253-character string as a domain name? Sounds expensive.

deleted 7y ago
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input_sh 7y ago

How's there a limit when there's a new TLD on an almost bimonthly basis? If you're going for something lower than 8 characters, odds are you're either paying thousands or buying something that's not .com.

vel0city 7y ago
Being able to register a .ninja or .space domain does not eliminate the limit of practical .com domain names. Does an apartment building opening in Pierre South Dakota have much of an effect on the scarcity of housing in New York or San Francisco?

wila 7y ago

Except that you keep on forking over money every year for "owning" a domain. So if all are taken, they still have a steady income stream.

IAmEveryone 7y ago

just because it’s predicted by economic theory doesn’t make it harmless. Take your idea one step further, and they should start individually assessing each domain name, and charging the maximum possible. Google.com would cost a billion the first year. Then, it suddenly starts redirecting to Bing because MS outbid Google. This hasn’t happened yet, but, as far as I can tell, there are no rules preventing such behaviour, only the ever-changing power dynamics. This scenario has been a reason for me to avoid all these new TLDs. Because those are run by smaller organizations less susceptible to bad PR, I expected them to pioneer the shakedown. Which leads to the question: which registrar would you trust most? Are there any that are contractually or, better yet, bound by law to limit increases to what’s reasonable? Absent such guarantees, maybe something like .eu is the safest? Despite common cynicism about politicians and money, I tend to expect them to shy away from controversial schemes to get rich quick, and to be far more susceptible to public pressure.