Quote:Google has applied to control a slew of domain names that are not only related to its core business but have “interesting and creative potential.”

The company announced on its blog on Thursday that it has submitted applications to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for the following domains: .google, .youtube, .doc and .lol.

ICANN, which assigns top-level domains to sites worldwide, will announce in June which domains will be added to the existing list that includes “.com” or “.gov.”

“In 2016, it’s estimated that almost half of the world’s population will be online, yet nearly 50 percent of the websites we visit are found in the .com top-level domain (TLD), which was among the first TLDs created in 1984,” Google wrote on its Official Blog.

“Despite the great opportunities the web has enabled for people around the world, there is still a lingering question about the diversity of the domain space (given that the number of generic TLDs has only increased by 14 in the last 28 years).”

Google aims to grow the number of TLDs in four categories, such as trademarks (such as .google), those related to its core business (.docs), ones that improve the user experience and increase the identification of certain genres (.youtube) and fun options (.lol).

The search engine giant also noted that it plans to keep security and abuse prevention top of mind in creating a positive experience for web users.

“We’re just beginning to explore this potential source of innovation on the web, and we are curious to see how these proposed new TLDs will fare in the existing TLD environment,” the company says.

“By opening up more choices for Internet domain names, we hope people will find options for more diverse — and perhaps shorter — signposts in cyberspace.”

What do you think of Google’s choice for new top-level domain names? Which ones would you like to see pop up on the web? Let us know in the comments.

Corn Wrote:So why aren't there more domain names..?

Eos Wrote:Because until recently ICANN wouldn't entertain adding more. They wanted a very controlled list of possibilities.
The old "oh, five should be enough forever"

Corn Wrote:I mean like why on Earth do they think five should be enough forever?

SaptaZapta Wrote:Because most people can't remember them anyway, and they're not technically needed?
I'm not sure what the length limit is on names, but pretty sure that even if all domains had to be of the form http://www.yourdomainnamehere.com there would still be enough for everybody in the world, many times over.

Eos Wrote:And in five years when they're virtually unattainable and all these new ones ( particularly .blog in your case) have been around long enough to actually be common place your current shallow mindset based on the brief period we've had the internet so widespread will be long gone because the internet will be nothing like it has been in the past 15 years.

And you'll probably be on some obsolete forum ***Hidden content cannot be quoted.*** like SP growsing about how you miss 'old internet' and whining about the 'good ol days when .net .com and .org were good enough for anyone' if this site's history is any proof of patterns

DeanNim Wrote:so im considering .com/.net/.org because the newer TLDs dont really sound nice

Eos Wrote:You're failing to account for how absolutely stupid and nonsensical .com, .net, and .org sounded when they first started.

hell, the only reason .com is as popular as it is, is it was literally the only option for most people fresh to the net, because .net was exclusive to ISPs and .org was only nonprofits and similar. .biz was a sad attempt to double the capacity of .com without sounding entirely stupid, but by the time it came around they'd already unrestricted .net and .org for similar reasons and those were more familiar by now so people grabbed them instead.

None of them sound nice until you're familiar with them and see other people adopt them. It's all in your head.

KhainiWest Wrote:inb4.eos

commonsense.eos would be a great website

Eos Wrote:For a mere 185K application fee and moderately painful vetting process you can have one!

KhainiWest Wrote:Hey, it's your name, I think it's only fair you pay, hmmm..90% of it

Eos Wrote:Soon as SP makes that kind of money in a year, sure. (I'd settle for that kind of money in decade, I'm not greedy).

KhainiWest Wrote:Would it be too bold to ask how much it makes now

Eos Wrote:You're failing to account for how absolutely stupid and nonsensical .com, .net, and .org sounded when they first started.

None of them sound nice until you're familiar with them and see other people adopt them. It's all in your head.