[wg-c] Importance of gTLDs

[Dave Crocker <dcrocker@brandenburg.com>]

At 08:58 AM 10/21/1999 , Milton Mueller wrote:
>Kent Crispin wrote:
> > Despite NSI's dreams to the
> > contrary, the explosive growth of the net was not driven by the
> > availability of domain names.
>
>Another typically fact-free assertion. The expansion of commercial and
>private (non-educational) http:// -based Internet content could not have
>happened had there not been a way to get domain names quickly and easily
>and cheaply. Try setting up a web site without one. (Sure it can be

Absent the ad hominem indulgence, I agree that domain names have been an 
important aspect to the usability -- and therefore appeal -- of the net.

Crediting NSI for any of this, however, is where things get sticky.  Until 
quite recently, their procedures and performance were rather 
poor.  ("Rather poor" is a euphemism for entirely amateurish and 
terrible.)  In fact the success of .com is quite reasonably viewed as being 
in spite of, not because of, NSI.

>By "healthier" Kent means - register where central authorities want you
>to register. that paradigm, like coffee, stunts your growth. We know
>this. Just compare dot US and dot FR with com net and org.

Nicely done.  Two silly myths in just one paragraph, though alas the author 
seems aware of only one.  Creative writing at this level is not usual from 
your academic discipline, Milton.

>Some people have a big problem with letting consumers decide things for
>themselves. Given the structure of the DNS, a third-level domain means
>that your name and your policies are subordinate to whoever controls the

That's the nature of a hierarchical design, Milton.  It applies to SLDs no 
differently than TLDs.

The desire to create an absence of "control" within a system that is 
inherently hierarchical is entirely commendable.  After you complete the 
necessary computer science research and invent the necessary means of 
changing this minor impediment, I'm sure we'll be interested in considering 
their use.

>second level. It also may mean that your visibility is limited. Recall

Visibility?  What a curious (and fact-free) assertion.

>that the browsers filled in "www" and ".com" for you starting in the mid
>90s, so that newbies who came on the web could just type a name and go

Much to the chagrin of anyone trying to access a ccTLD or a .org or 
.edu.  In other words, this wonderful feature you cite was part of the 
problem, not part of the solution.

>that that domain. Third level domains are longer, and make less of a
>statement on a billboard etc. Any fool knows this. It is sheer hypocrisy

Well, no, not just ANY fool, Milton.  After all, clearly having to dial an 
area code makes SO much less of a "statement" than having dialing a local 
telephone number.

I seem to recall your once noting the fallacy of practising of economics by 
a non-economist.  Yet here you are offering us marketing expertise.  Absent 
the requisite experience.

d/

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