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

    • 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?