Well, this is disappointing. As others have stated , clearly there usually are other areas (easier targets like too much javascript or tracker code crap) to optimize performance than here. But what i find disappointing is that i was under the belief that things like a TLD were merely cosmetic and didn't have an impact on underlying performance. Domain names were supposed to be sticky labels on more important underlying infrastructure. I always thought that choosing a .COM, .NET, .WHATEVER didn't matter for delivering digital assets across the internets to one's customers/users...well, if bunnycdn is onto something, color me surprised, and slightly saddened.
I've owned my own {$last_name}.CC domain name, and have used it as the basis for my personal/family email for over a decade, and am quite aware of how it has gotten treated at least on the spam front. Admittedly, I've had very, very minor issues compared to many others who have used other seemingly "non-traditional" TLDs/ccTLDs. (I attribute the low issues to having used G Suite for many years. Spam fighting: One of the few good things i like about google.) While the .CC tld was originally based on a country code, it was marketed (and i guessed managed) for many years now as a generic TLD. My friend gave me the idea to use it after he set his domain name up for his then-nascent (ahem) computer consultancy ...And, since the .COM, and the .NET versions[0] of my $last_name at the time were not available for me, i went with a nice short and sweet .CC domain. Back then i also felt a mild sense of edginess for using something different than "boring old" .COM, or .NET. But i never figured there would be DNS/nme resolution performance issues...Its just a name resolve process going from some arbitrary text name to ip addresses, etc...why should there be an issue, right?
Beyond the admittedly minor spam issues that I've had with using a "non-traditional" TLD, the biggest headache by far is having to educate people that the world has more than just .COM and .NET domain names. Having to emphasize (both verbally spell out, and through bold text or caps while written) that my email address ends in .CC and NOT .COM is quite annoying. After so many years, it still has not lessened much...At least not in the U.S. - where i live and work. However, strangely/unexpectedly, outside the U.S. this issue is vastly less of a thing. During the last 2 years I've traveled to many parts of the world for my dayjob, and wow, my {$last_name}.CC domain name is pretty much not an issue outside of the U.S. So this whole time it's my own Americans who lack the literacy in this regard. From my experience, in the minds of typical, layperson Americans there exists only .COM, .NET, .ORG, maybe sometimes .UK...But everything else might as well be .SPAM or .FAKE ;-)
So, after the spam, after all the years of annoyance of emphasizing the spelling of the TLD, and now there could be possible performance issues!?! Man, this whole domain name thing sucks (to say nothing even of the sleazy business/marketing side of the racket). I mean, weren't domain names supposed to make things easier than having to remember arbitrary IP numbers/addresses? I think we need a new method or system.
[0] By the way, the .ORG version for my domain name was available years ago, but I wasn't a non-profit, so felt i didn't want to grab it; happily allowing any true, legitimate non-profit to scoop it up. My mental jury is still out on whether that was a wise decision that i made or not. Because of recent news of the .ORG registry, maybe I'll make a separate post on this topic.