http://stupid.idea

[Darren Dirt]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13835997

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) plans to dramatically increase the number of domain endings from the current 22.

Internet address names will end with almost any word and be in any language.

Icann will begin taking applications next year, with corporations and cities expected to be among the first.

"Icann has opened the internet's addressing system to the limitless possibilities of the human imagination," said Rod Beckstrom, president and chief executive officer for Icann.

"No one can predict where this historic decision will take us."

There will be several hundred new generic top-level domain names (gTLDs), which could include such addresses as .google, .coke, or even .BBC.

Fine, they want to increase the Top Level Domains from the current 22**.

But to make it so literally ANY word can be a domain? Kinda silly. And charging a ridic high price means it will be only rich egos and powerful megacorps that will do it.

Gotta charge lots though, otherwise for example "http://sucks.walmart" would be out there pretty quick, etc. you can imagine the chaos that would ensue.






**Existing Generic TLDs

.com : companies, now broader
.edu : educational institutions
.gov : government institutions
.int : international organisations, e.g. Interpol
.mil : military organisations
.net : networking technologies, now broader
.org : non-profit organisations
.arpa : first ever domain, now technical use
.aero : air travel industry
.biz : business alternative to .com
.coop : co-operatives
.info : information, but open for general use
.museum : museums
.name : personal names - johnsmith.name
.pro : professionals, e.g. doctors
.asia: Asian websites
.cat : Catalan language
.jobs : employment websites
.mobi : mobile phones
.post : postal services
.tel : telecoms
.travel : travel

[Mr. Analog]

Exactly, this is a hollow ICANN cash grab, makes me sick just to read it...

The sad thing is it will create a small bubble as companies rush to squat valuable TLDs (sex, free, beer, etc), which is not a Good Thing^tm

[Thorin]

Gotta charge lots though, otherwise for example "http://sucks.walmart" would be out there pretty quick, etc. you can imagine the chaos that would ensue.

I think *.walmart isn't that valuable.  I think *.sucks is way better, because then you can have http://walmart.sucks/, http://brockanton.sucks/, http://nike.sucks/, etc.

[Tom]

Gotta charge lots though, otherwise for example "http://sucks.walmart" would be out there pretty quick, etc. you can imagine the chaos that would ensue.

I think *.walmart isn't that valuable.  I think *.sucks is way better, because then you can have http://walmart.sucks/, http://brockanton.sucks/, http://nike.sucks/, etc.

Hey, you stole what I was going to say 

[Darren Dirt]

I think *.walmart isn't that valuable.  I think *.sucks is way better, because then you can have http://walmart.sucks/, http://brockanton.sucks/, http://nike.sucks/, etc.

But is it worth a few hundred thousand dollooooooooz to complain about megacorps?

Apparently you also gotta "prove" you should be the one to own the TLD. So for example ".alberta" is pretty easy, GoA will grab it (if bean counters agree it is justified) while ".darren" might be a little more difficult for me to prove rightful ownership

(I wonder who gets .georgia ?)