Hey, I was woundering how all these differant sites get there url suffix's and then get to dish out free domain names freely. Like, were in the world did .er come from ? I would just like to know, I am curious.

It's probably a country code. Search Google for "domain country codes" or something like that and you'll see all of the different www.domain.???

I believe if you pay extra to the domain registrar you can get a custom one or something.

yeah, a number of them are a country code, tk is a country, but no one uses it, so they give them away

As rivereye mentioned, the islands of Tokelau (.tk) give away their domain names for free. The catch: they do URL masking unless you build your own script to redirect out of it; you can only use it like a domain name you own unless you pay for it. I believe there may be other similar names out there.

Domain suffixes are controlled ICANN (which is also who runs the main DNS servers and registries of the world)

You can't just "dish out" free domains, they must be registered with ICANN. However, as some domain suffixes are for a specific country, that country can do its own registrations, which means they won't have to pay.

You can't just buy a domain suffix, either, and getting a new one created isn't easy. One that was rejected was .xxx, which would basically be the red light district of the internet.

Re: xxx: I heard on Slashdot that they're reconsidering it, but that could just be a rumor.

Oh, I get it now. This is some good information. Thanks guys.

Wait one more question. If ICANN owns the right to the TLDs and W3 is incharge of the internet, why dont they come togather? Why are there 2 corperations for close to the same thing ?

Not the same thing at all. ICANN controls the distribution of domain names. W3C controls web standards, such as HTML, HTTP, CSS, et al. They are purely software.

*Controls SOME web standards. W3C is by no means in charge like ICANN is. A prime example is RSS, which has nothing whatsoever to do with W3C, and was started by a single individual, not even a company/corporation.

Exactly. Technically they don't even have real power, but people listen to them because the standards are now so widely used. Correct?

Have you ever been to a website not running on a standard controlled by the W3C? Didn't think so

Fair enough, that's what I thought.

So, they do have power, but in writing, they have none

Huh? That made no sense. They can write whatever they want; people choose to contribute to and follow their standard because they are standards, used on every site and in every browser on the 'net.

Yes, but one could choose to break those standards, and their is nothing they can do over there.

Just so everyone knows, W3C isn't a single entity. Companies like Microsoft help develop the W3C standards

Does the W3C have power? Sort of. They can't really control the future of the web (case in point: AJAX, which is more of a hack someone created than an official feature), and they usually implement whatever web developers are screaming for.

Ah, hence the compendium. I wasn't aware of that, but it makes perfect sense.

*Consortium

Meh, you're right. Whatever.