I get that some instances use the domain + TLD to make a word, like lemm.ee or to an extent, sh.itjust.works. But I’ve seen so many TLDs I had no idea existed, like .world, .zone, .social, and yes .works as well.

Is there any real reason for that? Trying to look cool or kinda underground-y? Cheaper and more varied domain options? Something actually kinda functional?

Interestingly, I started on vlemmy.net because I was a scared Reddit refugee and the .net TLD gave me comfort. Then it vanished a few days later without a trace. So here I am on lemmy.world

  • InfiniWheel@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    “Weird” TLDs tend to be cheaper. .social is also supposed to be made for this in the first place

  • 1984@lemmy.today
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    1 year ago

    The real reason is because it’s expensive to get a short and good .com name and also because it’s very corporate and boring.

  • moreeni@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    They look better and more quirky than the “usual” ones. Also, sometimes they might be even cheaper

      • bluefirex@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Definitely not. Some examples (actual prices I pay for my various domains):

        • com: $18/y (gTLD)
        • net: $19/y (gTLD)
        • de: ~$5/y (ccTLD)
        • re: ~$5/y (ccTLD)
        • design: $49/y
        • tech: $55/y
        • blue: $23/y
      • HakFoo@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        There is an entire industry “domaining” that trades domain names like baseball cards. It usually boils down to two things:

        • People register pdrq.com because they hope someone will have a wonderful new product named PDRQ later and will pay $10,000 for a domain that cost them $11.

        • Even if there’s no direct buyer, there are services that will run low-quality ads on the page. and you can more or less estimate traffic and revenue from typos or dead links pointing to the domain. A three character domain, all letters, will get more than 12 characters with random digits mixed in. If you get $12 a year of random clicks seeing ads for “hot singles in your area offering PDRQ”, you’re ahead and can justify holding it as part of a portfolio.

  • Smokeydope@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Cost of domain name tends to be cheaper with more obscure Top Level Domains (TLDs). .com .org .net TLDs are expensive because they are popular and high in demand. You have to rent them out most of the time. Many are already claimed so you either have to buy the owner out or wait till they stop paying and it expires if you really want it, .xyz is very cheap and uncommon on the other hand thus pennies on the dime per year to rent. Also depending on where you live and your occupation you can actually get a domain name for free through registering with specific services that actually for real own the Top Level Domains. If you are a citizen of a certain country you can get a .us or .cad or .eu .ml domain ect either for free or very very cheap.

    Check out this list for all TLDs and if you qualify for one for free. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains

    Heres a free domain name registar thats quite promising from the looks of it, most likely the one that lemmy.ml uses https://www.freenom.com/en/index.html?lang=en

  • reddig33@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Why does ICANN allow so many weird domains to begin with? Domains used to be a good way to tell if you were going to the legit website.

    .com - commercial entity .gov - government only .edu - educational entities only .net - network providers (ISP) only .org - non profit only

    Those days are gone.

    Now there’s Startrek.website and Startrek.com — how does the user know which one is owned by Paramount/Star Trek?

    • Corroded@leminal.space
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      1 year ago

      I feel like that’s been the case for a while now. You pretty much need a search engine and some sort of bookmarks tool to use the web.

      I don’t know immediately if The Verges website URL contains a “the” or if BBC uses a .com or a .uk. I search both when looking for news at work so I don’t accidentally end up on porn.

      • skulblaka@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        That one in particular is a bomb waiting to blow. Is this link to a webpage or to a malicious download? Who knows! Guess we’ll just have to click on it and see if anything starts downloading.

        Using file extensions for your TLD should be a big no-no for a lot of reasons, that being one of them.

        • nocturne@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          Using file extensions for your TLD should be a big no-no for a lot of reasons, that being one of them.

          That is what I said about .com.

          • BarrierWithAshes@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Yeah but nobody uses .com files anymore. Its a dead format. Any that still do are for specific users and rare instances.

          • TitanLaGrange@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            huh, Windows still distributes a handful of .com programs. Neat.

            I liked .com back in the day because it was easy to write assembly and dump it through the MSDOS ‘debug’ program to create an executable.

        • danielton@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          .com was a common file extension for MS-DOS executables, which was still in common use when the Internet started taking off.

        • xigoi@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 year ago

          Are you aware that opening any webpage, regardless of TLD, can cause a file to start downloading?

    • Vlyn@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      That’s not how the internet works. Any schmuck can buy those domain names except for .gov and .edu

      I’m not an ISP, but I can get any .net domain for $11 a year. And then put ads and malware on the site. If someone else hadn’t snatched it already I could even register disney.net if I wanted to. There is zero guarantee that Disney is behind a Disney domain.

      You’ll also find a hundred other Disney domains that are not owned by Disney. Big companies usually register a handful of domains for countries they do business in. And darn, some guy already registered disney.world :)

      • Eavolution@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        .ie is another one, you can’t get them from a lot of registrars and have to prove you’re genuinely based in Ireland.

        • Vlyn@lemmy.zip
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          1 year ago

          It didn’t. I can’t find a single reference that .net registration was ever restricted to networking companies at all (it might be the intention of the name, but there was never a requirement for it). Same for .com, you could just register them back in the day too.

          Hell, .net was even free to register at first before they started charging for domains.

    • MooseLad@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Well one is a forum with a little mouse at the top and the other one is a website with official logos, branding, a shop, and news.

      You’re not gonna get recommended startrek.website unless you’re specifically looking for it or a star trek lemmy instance in general.

  • rar@discuss.online
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    1 year ago

    New gTLDs have been released constantly since ICANN dropped the restriction. Also consider that a lot of Lemmy instances are run by individuals as a side project. That means they’ll reuse or nab whatever cool sounding domain they can get to spin up their new instance as quickly as possible. Corporate websites might pause and consider a more “marketable” domain.

    Personal theory of mine is *.itjust.works meant to stand for “It Just Works” until they decided to give this Lemmy thing a go.

    • Taival@suppo.fi
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      1 year ago

      Personal theory of mine is *.itjust.works meant to stand for “It Just Works” until they decided to give this Lemmy thing a go.

      Yep it’s referencing a meme that originated almost a decade ago. https://youtu.be/nVqcxarP9J4

  • SmashingSquid@notyour.rodeo
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    1 year ago

    Registration and renewal cost plus more availability, most shorter names are taken on the older tlds.

    I came up with mine by scrolling through tldlist comparing prices and going with the first idea that popped in my head.

  • amigan@lemmy.dynatron.me
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    1 year ago

    Because people think domain hacks are cool, and also, gTLDs are usually more expensive.