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

Fractional Web Partner

I'm Kristine Neil - a communications strategist who has spent 20+ years designing websites, first running a full-scale design and marketing agency, and now leading my own studio. I've been the creative director managing the work, the coder quietly fixing what others couldn't, and the strategist in the room asking why before how. Somewhere between the MBA and the other degrees, I decided web design was just 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. A website is just where all of that comes to life.

I build on Squarespace, and after years deep in the platform I know how far it can go and when to push past its limits. These days, I'm especially drawn to working as a fractional partner - getting to know an organization over time and helping with whatever moves them forward, whether that's a full redesign, an ongoing hand with content and strategy, or just being the person who knows their site best. I write here about eCommerce, web strategy, and making the complex feel a little more human.

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