> Those same users who will get ultimately confused as to
> whether they
should visit the COM, WEB or NET or all
> three to find what they are looking
for!The BIGGEST problem effecting the usability and CONFUSION of the Internet
today is Afilias' inability to implement/operate a stable registry and perform on
their contract with ICANN ... and ICANN seems to be doing nothing about it.
That
aside, Image Online's .WEB is just as usable, just as viable and just as recognizable
as any other TLD if not more so. Additionally, Image Online's registry has been operational
for years, is stable, reliable and more importantly ready to be included into the
A Root TOMORROW!
>> "Us, people who had a hard time registering a meaningful
name that attracts users."
Domain names don't ATTRACT users there are other mechanisms
that accomplish this. A domain simply makes it easier for them to come back to it
or relay that information to another human being.
>> "Those same users who
will get ultimately confused as to whether they should visit the COM, WEB or NET
or all three to find what they are looking for!"
In the 8 years I have been involved
with Internet related technology, I have yet to come across a person who begins a
web session with the question "I need to find X information and it would most likely
be on a domain using the Y top level domain therefore, I must now only search for
information on web sites using this particular TLD."
It simply doesn't work that
way. They go to Yahoo or Google or another such service, type in some words and end
up (usually) on some subdirectory of some page that is not the root of the web site.
There is not a search engine that I know of that gives preference to any TLD, they
simply care about the relevant information a site/page contains.
Users don't care
how they get the information or service, where they get the information or service
or on what server .. in what part of the world they get their service. More importantly,
they could care less what extension is used. They simply care about getting their
information and getting it as quickly as possible; and they use search engines to
do it.
Using a search engine is the #2 activity second only to the use of email.
85% of web sessions begin by conducing a search on a search engine. So as far as
usability is concerned, trying to convince users that they should conduct searches
or only consider the location of information based on what TLD it is most likely
to be found on is the BEST way to REDUCE the Internets usability and confuse users.
Users are just going to use search engine in some form or another like they always
have.
As for dot-info .... well, the Internet IS information of unlimited scope.
EVERYTHING on the Internet is information of some sort. That's why it is often referred
to as "The INFORMATION Super Highway". dot-com sites have information, dot-net sites
have information, dot-web sites will have information when it is approved etc etc.
To say, as some have, that .info should be used for websites that give you information
about other web sites, or be used like an "about us" service for the Internet is
a silly notion and does more to REDUCE THE USABILITY of the Internet than adding
so called "overlapping" TLDs ever could. It does nothing more than add extra time
to the process of retrieving information.
>> "Again we come full circle to
my problem with WEB and the fact that it does nothing but bang heads with COM, BIZ,
NET and beyond. "
The bottom line is, if you build a useful web service that people
value, they will find it, refer it, and remember it regardless what TLD it uses.
Consider http://photo.net
- Does not use a dot-com TLD
- approx. 100,000 loyal
users
- $0 advertising (no paper or digital advertising of any sort)
- 2 million
hits per day
- I, and others, found it by using a search engine.
- I am a loyal
user. (http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=112312)
People are drawn to,
and will find good sources of information and services regardless of the TLD used.
The important issue is the introduction of compeition. .WEB was the most logical
choice in the last round of applications and remains so today.