[stevewillows]

From a branding perspective, if you're forced to use an underscore for a twitter or instagram name, always put it at the end.

Sad to see the Guardian go to a .com

[null_ptr]

This is superficial and hard to quantify, but .com has a junky feel to it nowadays. Their co.uk sounds more reputable.

[na85]

To you, perhaps. To many tech people, perhaps.

But the Guardian is trying to reach more than that audience, and I'm sure there are lots of "Fox-News Americans" who will scorn the .uk and still find .com to be professional. They have a sense that .com is normal, and that other TLDs are inferior.

[stevewillows]

I think this is extremely accurate. I'm launching a new brand next month with a .co and I've found that people that are into tech things like it while the older generations give me a blank stare.

[null_ptr]

I wonder how well-received the coming .tech/software/app/etc. gTLDs will be. Will people still want to grab the .com for their company?

[stevewillows]

I think the dot com will be the traditional bet, but over time become one of those 'nice-to-haves' - - with the ridiculous amount of squatting on the most bizarre terms, other tlds are becoming far more attractive.

Above this, the dot co people are making great strides in offering a wide range of benefits to signing on. Not only discounts and freebies, but the potential of a community. In the future, I think more tlds will adopt this model to attract business.