So long dot.com... hello everything.else...

[Mr. Laser Beam]

i wish people wouldn't put a fuckin dot in dot com. it's tautalogical, you're saying dot-dot-com. it's as stupid as PIN number, SAM missile or similar stupidity.

Report this to the Department of Redundancy Department immediately.

As for the topic: Meh. I suppose it was inevitable. It seems to indicate a gradual slide towards web addresses that are completely different from the format we use today. The next thing to go will probably be the http:// since it's pretty much understood in all web addresses.

Time will probably come where all web addresses will be normal phrases (in the chosen language).

 

[CorporalClegg]

i wish people wouldn't put a fuckin dot in dot com. it's tautalogical, you're saying dot-dot-com. it's as stupid as PIN number, SAM missile or similar stupidity.

Report this to the Department of Redundancy Department immediately.

That's redundantly redundant.

 

[Mr. B]

I don't see how dot.everything undermines the appeal and desirability of a Dot COM address.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Speaking of redundancy, I think I might register dot.dot as a shrine to the ellipsis.

 

[Candlelight]

I might register com.dot

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I'm all for reusing the former top-level domain once used to represent Zaire.

 

[TorontoTrekker]

As for the topic: Meh. I suppose it was inevitable. It seems to indicate a gradual slide towards web addresses that are completely different from the format we use today.

You were obviously not online when bang paths were used to denote addresses. You used to have to send an email to someone using the format uunet!site!account instead of account@site.com (or .ca, .net, .org, etc.). These things have changed before, and will change again.

The next thing to go will probably be the http:// since it's pretty much understood in all web addresses.

Not quite. https:// is used for secure sites (look at your address bar the next time you're doing online banking, for instance).

Time will probably come where all web addresses will be normal phrases (in the chosen language).

Many already are, but you still need top-level domains to differentiate them sometimes. Look at www.sears.com (Sears US) versus www.sears.ca (Sears Canada). There are only so many meaningful phrases that are memorable enough to be used as URLs.

We have a client where I work, for whom I developed a content management system. I architected it very carefully and thoughtfully, and set it up so that their franchise sales site would, like the franchisees themselves, be accessed via a subdomain (replacing the "www" with something representing the franchisee, so the sales site would be sales.[company name].com). However, they decided they wanted to keep their old URL as well, which has four words separated by dashes. I could never remember it, even though I've been working on the site for over a year, so I just refer to it as www.i-want-[company name]-to-buy-me-a-pony.com. If I, as the developer who created the new site and who has been working on it for over a year, can't remember it, how can you expect the average person on the street to? (But that's what they wanted, so that's what they got. The variation I had devised to fit within the overall architecture still works, though.)

 

[M'Sharak]

Speaking of redundancy, I think I might register dot.dot as a shrine to the ellipsis.

Better check first to make sure that Herb Caen doesn't already have it.

 

[Frontier]

It's a shame creating such new .somethings will cost $185 G's. I can imagine some funny shit...

website.wtf?
website.fuck
website.omg!
website.holyshit
website.yourmom

lol

 

[cultcross]

I don't see the need for this. I think simply having your domain name followed by .com was nice and simple, and easy to remember. The relatively few alternatives were pretty easy to remember.
Making it completely open will mean we'll most likely rely more heavily on search engines to find a web address. I don't see how it will remove search engines, even using the example they provided.

This. I can't see this reducing the need for search engines, quite the opposite. Instead of guessing that the site for, say, microsoft, is microsoft.com I now have essentially infinite possibilities to guess.
Sure, I can type 'nightclubs.sydney' but how did I know that was the address? If I'd tried nightlife.sydney, clubs.sydney, goingout.sydney, bars.sydney etc. I wouldn't have found it. I'd still need a search engine to find what I wanted.
The more non-standardised URLs become, the lower the chance of guessing correctly, in my view.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I don't see the need for this. I think simply having your domain name followed by .com was nice and simple, and easy to remember. The relatively few alternatives were pretty easy to remember.
Making it completely open will mean we'll most likely rely more heavily on search engines to find a web address. I don't see how it will remove search engines, even using the example they provided.

This. I can't see this reducing the need for search engines, quite the opposite. Instead of guessing that the site for, say, microsoft, is microsoft.com I now have essentially infinite possibilities to guess.
Sure, I can type 'nightclubs.sydney' but how did I know that was the address? If I'd tried nightlife.sydney, clubs.sydney, goingout.sydney, bars.sydney etc. I wouldn't have found it. I'd still need a search engine to find what I wanted.
The more non-standardised URLs become, the lower the chance of guessing correctly, in my view.

Yeah, I think what's really going on here is ICANN's looking for new revenue streams as search engines have made your domain name less and less important. It doesn't really matter what your domain name is if you have a good search engine ranking for your desired keywords. Do most people even look at the domain name below a search engine result, or just read the title and page snippet? I know when I use Google the domain name is the last part of the result I look at unless I'm looking for a very specific domain name.