4 ms·

Where is the 'correct use of TLDs' documented? I hope you never come across URL shortening services, like goo.gl, or bit.ly or you'll really get confused. Do y

by garg 13y ago

Where is the 'correct use of TLDs' documented? I hope you never come across URL shortening services, like goo.gl, or bit.ly or you'll really get confused. Do you run afandian.com? You should change it to afandian.co.uk because that's really not a commercial website and by your logic, you're misleading people by using incorrect usage of the TLD system.

afandian 13y ago
Well you could start with RFC 1591 which indicates that Country Code TLDs are associated with countries. If I want to sell fish to the United Kingdom I could register fish.co.uk . If I wanted to sell to France it could be fish.fr (or poissons.fr). India, fish.in (I'm not going to guess that the translation). You may decide that you want to grab an Indian address because it looks nice but that doesn't stop it being a technically not a correct usage. If you accept the existence of ccTLDs (and they do exist) then you have to accept that inherent to their existence is an association with a country. Non-geographic TLDs exist. They may not look nice, but they exist for a particular reason (cases where geography isn't relevant). I know people are doing their best to dilute the naming conventions for aesthetic reasons, but it doesn't change the facts of the matter. If someone wants to register a Skill Swap for use in India they're SOL. EDIT: Yes, afandian.com is mine. My presence on the web has nothing much to do with my geographic location (unlike my imaginary fish shop). And .com is non-geographic, so surely that's the right choice on geographic grounds? As for whether or not I'm a commercial entity, that's a fair question on technical grounds. But I think most people understand that .com has become the general purpose domain (I'm not an ORG or a NET or a GOV). The .co.uk domain is equally 'commercial'.
- JayNeely 13y ago
  Consider that the majority of people aren't familiar with RFC 1591 -- I think that would nullify any argument that the use of a country code TLD is "misleading". Numerous countries in fact permit and promote international registration of their ccTLDs as a product for creative domain names, including .co (Colombia), .cc (Cocos islands), .fm (Federated States of Micronesia), and .it (Italy). And importantly, conventions change, and RFCs are a starting point for an evolving set of standards. .net isn't limited to "only the computers of network providers" as RFC 1591 states. Is everyone with a .net domain doing something incorrect?
  - afandian 13y ago
    (It looks like I made my last edit after your reply.) Who wants to use my new Java library? It's in the namespace `java.util` because I like coffee and utilities. All I'm saying is that a domain name dedicated to a particular country can cause confusion if it turns out not to. I'm not saying you can't do it. Some are obvious (bit.ly) and some you don't know until you try (vagrantbox.es). I'm not advocating a hard-line approach, I'm just saying it can be confusing. And I personally think it's a shame (like I said, I know it's an unfashionable point of view. I'm not expecting to convince anyone). Corollary: What if I do want to register a domain about skill swapping in India? Do I have to put "India" in the name?

by garg 13y ago

afandian 13y ago

Well you could start with RFC 1591 which indicates that Country Code TLDs are associated with countries. If I want to sell fish to the United Kingdom I could register fish.co.uk . If I wanted to sell to France it could be fish.fr (or poissons.fr). India, fish.in (I'm not going to guess that the translation). You may decide that you want to grab an Indian address because it looks nice but that doesn't stop it being a technically not a correct usage. If you accept the existence of ccTLDs (and they do exist) then you have to accept that inherent to their existence is an association with a country. Non-geographic TLDs exist. They may not look nice, but they exist for a particular reason (cases where geography isn't relevant). I know people are doing their best to dilute the naming conventions for aesthetic reasons, but it doesn't change the facts of the matter. If someone wants to register a Skill Swap for use in India they're SOL. EDIT: Yes, afandian.com is mine. My presence on the web has nothing much to do with my geographic location (unlike my imaginary fish shop). And .com is non-geographic, so surely that's the right choice on geographic grounds? As for whether or not I'm a commercial entity, that's a fair question on technical grounds. But I think most people understand that .com has become the general purpose domain (I'm not an ORG or a NET or a GOV). The .co.uk domain is equally 'commercial'.

JayNeely 13y ago
Consider that the majority of people aren't familiar with RFC 1591 -- I think that would nullify any argument that the use of a country code TLD is "misleading". Numerous countries in fact permit and promote international registration of their ccTLDs as a product for creative domain names, including .co (Colombia), .cc (Cocos islands), .fm (Federated States of Micronesia), and .it (Italy). And importantly, conventions change, and RFCs are a starting point for an evolving set of standards. .net isn't limited to "only the computers of network providers" as RFC 1591 states. Is everyone with a .net domain doing something incorrect?
- afandian 13y ago
  (It looks like I made my last edit after your reply.) Who wants to use my new Java library? It's in the namespace `java.util` because I like coffee and utilities. All I'm saying is that a domain name dedicated to a particular country can cause confusion if it turns out not to. I'm not saying you can't do it. Some are obvious (bit.ly) and some you don't know until you try (vagrantbox.es). I'm not advocating a hard-line approach, I'm just saying it can be confusing. And I personally think it's a shame (like I said, I know it's an unfashionable point of view. I'm not expecting to convince anyone). Corollary: What if I do want to register a domain about skill swapping in India? Do I have to put "India" in the name?