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Domain names are a mess. They're backwards (should be us.ag.bobsforestryservice), and since most domains just end with .com, there's no hierarchy. In my opinion

by vortico 12y ago

Domain names are a mess. They're backwards (should be us.ag.bobsforestryservice), and since most domains just end with .com, there's no hierarchy. In my opinion, if ICANN wanted a hierarchy, they should be strictly regulating the names, including checking ownership of trademark, checking country of registration, etc. So thus we have AOL keywords.

quonn 12y ago
> and since most domains just end with .com, there's no hierarchy That's a very US-centric view. In most countries the local ccTLD will dominate, so there is _some_ hierarchy.
- zo1 12y ago
  Yes, and I got downvoted by this crowd last time I mentioned as much. Some random SF-specific project launches, and snags up yet another .com domain. It's not even something like "san_fran_project.com", it was even more generic. On that note, I'm fully with the GP. This sort of thing should be enforced. It would help with everything from spam, to fake sites, to weird domain name pollution as discussed here.
kissickas 12y ago
That's the second time I've seen this argument made on HN this week. Why does that make more sense? If I start typing in my address bar "g" then google.com is the first completion suggestion. If I want to get more specific, I can type "n" and news.google.com becomes the first suggestion. Or "m" and I go to mail.google.com. If we had to write "com." before any of these came up, it would mean a serious loss of productivity for everyone. The current system provides one or two layers of specificity before the TLD, then as many more as you would like (like /item?id=9357898 on the end of this URL, something nobody will every type) - it's ideal for everyday use even if it doesn't fit into some clean sorting method you're imagining or something. For what it's worth, today is 2015/04/11 :)
- qrmn 12y ago
  Because directory hierarchies go from top to bottom - /dir/subdir/file.ext - or, globally, //hostname/dir/subdir/file.ext, or protocol://hostname/dir/subdir/file.ext etc. That the hostname part's components, as presented to users, goes from bottom-to-top in DNS when the rest goes from top-to-bottom is an accident of history, but one it's too late to change (in DNS). Not everything made that mistake however - Usenet didn't. As for what you're typing in your 'awesome bar', when you start typing, your autocorrect is ranking your visited history: there's no reason it has to start at the beginning, especially when the beginning isn't the root, but there's also no reason that doesn't make sense. In fact, drifting back to topic: GOOGLE. is in fact a TLD now. If DNS were the 'right' way round, you'd be going to //google.news - wouldn't that make more semantic sense? Of course, in practice, we're stuck with DNS the way it is because .com is now firmly in the public consciousness. But it could easily have been different, and if I were designing something new, I'd pick the Usenet way round.
- rascul 12y ago
  https://com.google https://com.google
- jahewson 12y ago
  Autocomplete could work the other way around, with "n" finding `∗.news` and `g.news` finding `∗g.news`, after all that `news.google.com` actually starts with `http://` http://`.
  - kissickas 12y ago
    Personally, I don't start typing every address knowing that autocomplete will be there for me. I'm just sped up when it is.
    - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
      You always start with http[s]:// ?? Since the AwesomeBar became a thing and I learnt the #, *, ^, + search modifiers [1] I've seldom typed an address. - - - [1] http://alicious.com/fast-bookmark-and-history-search-in-firefox/ http://alicious.com/fast-bookmark-and-history-search-in-fire...
allendoerfer 12y ago
They should really have done that. TLDs that are properly regulated do have a meaning and are successfully used in their space. Examples are .gov or .edu (except that they should have put in a country layer) and .de, which is the most successful CTLD, because unlike .co or .io it is used only by entities that actually have a physical address in Germany.

by vortico 12y ago

quonn 12y ago

> and since most domains just end with .com, there's no hierarchy That's a very US-centric view. In most countries the local ccTLD will dominate, so there is _some_ hierarchy.

zo1 12y ago
Yes, and I got downvoted by this crowd last time I mentioned as much. Some random SF-specific project launches, and snags up yet another .com domain. It's not even something like "san_fran_project.com", it was even more generic. On that note, I'm fully with the GP. This sort of thing should be enforced. It would help with everything from spam, to fake sites, to weird domain name pollution as discussed here.

kissickas 12y ago

That's the second time I've seen this argument made on HN this week. Why does that make more sense? If I start typing in my address bar "g" then google.com is the first completion suggestion. If I want to get more specific, I can type "n" and news.google.com becomes the first suggestion. Or "m" and I go to mail.google.com. If we had to write "com." before any of these came up, it would mean a serious loss of productivity for everyone. The current system provides one or two layers of specificity before the TLD, then as many more as you would like (like /item?id=9357898 on the end of this URL, something nobody will every type) - it's ideal for everyday use even if it doesn't fit into some clean sorting method you're imagining or something. For what it's worth, today is 2015/04/11 :)

qrmn 12y ago
Because directory hierarchies go from top to bottom - /dir/subdir/file.ext - or, globally, //hostname/dir/subdir/file.ext, or protocol://hostname/dir/subdir/file.ext etc. That the hostname part's components, as presented to users, goes from bottom-to-top in DNS when the rest goes from top-to-bottom is an accident of history, but one it's too late to change (in DNS). Not everything made that mistake however - Usenet didn't. As for what you're typing in your 'awesome bar', when you start typing, your autocorrect is ranking your visited history: there's no reason it has to start at the beginning, especially when the beginning isn't the root, but there's also no reason that doesn't make sense. In fact, drifting back to topic: GOOGLE. is in fact a TLD now. If DNS were the 'right' way round, you'd be going to //google.news - wouldn't that make more semantic sense? Of course, in practice, we're stuck with DNS the way it is because .com is now firmly in the public consciousness. But it could easily have been different, and if I were designing something new, I'd pick the Usenet way round.
rascul 12y ago
https://com.google https://com.google
jahewson 12y ago
Autocomplete could work the other way around, with "n" finding `∗.news` and `g.news` finding `∗g.news`, after all that `news.google.com` actually starts with `http://` http://`.
- kissickas 12y ago
  Personally, I don't start typing every address knowing that autocomplete will be there for me. I'm just sped up when it is.
  - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
    You always start with http[s]:// ?? Since the AwesomeBar became a thing and I learnt the #, *, ^, + search modifiers [1] I've seldom typed an address. - - - [1] http://alicious.com/fast-bookmark-and-history-search-in-firefox/ http://alicious.com/fast-bookmark-and-history-search-in-fire...

allendoerfer 12y ago

They should really have done that. TLDs that are properly regulated do have a meaning and are successfully used in their space. Examples are .gov or .edu (except that they should have put in a country layer) and .de, which is the most successful CTLD, because unlike .co or .io it is used only by entities that actually have a physical address in Germany.