*** From the Archives ***

This article is from October 9, 2000, and is no longer current.

Notes from the Epicenter: .Get .Ready .For .A .Whole .New .Web

2

Well, if things go according to plan (the plan of the Internet Committee on Assigned Names and Numbers, that is), we San Franciscans and Silicon Valley-ites will soon have to come up with new names to call the dot-coms. We may have to call them the dot-webs. Or the dot-sites. Or even the dot-soups (though I have my doubts about this one taking off). Why? Because in November ICANN will approve (or not approve) 47 applications for new top-level domains.

It’s true, those tired old .com, .net, and .org Web-address endings will no longer be the only kids on the block. A whole slew of new names are in the offing, and the future looks, well, kind of cluttered. Last week ICANN officially closed the application process and when the dust settled, quite a few new dot-somethings had been proposed. The folks at Name.Space, which put forth the largest number of potential top-level domains (or TLDs, in Web-speak), seemed to have searched their local newspaper for the most oft-repeated terms. Some of my favorites in its proposal, for varying reasons, are: .gay (even though I think planetout.gay sounds a little redundant), .soup (this wins the wacky award), .news, .culture, .temple, .sucks (the Internet is the province of cynics after all), .space, .world, .city, .war (I’m not sure what Name.Space was envisioning here — yugoslavia.war?), and .fashion.

.subhead
There are other notable entries. For porn-paranoid parents, there is .kids, submitted by four separate companies. One of them, .Kids Domain, envisions a registered network of family-friendly sites. Afilias, a consortium of 19 domain name registrars, including behemoths Network Solutions and Register.com, has proposed only three new TLDs: .info, .site, and .web, with an eye toward supplementing the current dearth of basic commercial options. A group of potential registrars (including Lycos, Inc.) calling itself the dotPRO Consortium has put forth, you guessed it, .pro. This isn’t just any old domain however; the group says it will allow only accredited professionals to register as .pros.

Some other potential domains you may be browsing down the line include .union, .travel, .law, .mobile (from Nokia Corp.), .health (from the World Health Organization), .shop, .biz (submitted by a number of separate organizations), .find, .cash, .cool, .xxx, .sex, .radio, .film, .tech, .sports, .media, and .school. There are more. I suggest you check them out. It’s fun.

Do not, however, be tempted to think that all these potential new TLDs will ease the domain name land rush. Not so. Name.Space has already been selling registrations based on it’s yet-to-be-approved domains (Andersen Consulting has already snapped up andersen.consulting), and Image Online Design has been registering addresses with the .web suffix since 1996. ICANN, of course, is warning buyers that investing in such speculatory fare is a darned bad idea. But the interest companies (and individuals) have already shown in the new TLDs doesn’t bode well for consumers looking for a break in the domain name chaos. I wonder how much business.biz will go for?

Thinking Globally
Still, if you ask me, the new domains are good for the Internet. For one thing, there will be more options. Options are good. For another, as Afilias marketing honcho John Kane told Wired News (and as Arden Yingling presciently suggested, in so many words), “We’re looking to put together a top-level domain that transcends boundaries and signifies a kind of global unity. Because the current dot-com, -net, and -org are very U.S.-centric.”

As for me, the next time ICANN asks for suggestions, I’m submitting .dudrow, so I can be andrea.dudrow, and all my friends can be friends.dudrow, and my mom can be mom.dudrow, and my neighborhood can be hood.dudrow (it’s cooler that way), and people can complain on mailing lists about the dot-dudrows and their darned sense of entitlement. Think it’ll fly?

Read more by Andrea.Dudrow.

 

  • anonymous says:

    Look forward to Andrea’s columns, short, informative and always a Topic that hits close to our business. Keep up the good work.

  • anonymous says:

    This is a good article.

  • >