5 ms·

I have mixed feelings as well, for the same reason, but I find it absolutely terrible that the citizens of Mali, RCA, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea have basicall

I have mixed feelings as well, for the same reason, but I find it absolutely terrible that the citizens of Mali, RCA, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea have basically been robbed of their TLD by their (mostly failed) governments.

esperent 3y ago
.io is similarly problematic. Although at this point I think the best solution would be to retroactively set .io to mean Input/Output and give the Chagossians a new TLD. https://tamouse.github.io/blog/politics/2019/10/02/why-is-the-io-domain-problematic.html https://tamouse.github.io/blog/politics/2019/10/02/why-is-th... EDIT: it could also be argued that this controversy is beneficial for the Chagossians I guess. I didn't know anything about them until I purchased a .io domain a few years ago.
- TheCleric 3y ago
  Do you not see the obvious irony in taking a people who were forcibly removed from their home so it could be given to others, issuing them a TLD, and now you're suggesting forcibly removing that from them and giving it to others?
  - pxc 3y ago
    That is really painful. But if those TLDs don't even bring them any money and they're not named after something in the Chagossian's own language, do they even own them in any meaningful sense? Aside from the right to return to their homelands, these people should be given some actual royalties from .io domain purchases. And then maybe also a new TLD that is more meaningfully connected to them and less likely to be hijacked.
  - dchftcs 3y ago
    It's something they didn't really ask for, never meaningfully utilized anyway, and ultimately is an entry in a table on some servers they can't really care less about. You can fantasize about the hardships the citizens suffered for the appropriation of the .io TLD and draw any analogy you want, but there are probably more pressing needs of the people you're not addressing by spending time to supply this sort of sympathy. Worse, imagine a world where you actually advocate for the displaced indigenous people to care about this problem. Probably you'd be asking them to divert attention from real problems such as being able to afford food tomorrow.
    - TheCleric 3y ago
      No, the real problems are obviously more important. I'm just pointing out the minor insult that echoes the major injury that would be this plan.
  - esperent 3y ago
    When I wrote that I wasn't imagining any forcing going on. Rather I was thinking about dialogue happening with the ethnic group in question to try and find a TLD that makes sense in their own language rather than English.
seanhunter 3y ago
I don't buy this at all. Country-specific tlds are more or less a total failure. To the extent they still have a role, it is in having official government sites (eg "gov.uk" in the uk) Firstly the US never bought into it so all the original successful internet companies are ".coms". For this reason if you are a global company, chances are you would prefer a ".com" to anything else. Most companies want to address a global audience and part of the point of e-commerce is to make this happen. So they don't necessarily want a parochial-seeming national tld but would prefer a global one. This makes country-specific tlds redundant for commerce. Secondly the people running the national TLDs are (in my experience) often doing so to further their own egos and personal interests and so tend to offer a shitty service. This is why I gave up my ".co.uk" domain some years back. The UK NIC were just annoying in a bunch of different ways.
- Fgehono 3y ago
  'more or less'. In Europe they are working very well and are used constantly. .de is used by most Germans. .fr french, .at etc.
- talhah 3y ago
  In Qatar national services use ".qa", and these are not necessarily official government sites. For example our community schools uses a .qa domain and the biggest telecom provider among various other sites. What you're saying does not apply to all countries.
- oaw-bct-ar-bamf 3y ago
  Germany absolutely LOVES their .de TLD. .de has more weight than .net or .com for most people in Germany.
- raverbashing 3y ago
  > Firstly the US never bought into it "Never bought into is" as never bothered and never cared about other countries (main character syndrome)
- changethe 3y ago
  not sure what world you live in, but ccTLDs are widely used across the world, and in a lot of countries much preferred over .com. german people, for example, will trust a business running on a .de domain much more than a .com one. in most cases it is much preferred for an international company to run the country-specific website on the according ccTLD. companies that "want to address a global audience" are a specific set of companies that might prefer a "global" website, but most businesses will run country specific sites, not "global" sites. also not sure what the UK NIC being "annoying in a bunch of different ways" has to do with anything, or even means. seems to me like you are living in your own world, far detached from reality.

esperent 3y ago

.io is similarly problematic. Although at this point I think the best solution would be to retroactively set .io to mean Input/Output and give the Chagossians a new TLD. https://tamouse.github.io/blog/politics/2019/10/02/why-is-the-io-domain-problematic.html https://tamouse.github.io/blog/politics/2019/10/02/why-is-th... EDIT: it could also be argued that this controversy is beneficial for the Chagossians I guess. I didn't know anything about them until I purchased a .io domain a few years ago.

TheCleric 3y ago
Do you not see the obvious irony in taking a people who were forcibly removed from their home so it could be given to others, issuing them a TLD, and now you're suggesting forcibly removing that from them and giving it to others?
- pxc 3y ago
  That is really painful. But if those TLDs don't even bring them any money and they're not named after something in the Chagossian's own language, do they even own them in any meaningful sense? Aside from the right to return to their homelands, these people should be given some actual royalties from .io domain purchases. And then maybe also a new TLD that is more meaningfully connected to them and less likely to be hijacked.
- dchftcs 3y ago
  It's something they didn't really ask for, never meaningfully utilized anyway, and ultimately is an entry in a table on some servers they can't really care less about. You can fantasize about the hardships the citizens suffered for the appropriation of the .io TLD and draw any analogy you want, but there are probably more pressing needs of the people you're not addressing by spending time to supply this sort of sympathy. Worse, imagine a world where you actually advocate for the displaced indigenous people to care about this problem. Probably you'd be asking them to divert attention from real problems such as being able to afford food tomorrow.
  - TheCleric 3y ago
    No, the real problems are obviously more important. I'm just pointing out the minor insult that echoes the major injury that would be this plan.
- esperent 3y ago
  When I wrote that I wasn't imagining any forcing going on. Rather I was thinking about dialogue happening with the ethnic group in question to try and find a TLD that makes sense in their own language rather than English.

seanhunter 3y ago

I don't buy this at all. Country-specific tlds are more or less a total failure. To the extent they still have a role, it is in having official government sites (eg "gov.uk" in the uk) Firstly the US never bought into it so all the original successful internet companies are ".coms". For this reason if you are a global company, chances are you would prefer a ".com" to anything else. Most companies want to address a global audience and part of the point of e-commerce is to make this happen. So they don't necessarily want a parochial-seeming national tld but would prefer a global one. This makes country-specific tlds redundant for commerce. Secondly the people running the national TLDs are (in my experience) often doing so to further their own egos and personal interests and so tend to offer a shitty service. This is why I gave up my ".co.uk" domain some years back. The UK NIC were just annoying in a bunch of different ways.

Fgehono 3y ago
'more or less'. In Europe they are working very well and are used constantly. .de is used by most Germans. .fr french, .at etc.
talhah 3y ago
In Qatar national services use ".qa", and these are not necessarily official government sites. For example our community schools uses a .qa domain and the biggest telecom provider among various other sites. What you're saying does not apply to all countries.
oaw-bct-ar-bamf 3y ago
Germany absolutely LOVES their .de TLD. .de has more weight than .net or .com for most people in Germany.
raverbashing 3y ago
> Firstly the US never bought into it "Never bought into is" as never bothered and never cared about other countries (main character syndrome)
changethe 3y ago
not sure what world you live in, but ccTLDs are widely used across the world, and in a lot of countries much preferred over .com. german people, for example, will trust a business running on a .de domain much more than a .com one. in most cases it is much preferred for an international company to run the country-specific website on the according ccTLD. companies that "want to address a global audience" are a specific set of companies that might prefer a "global" website, but most businesses will run country specific sites, not "global" sites. also not sure what the UK NIC being "annoying in a bunch of different ways" has to do with anything, or even means. seems to me like you are living in your own world, far detached from reality.