Kickstarter for a JavaScript top level domain (.js TLD) | Hacker News Reader

Kickstarter for a JavaScript top level domain (.js TLD)

github.com

97 pointsjpsirois83 comments

Why do we even think about this? Custom TLDs are a farce, a way to shake companies and nonprofits out of money without any added value, neither technologically, nor in terms of marketing/communication. Everybody knows that, right? Didn't we all conclude that when the ICANN announced it? Aren't "we", the hacker crowd, supposed to be above this?

I agree. Further, regarding this bit from the "Why?" section of the README:

> Okay, this is kind of a vanity TLD, but we freaking build the web every day... Shouldn't we have a TLD that JS hackers control?

Why are "JS hackers" being targeted specifically? Why not also Ruby, Python, PHP, .NET, and Perl hackers? Why not also HTML and CSS hackers? Why not also designers (.psd perhaps)? Why not dozens of new TLDs so that everyone could have a domain with the file extension of their choosing?

I'll tell you why: because arbitrarily polluting the top-level namespace is something we learn not to do.

Probably because .py is paraguay, .pl is poland, .net is ... whatever.

Sure, but there's no .rb ccTLD, and since 4-, 5-, and 6- letter gTLDs exist, we could certainly have Kickstarter campaigns for .php, .html, .css, .perl, etc.

I guess .NET hackers are screwed though.

Actually, Microsoft owns ASP.NET - which is a site about ASP .NET

They're probably less screwed, cause they can register their domain today, provided it's still available.

OMG!!! Imagine the amount of phishing that can be done with a .html TLD... hey access paypal.com.fantastic.promotion.html this would be horrible...

  .dotnet

javascript is more of the lingua franca of the web

That's why I find it so helpful that I can translate javascript to English using Google translate!

Couldn't agree with you more. I can't even fathom how ludicrous this idea is. What possible reason is there for a language to have a TLD?

Let's make custom TLDs for .py, .java, .c, .h, .php... really? Really?

I can't wait for the .bash_profile tld to become available.

Ummm, the country of Paraguay already has the .py cctld, and they are somewhat picky about who they hand domains out to (residents and nationals only basically), which is why you don't see a bunch of programmers with vanity domains that are python in-jokes.

This is exactly why I both love and fear the power of Kickstarter. It enables half-thought out ideas (claimed as "projects") to have a way to sucker good people out of their money.

You make a great ideological point sir. But let me make a pragmatic one.

The new gTLD's are coming whether we like it or not, so why not take advantage of it?

Pragmatically speaking, the new gGTLDs are likely to fail. So why not avoid that expensive bullet?

Aside: Has anyone ever run across a real functioning site that uses the .travel suffix? That is a precursor gTLD that went live in 2006. Presumably there are a lot more people interested in travel than there are in javascript.

>Pragmatically speaking, the new gGTLDs are likely to fail. So why not avoid that expensive bullet?

If the premise is true, then I agree with the conclusion.

But what will make the new set of gTLD's likely to fail?

And what does "fail" mean even?

If all you are going on is history, not sure we can conclude anything. Past performance is a poor indicator of future performance.

If it weren't the case, then I switch professions and become a stock broker, because it would be dead simple that even I could understand it ;).

I'm going to start a tiny country called "Jesss," and then get rich! It's a perfect plan!!!

Does the hacker crowd include the person who started the BH conferences? ICANN hired him and he's the one running the technical side of this farce.

I tried doing this before the rules were public, the reasons why I stopped

1. Two-letter TLDs are reserved for countries.

2. The $200k isn't the actual cost, it is only what you need to pay for an initial review, you won't get the money back if something is found to be wrong with your application or if they dislike your TLD.

1. Except the .eu I guess (otherwise I agree).

Give it time...!

Also .aq and a few islands that are part of bigger countries.

Those little exceptions don't invalidate the rule, and the request won't get accepted.

This is extremely stupid. would it be mongodb.js? or mongodb.c++ mongodb.oss mongodb.foss mongodb.nosql or mongodb.webtwozeroishstuff ? We don't need more fragmentation.

I guess the next thing they want after .biz is .cool .startup .awesome and .hip . This is not how TLDs (should) work!

I guess it would be mongo.db. But it really should be none of those. How would anyone create/enforce rules that would accurately limit the usage to what they are proposing? What is the validation for whether a project is or is not a JavaScript or NodeJS project?

This is extremely stupid to start a post with "This is extremely stupid". It adds no value and is simply offensive. Only extremely stupid people write that way.

> I guess the next thing they want after .biz is .cool .startup .awesome and .hip

.hipster

While it would be cool to have a .js TLD, that 200k would be better spent developing a system that doesn't revolve around a centralized entity to manage DNS.

Especially since now the root zone file is just gonna grow and grow with new TLDs.

Good point. Or that 200k would be better spent in an X Prize style contest for a better JavaScript web framework.

That was my first thought, too - $200k could fund the writing of a lot of really good JavaScript, which would benefit the JS community (and the web at large) a lot more than a vanity TLD.

I don't know why people are so eager to shoot this down. I think it's perfectly feasible. So what if two-letter TLDs are reserved for countries? JavaScript has already made the jump from the browser to the server (and, soon, to the kernel): the world map is the logical next step. Yes, I am talking about a real-world JavaScript nation, whose banner shall unite web 2.0 ninjas, wizards and pirates (not the rockstars, though, those use Ruby) from all over the world. And the children of this new utopia shall be taught JavaScript as their native language, fulfilling mankind's age-old ideal of JavaScript Everywhere.

The thought of children speaking their first

  alert();

brings tears of joy to my eyes...

Where on earth do you see JS jumping to the kernel? If C++ wasn't cut for it what makes you think JS is?

Yea I was thinking the same. The JavaScript nation thing was a bit far fetched but JavaScript in the kernel is simply absurd.

There are two blockers:

https://github.com/ozten/TLD.js/issues/23

https://github.com/ozten/TLD.js/issues/8

This isn't viable for submission as a Kickstarter w/o resolving those issues.

As @jensnockert and @LaRakei have pointed out here.

Creative solution? Please comment on the issues :)

I know about both issues but what I would like to mention is more the initiative of a Kickstarter campaign for this kind of developer’s common concerns.

I really love the idea to ask everyone to solve everyone’s problems.

I think this would only be worthwhile if you could do this:

  <script src="http://jquery.js"></script>

What would the source at js.js/js.js be?

JS.js(js)

js.js/js.js?js=js.js

Just because...

Very cool. You could also do:

    <script src="http://jquery.js/latest"></script>

And keep / as an informative website.

You can even drop the http: part, like this:

    <script src="//jquery.js/latest"></script>

Nah, too much typing. Maybe if you got rid of jquery.com. It's not even a company!

I can't tell if your you're joking or not. Linking to the latest version is a very nice way to break your app automatically.

Or use Content-Type negotiation. (please note, I do understand that this proposal is basically DOA)

You could quite easily make the index page the latest jquery minified version, so yes.

The WHATWG should just introduce a new <jquery> element that automatically pulls the latest version.

Not unless jquery is going to be absorbed into ECMAscript it shouldn't.

<joke/>

Ah. My bad.

... because

http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.2/jquery.min...

is not cool enough

I have a revolutionary idea: <script src="http://somedomainyoumanage/jquery.js></script>; + git and save the 100K

I'd much prefer this, much the same way http://to/ used to operate:

    <script src="//cdn/jquery"></script>

One more reason it's not a good idea: For example if .html was a top level domain, it would be harder to know if you're looking at a domain or a file. You could still deduce it from the surrounding strings, but why do you want to complicate what's working perfectly as it is?

How about .exe, .app, .txt, .htm... maybe ultimately petition to allow punctuation and forward slash in domain names.

The concept of files in URLs is an illusion. A bare '/' may serve JS content and a /test.css may serve a JPG image. The path is just a string with no special meaning.

Can anyone else hear that? The sound of Tim Berners-Lee crying to himself, "What have they done to you? You were once so clean and pure."

Nay, it is not Berners-Lee that is crying, it's Paul Mockapetris. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Mockapetris

Aren't two letter domains reserved for countries?

So the fix for this then is to start our own country. I hear there's some unclaimed land in Africa which would do nicely - http://www.neatorama.com/2010/02/05/earths-last-frontier-the...

Maybe micronations count as countries?

Indeed, they are. Relatedly, .pl and .pm (both extensions used for Perl code) are existing CCTLDs.

yep, I registered a .pm domain. I guess the most people haven't heard of Saint Pierre and Miquelon at all. Btw, the domains are still managed by the AFNIC.

Every day I send Chrome on a mystery tour looking for a domain called something.js - which it never finds.

As many others have pointed out, two character gTLDs are not allowed, as they are reserved for countries and super-national entities like .eu.

Also, Kickstarter is a terrible model for something like this. Kickstarter is for funding a single creative project. People are giving money to someone they trust to be able to execute a project, for that specific project. A gTLD needs to be run, constantly, for the forseeable future; and thus needs to be a real business, with real investment, not a one-shot project like Kickstarter is designed to fund.

Getting a TLD up and running would cost a LOT more than $200k - you have to create a SRS registrar, billing, email systems, security, Who Is, etc.

You may be able to subcontract these to SrsPlus (like I do) or OpenSRS, but you would still have to go through $50k bond and testing.

I have been thinking of this for quite some time and have some great ideas of how a dot JS should work. Please contact me Ric @ my account dot org

Not totally sure how the fundraising process for a TLD works. Can you buy whatever TLD you want? Can I get david.shaw? That would be awesome.

The problem is that even if you get 'jsfounder' status with your donation, there's no guarantee you'll actually get anything other than your name on a petition.

It's a cool idea, and I support lots and lots of TLDs (as they allow creative domain names other than .com et al), but this seems like it might be a sneaky way to raise some capital without having to do anything.

edit: furthermore, do these passionate individuals plan to not organize the petition if they aren't funded?

It costs ~200k to buy a TLD, so if they are not funded they will obviously not be applying for the TLD.

The fee is only to apply -- the application would still need approval before this becomes a TLD. The fee is not refunded in the case of denial.

Crimony. For 200,000 dollars you can get the finest silks and fanciest hats and the blackest boots for a moment with the king.

Or you can buy 200,000 dollars worth of attention from already-upset people and start your own peer based DNS resolution service.

You know what would be cooler? Someone registering .onion, and make .onion URLs bring up a message telling people to use a Tor client.

What happened with .app TLD initiative? I remember they were collecting funds and even offered domain pre-registration, but now their website is down: http://dotappapp.com/

Duckduckgo showed me their twitter account and the website linked there is http://www.appextension.com/ ;)

200K for what is essentially a custom domain name? Absolutely not worth it.

While we're adding new TLD's, how about a .yc domain? Or maybe it should be .hn?

Actually .hn already exists as the TLD for honduras: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.hn

So, what exactly is wrong with nodejs.com? xyzjs.com?

How about .startup and .hacker? .innovation for biggies. .tldr would add something. .lolnotreally

Those are all way too long

I develop extensively in JavaScript, and this is fucking retarded.

A .js domain would more confusing, than helpful in my eyes. Also, the resistence against domain seizure is more important than 'coolness' today. The tld's .ch and .is are good picks for this purpose.

I have a better idea - if they do not let use get a 2-letter TLD, then how about we get .json ? If you want, my twitter handle is @json and I own json dot com , so we could do this for FREE by using subdomain.json.com to start

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