4 ms·

Travelers Insurance is a huge company 98th on Fortune 500 list

hypeatei 2y ago
Yeah but it's an awful domain name lol
toast0 2y ago
Sure, but did they need a tld? What are they going to use it for that travelers.com isn't a better choice? How much money did they light on fire to have a tld and what utility does it provide?
- AnthonyMouse 2y ago
  Not only that, .insurance is a TLD, so why didn't they just get travelers.insurance?
  - lmz 2y ago
    More control?
- johannes1234321 2y ago
  They don't need it. But they don't want anybody else to have it either. With such a generic and descriptive name trade mark protection isn't easy.
  - bombcar 2y ago
    And if GTLDs had become the AOL keyword of the 2010s they would have really been pissed if they missed out. I could see a world where GTLDs were given extreme preference by search engines and browsers, but that world isn't ours.
    - johannes1234321 2y ago
      Well, ICANN explicitly forbid using just the TLD, so https://google/ https://google/ was forbidden and you need at least https://blog.google/ https://blog.google/
lolinder 2y ago
That doesn't explain why Travelers Insurance thought that they needed their own gTLD. Size as measured in dollars isn't really relevant—Berkshire Hathaway is #5 and doesn't have one—what matters is size as measured in registered domain names (for internal or external use). Basically no one outside of big tech has the volume of domain names to justify paying for their own gTLD, Fortune 500 or not.
- snowwrestler 2y ago
  Berkshire Hathaway is not a consumer brand; Travelers Insurance is. And some consumer brands are willing to spend very large amounts of money to forestall brand confusion, squatting, impersonation, etc. They probably bought their TLDs for the same reason they own travlers.com and many other variations: so no one else can use it either.
griftrejection 2y ago
And that's why they're bad using gTLDs anyone would actually ever want to use. "Hey, fellow youths, check out our snazzy new website: statefarm.travelersinsurance! So easy to type on your IBM keyboard, amirite?"

Yeah but it's an awful domain name lol

Sure, but did they need a tld? What are they going to use it for that travelers.com isn't a better choice? How much money did they light on fire to have a tld and what utility does it provide?

AnthonyMouse 2y ago
Not only that, .insurance is a TLD, so why didn't they just get travelers.insurance?
- lmz 2y ago
  More control?
johannes1234321 2y ago
They don't need it. But they don't want anybody else to have it either. With such a generic and descriptive name trade mark protection isn't easy.
- bombcar 2y ago
  And if GTLDs had become the AOL keyword of the 2010s they would have really been pissed if they missed out. I could see a world where GTLDs were given extreme preference by search engines and browsers, but that world isn't ours.
  - johannes1234321 2y ago
    Well, ICANN explicitly forbid using just the TLD, so https://google/ https://google/ was forbidden and you need at least https://blog.google/ https://blog.google/

lolinder 2y ago

That doesn't explain why Travelers Insurance thought that they needed their own gTLD. Size as measured in dollars isn't really relevant—Berkshire Hathaway is #5 and doesn't have one—what matters is size as measured in registered domain names (for internal or external use). Basically no one outside of big tech has the volume of domain names to justify paying for their own gTLD, Fortune 500 or not.

snowwrestler 2y ago
Berkshire Hathaway is not a consumer brand; Travelers Insurance is. And some consumer brands are willing to spend very large amounts of money to forestall brand confusion, squatting, impersonation, etc. They probably bought their TLDs for the same reason they own travlers.com and many other variations: so no one else can use it either.

griftrejection 2y ago

And that's why they're bad using gTLDs anyone would actually ever want to use. "Hey, fellow youths, check out our snazzy new website: statefarm.travelersinsurance! So easy to type on your IBM keyboard, amirite?"