Oh so many years
ago, there were only a few domains in existance:
.com - corporate entities
only
.net - companies that handled Internet infrastructure
.org - non-profit / not-for-profit organizations
.gov - U.S. federal government
.mil - U.S. federal military institutions
.edu - higher education
.int - international organizations
.us - generic U.S.
related sites
The proper place to put your personal Web site was under .us,
which is structured as [your-server-name].[city].[state].us. .org
was NOT
intended to be the place to put your personal Web sites.
.us is THE
most underused TLD out there, and I feel that ICANN should push its usage there.
I also agree that .org should return to its status as for non-profit/not-for-profit
organizations. Back in 1994 you actually had to send Network Solutions (and previously,
the National Science Foundation) proof that you did indeed qualify as a non-profit.
It is unfortunate that Network Solutions decided to drop the requirements in order
to maximize their profits. The obvious result is that you now have, for lack of a
better word, a clusterfuck.
But I also agree that the current .orgs
should be grandfathered back into the old status. If ICAAN wanted to make this
truly fair, then what they should do is demand proof that you are a non-profit when
it is time to renew your domain. If you cannot prove this, then they should offer
to re-direct your current .org domain to a new TLD for personal domains (the suggested
.per or such would be perfect) for a period of two years, at no additional cost.
This would allow people two years to transition over from the now-invalid .org to
the valid personal domain of the same name. In order to ensure that this
remains fair and nobody grabs your name, registration for the new personal domain
should be restricted to only those who are transitioning from the .org to the new
domain. Once ICAAN can verify that 100% of the current owners of .org domains are
accredited non-profit/not-for-profit organizations, then they can open up that new
domain for open public registration.
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