ccTLDs -- decoding country codes / Top Level Domains

[Darren Dirt]

Ever wondered which country is exploiting its extension for businesses who want creative URL endings?

What's behind the ".co" or ".ag" domains that some companies are turning to, now that .com is all gone?


http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/country_codes/iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm

[Thorin]

Neat.  But ... .com is all gone?  Or just hard to get a domain name with because so many of the good ones have been snapped up?

[Mr. Analog]

Pretty much that yeah.

There are also services attached to most search engines through advertising that snoops for domain name searches and will automatically register things that haven't been registered yet as squatters.

I think there are similar services that attched to failed DNS lookups (depending on the DNS provider you route through).

So even if you find some magic combination of keywords not yet in use at .COM even looking for it might cause it to become registered by a squatter.

There's also some weird mindset that places very high value on single word names across domains domains, I can't think of visiting ANY single word domains to find stuff that weren't already company names (like I've been to Amazon.com but I've never been to "hats.com" [god only knows what's there]) leading to weirdness like "america.ca" (again, no idea what's there but I see it's registered)

The funny thing is the solution to this problem is the exact same as registering an international trademark: just pick some strange new word and use that, in the off chance someone HAS registered that domain name though you'll just have to buy it off 'em

I'm sure at some point the bubble will burst otherwise I guess in 50 years we can look forward to aklfjlas;djk.com

[Thorin]

hats.com - safe - it's about hats
america.ca - safe - forwards to cheaptickets.ca

disclaimer: might not be safe three years from now!

edit: thanks, now I know what a Pork Pie hat is: http://www.hats.com/c/1803/Pork-Pies.aspx

[Mr. Analog]

A delicious hat made of pastry and ham!

[Darren Dirt]

now I know what a Pork Pie hat is: http://www.hats.com/c/1803/Pork-Pies.aspx

pretty much a Bolero, but the brim is not quite as wide.
http://www.google.com/search?q=bolero+hat&tbm=isch