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by clxxx 1937 days ago
I find it odd that TLD’s can be bought and sold in such a manner. I understand those like .edu, .gov, .com, and country denoted TLD’s because they seem to denote a purpose behind the ownership and I was under the assumption that ICANN simply maintained them as a non-profit. It looks to be more like a money fueled rat race to swoop up as many names as possible for the purpose of land lording over them. Perhaps it’s a limited and cynical take, but is there more to the picture?

I’ve heard of decentralized protocols like Handshake attempt to decentralize the entire sector of TLD’s but they just seem be riddled with early profit seekers buying up all the names, so it seems unlikely the large browsers will incorporate them. Can anyone speak on the TLD space and it’s future? What was the incentive of ICANN starting the gTLD’s and what are the assumptions behind browsers accepting TLD’s?
2 comments
hakfoo 1937 days ago
A TLD that enforced a "one organization, one name" rule might reduce the land-rush mentality.

I recall talking with someone who worked with a trade school, this was probably about 15 years ago, and they were very proud of their .edu domain. It was seen as a bdge that they were a federally-sanctioned college as opposed to just a Learning Annex with delusions of grandeur.

At the time, they could only get the one domain schoolname.edu and couldn't just buy "enrollatschoolname.edu" or "schoolnamegoldenhamsters.edu" for a marketing push. Not sure if that's changed.

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tasuki 1937 days ago
> I’ve heard of decentralized protocols like Handshake attempt to decentralize the entire sector of TLD’s but they just seem be riddled with early profit seekers buying up all the names, so it seems unlikely the large browsers will incorporate them.

Yes, and any system will be riddled with early profit seekers. With Handshake, there's a lot less profit to seek:

1. The current TLDs are pre-reserved on Handshake for the current owners.

2. The number of Handshake TLDs is ~infinite. If it were to catch on, I'd expect a race-to-the-bottom for second level domain prices.

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