Chinese Number Websites: The Secret Meaning of URLs (2014)

#1

Post by lelf » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 9:45 AM UTC

Chinese Number Websites: The Secret Meaning of URLs (2014)
newrepublic.com

Re: Chinese Number Websites: The Secret Meaning of URLs (2014)

#2

Post by nerdbaggy » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 12:15 PM UTC

I wonder if this will ever evolve in emoji in URLs. I watched a short video about a guy who is squatting on most of the emoji domains

Re: Chinese Number Websites: The Secret Meaning of URLs (2014)

#3

Post by twiss » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 12:34 PM UTC

> The phone companies China Telecom and China Unicom simply reappropriated their well-known customer service numbers as domain names, 10086.cn and 10010.cn, respectively.

https://9292.nl is an example of this outside China, taking its name from 0900-9292 (a phone number you can call to get public transport travel directions, now largely replaced by the website/app).

Re: Chinese Number Websites: The Secret Meaning of URLs (2014)

#4

Post by Cenk » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 12:38 PM UTC

twiss wrote: post #3

> The phone companies China Telecom and China Unicom simply reappropriated their well-known customer service numbers as domain names, 10086.cn and 10010.cn, respectively. https://9292.nl is an example of this outside China, taking its name from 0900-9292 (a phone number you can call to get public transport travel directions, now largely replaced by the website/app).

Or https://www.1177.se for Sweden, the health care number/website. The NHS in the UK has https://111.nhs.uk as the URL for their new online emergency service.

Re: Chinese Number Websites: The Secret Meaning of URLs (2014)

#5

Post by mojo74 » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 12:55 PM UTC

nerdbaggy wrote: post #2

I wonder if this will ever evolve in emoji in URLs. I watched a short video about a guy who is squatting on most of the emoji domains

I now have the image of a man squatting over the pile of poo emoji. I accept I will never grow up.

Re: Chinese Number Websites: The Secret Meaning of URLs (2014)

#6

Post by auscompgeek » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 12:56 PM UTC

twiss wrote: post #3

> The phone companies China Telecom and China Unicom simply reappropriated their well-known customer service numbers as domain names, 10086.cn and 10010.cn, respectively. https://9292.nl is an example of this outside China, taking its name from 0900-9292 (a phone number you can call to get public transport travel directions, now largely replaced by the website/app).

In Australia, http://131500.com.au is also a very similar example (in that it also borrows the PT directions phone number), although it redirects to Transport for NSW's newer domain name these days.

Re: Chinese Number Websites: The Secret Meaning of URLs (2014)

#7

Post by mc32 » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 1:09 PM UTC

>Chinese airline paid $280,000 for the phone number 88888888.

It certainly added wealth to the phone number holder/assigner.

Re: Chinese Number Websites: The Secret Meaning of URLs (2014)

#8

Post by fajr_rd » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 1:17 PM UTC

This article has been discussed 5 years ago (at its release). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7694076

Re: Chinese Number Websites: The Secret Meaning of URLs (2014)

#9

Post by blakesterz » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 1:29 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #7

>Chinese airline paid $280,000 for the phone number 88888888. It certainly added wealth to the phone number holder/assigner.

I always wonder how much lawyers in the US pay for their phone numbers... 444-4444 or 888-8888 and so on. I would guess it's even more?

Re: Chinese Number Websites: The Secret Meaning of URLs (2014)

#10

Post by blakesterz » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 1:30 PM UTC

Mods, this is from 2014, maybe add that to the title?