I’ve garnered some serious eye rolls for suggesting in meetings that using .co/.tv/.io is a business risk - it turns out most people very much do not care about the semantic differences between...
I’ve garnered some serious eye rolls for suggesting in meetings that using .co/.tv/.io is a business risk - it turns out most people very much do not care about the semantic differences between country code and generic domains and what that means for their governance - so I’m feeling a gentle sense of vindication reading this. I also never realised .su was a thing, despite that level of nerdiness, so that’s a cool little tidbit!
I’d be surprised if they actually delete something as heavily used as .io, though. I’d expect it to be grandfathered in as a special-case generic (there’s at least one major existing exception to the ISO standard: .uk/.gb), possibly with existing domains being allowed renewal while not taking new registrations (see x.com as a very topical example: single character .com domains were disallowed, but the few that got in early are allowed to remain as long as they renew).
I use a .uk TLD, because I'm just a person, not a .co. or an .org. or whatever. I've just recently finished a 2 year long task of divesting myself of a very old, formerly heavily used gmail...
I use a .uk TLD, because I'm just a person, not a .co. or an .org. or whatever. I've just recently finished a 2 year long task of divesting myself of a very old, formerly heavily used gmail address to my own domain. I better not find that .uk is under threat, I really don't want to go through all that pain again. Next auto renewal is in 2027
You’re safe, .uk is an official exception to the rules! Not because of the .uk/.co.uk/.org.uk thing, though - those are internal details, fully allowed by the standard to be included or omitted;...
You’re safe, .uk is an official exception to the rules! Not because of the .uk/.co.uk/.org.uk thing, though - those are internal details, fully allowed by the standard to be included or omitted; any country can add or remove bits before its own TLD at the registry level if they want, that’s one of the advantages of each one being managed locally (I was talking about Colombia’s .co TLD when I mentioned it in the first post, btw!).
The real issue is that TLDs are assigned to a country based on their ISO two letter code, because IANA very sensibly realised they do not want to be on the hook for mediating international bickering over who has more right to a given two-letter combo, especially when someone else had already done the job for them. Problem is, UK universities were a significant chunk of the very early internet and the dudes running JANET had already started using .uk (because common usage) rather than .gb (the ISO standard) before that decision to defer to ISO was made.
Forty years later, Britain still gets special treatment under international rules because of a unilateral decision made by a few people in elite universities decades prior - and really, what could be more on brand than that? Well, other than the US keeping the global top level .edu and .gov domains for local entities, because obviously the US is the world’s default country, of course…
I think you'll be safe, as .UK is the fifth most popular TLD with at least 10 million existing now. What I find strange is that London has its own TLD .london for just those in the city.
I better not find that .uk is under threat, I really don't want to go through all that pain again. Next auto renewal is in 2027
I think you'll be safe, as .UK is the fifth most popular TLD with at least 10 million existing now. What I find strange is that London has its own TLD .london for just those in the city.
Yeah, I think those both count as generic from a standards perspective - anyone can apply to create a new generic TLD as long as they've got $200k lying around and an enthusiasm for paperwork....
Yeah, I think those both count as generic from a standards perspective - anyone can apply to create a new generic TLD as long as they've got $200k lying around and an enthusiasm for paperwork. It's not a free for all: if I tried to register .chicago as a random person with no official connection to the city, the mayor of Chicago would presumably object when ICANN put it up for public consultation, but gTLD assignment works at a level roughly similar to corporate trademarks, whereas ccTLDs are up there as part of international geopolitics.
I’ve garnered some serious eye rolls for suggesting in meetings that using .co/.tv/.io is a business risk - it turns out most people very much do not care about the semantic differences between country code and generic domains and what that means for their governance - so I’m feeling a gentle sense of vindication reading this. I also never realised .su was a thing, despite that level of nerdiness, so that’s a cool little tidbit!
I’d be surprised if they actually delete something as heavily used as .io, though. I’d expect it to be grandfathered in as a special-case generic (there’s at least one major existing exception to the ISO standard: .uk/.gb), possibly with existing domains being allowed renewal while not taking new registrations (see x.com as a very topical example: single character .com domains were disallowed, but the few that got in early are allowed to remain as long as they renew).
I use a .uk TLD, because I'm just a person, not a .co. or an .org. or whatever. I've just recently finished a 2 year long task of divesting myself of a very old, formerly heavily used gmail address to my own domain. I better not find that .uk is under threat, I really don't want to go through all that pain again. Next auto renewal is in 2027
You’re safe, .uk is an official exception to the rules! Not because of the .uk/.co.uk/.org.uk thing, though - those are internal details, fully allowed by the standard to be included or omitted; any country can add or remove bits before its own TLD at the registry level if they want, that’s one of the advantages of each one being managed locally (I was talking about Colombia’s .co TLD when I mentioned it in the first post, btw!).
The real issue is that TLDs are assigned to a country based on their ISO two letter code, because IANA very sensibly realised they do not want to be on the hook for mediating international bickering over who has more right to a given two-letter combo, especially when someone else had already done the job for them. Problem is, UK universities were a significant chunk of the very early internet and the dudes running JANET had already started using .uk (because common usage) rather than .gb (the ISO standard) before that decision to defer to ISO was made.
Forty years later, Britain still gets special treatment under international rules because of a unilateral decision made by a few people in elite universities decades prior - and really, what could be more on brand than that? Well, other than the US keeping the global top level .edu and .gov domains for local entities, because obviously the US is the world’s default country, of course…
I think you'll be safe, as .UK is the fifth most popular TLD with at least 10 million existing now. What I find strange is that London has its own TLD .london for just those in the city.
That's not unique to London, as .berlin exists too iirc, though I haven't actually noticed anyone using it.
Yeah, I think those both count as generic from a standards perspective - anyone can apply to create a new generic TLD as long as they've got $200k lying around and an enthusiasm for paperwork. It's not a free for all: if I tried to register .chicago as a random person with no official connection to the city, the mayor of Chicago would presumably object when ICANN put it up for public consultation, but gTLD assignment works at a level roughly similar to corporate trademarks, whereas ccTLDs are up there as part of international geopolitics.