Les Mikesell wrote:
stan wrote:On Wed, 30 May 2007 14:56:40 +0930 Tim <ignored_mailbox@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: <snip>There isn't really a generic "internet" one, that fills in the missing purposes. e.g. If only you could register "nicename.inet" and not have to care whether it was commercial, personal, had content logically related to the domain name, was somehow local or generally world-wide.Why are domains needed at all? Why can't there just be a requirement for a unique name?That is the requirement. The domain system fulfills it by establishing a hierarchical system where authority to assign names can be granted and subdivided at the '.' levels. There is no requirement to have your own top/second level domain, you just have to have someone that has some existing level grant you naming authority below (to the left of) any existing subdomain. This can be done either by that person maintaining the names you assign in their DNS zone file or by delegating DNS lookups to nameservers you provide for that subdomain. I don't know if there is any limit to the depth you can go, but the top level stuff is more cosmetic than a practical requirement.
You can have some real fun and run your own root nameserver and make whatever tld's you want. My experience is that the "official" tld servers readily accept and propagate poison. This is really more appropriate for private networks though, where you might have tld's suchas .sales, .marketing, .engrg, .staff, .students, etc.
(Gawd, that felt evil ;)
