What I didn't know about domains (and I know a lot about domains).

Listening To
Written By Kristine Neil

One of my favorite podcasts went on permanent hiatus recently (RIP the Economics of Everyday Things) but in listening back through the archives, I discovered an episode from a couple years ago about top level domains that I missed. Which is hard to believe because I've been messing with this stuff since I first fiddled with a cPanel in 1997, so "a podcast about domains" is basically my version of a beach read. But even I learned things.

So, the TL;DR is that every country in the world was assigned its own TLD (top-level domain) back in the early days of the internet. The dot com, dot org, dot edu… the letters at the end of a web address - that’s the top level domain part.

Anyways, some of those assignments turned out to be absolute goldmines. Example: teeny little Anguilla lucked out and got dot ai, and now that everyone's AI-crazy, that domain is bringing in millions a month. Like, a real chunk of the entire country's budget. Like, enough that they may do away with taxes altogether? (Yes, I did open Zillow in a separate tab and did a little property search - never hurts to look, right?)

But it’s not all tax havens and white sand beaches. It never is. Some of the history takes a darker turn - like how domains got tangled up in colonialism, how some countries got swindled out of theirs, and even what happens to a country's domain when the country itself disappears. (Spoiler: the websites just... vanish.)

I love a story that takes something I thought I knew everything about and shows me a whole side I'd never considered. This was that. Worth a listen!

Kristine Neil

Web Designer & Communication Nerd

I'm Kristine Neil — a communications strategist who has spent 20+ years designing websites. I have an MBA and degrees in Communication and Political Science, and I think of web design as one tool in a much bigger toolbox. The real work is figuring out what you're trying to say, who needs to hear it, and what's getting in the way - the website is just where all of that comes to life. I write here about eCommerce, web strategy, and making the complex feel a little more human. I’m also the Founder & Creative Director of kristineneil.studio, where I take on larger organizational website re-design projects.

Contact Me

Next

I didn’t sign up to be a content creator.