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Government URLs that don't end in .gov

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Re: Government URLs that don't end in .gov

#131

Post by [deleted] »

gumby wrote: post #101
samwillis wrote: post #11

I think it's particularly interesting that the US use .gov and not .gov.us (as a Brit). I'm sure there are oversights on who can acquire an inherently international .gov domain, but for example here in the UK .gov.uk domains have a strict application process [0] managed by central government. It just seems to me that it would be more secure, and more reassuring to citizens and visitors that they are on the correct si…

> I'm sure there are oversights on who can acquire an inherently international .gov domain, There's .INT if you have a use for one. > turns out .gov is exclusively for the US, not sure I feel good about that, particularly as .com and .net are very much not just for the US. This goes back to when the DNS was designed in the late 70s. Things were different back then (remember the big-endian british addresses, gb.corp.f…

[deleted]

Re: Government URLs that don't end in .gov

#132

Post by nobody9999 »

tamimio wrote: post #110
xn--cr8h wrote: post #72

Sort of funny that the README never mentions which government they're talking about. Classic USA trying to make sure everyone knows they're the most important country in the history of planet Earth

Same here, it took me few seconds to realize it was a US only. Usually this is the mindset of “Murricans”, on the internet or otherwise, where sometimes you ask someone “where are you from?” And they proceed to mention the state or worse, the state nickname/short name as if you are living in US, it’s hilarious when they are meeting with people who aren’t in the Americas continent at all :)

>you ask someone “where are you from?”

Generally, I'll answer with "The place so nice, they named it twice."[0]

[0] I wasn't sure if I wanted to include an actual reference to define that, but here you go[1].

[1] https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/new...

Edit: Fixed typo.

Re: Government URLs that don't end in .gov

#133

Post by LordShredda »

LelouBil wrote: post #99
samwillis wrote: post #11

I think it's particularly interesting that the US use .gov and not .gov.us (as a Brit). I'm sure there are oversights on who can acquire an inherently international .gov domain, but for example here in the UK .gov.uk domains have a strict application process [0] managed by central government. It just seems to me that it would be more secure, and more reassuring to citizens and visitors that they are on the correct si…

Even in France most government websites use ".gouv.fr" (gouv is short for gouvernement, aka government). Even if it's not exactly ".gov" they still mimicked it.

Much like the gouv.qc.ca suffix.

Re: Government URLs that don't end in .gov

#134

Post by jomar »

easton wrote: post #23
samwillis wrote: post #11

I think it's particularly interesting that the US use .gov and not .gov.us (as a Brit). I'm sure there are oversights on who can acquire an inherently international .gov domain, but for example here in the UK .gov.uk domains have a strict application process [0] managed by central government. It just seems to me that it would be more secure, and more reassuring to citizens and visitors that they are on the correct si…

My guess is that it’s because the US built the thing, they decided .gov was to be for US Government sites. Then when other countries joined they got their own TLDs, which they added a .gov. to for their own purposes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.gov (Which seems to make my guess right, .gov is operated by the US Government)

That was introduced in 1985, almost 40 years ago.

For how many decades is this going to be a reasonable argument?

In 100 years, will it still be reasonable for the USA to say "we built the thing, so it is appropriate for us to continue to be the default country in domain names. The rest of you must use your ccTLDs, but we remain special."

In 200 years?

The only non-pathetic option is for the United States to transition to using its .us ccTLD for governmental and military domains in particular, with .edu and probably some others not far behind. The only question is how gradual the process is, and when it starts.

Re: Government URLs that don't end in .gov

#135

Post by tamimio »

rootusrootus wrote: post #126
tamimio wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here, it took me few seconds to realize it was a US only. Usually this is the mindset of “Murricans”, on the internet or otherwise, where sometimes you ask someone “where are you from?” And they proceed to mention the state or worse, the state nickname/short name as if you are living in US, it’s hilarious when they are meeting with people who aren’t in the Americas continent at all :)

I've met a fair number of people internationally and I could probably count on one hand how many of them didn't know that Oregon was a US state. It could just be that I'm meeting with more educated folks, granted.

You might argue that, but the point isn’t about the receiver/listener side, but rather the speaker, obviously knowing where X will be about that person knowledge in geography, but for the speaker to assume that everyone you are talking to as if they are living in the same country as him/her, imagine you are talking to someone from .. say Thailand, and instead of mentioning the country, they say they from Phayao -a province name, of course, if you happen to be knowledgeable in that region geography or visited before you might know, but it’s still a communication hurdle to assume everyone will.

Re: Government URLs that don't end in .gov

#136

Post by ShakataGaNai »

NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #85
paxys wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

.gov is managed by the US government in the exact way you describe. There is nothing "inherently international" about it. It isn't meant for anyone outside of US government agencies.

Let's be specific though: .gov is available for any government within these United States, whether it be federal, state, local municipality, territorial, or tribal government. In fact, all major cities I just spot-checked have .gov domains. I wonder how many are clinging to . .us? At least as a CNAME? ...none of those which I just spot-checked. Plenty of exceptions abound, though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.gov#U…

I remember back in the day when the highschool website & email was: school.district.k12.ca.us . Basically no one uses those because they were too long and hard to remember. My old school district doesn't use the higher level, the school doesn't use the full name. In fact, they don't even resolve in DNS anymore. Some districts now have the schools under their new domain, some schools do their own thing.

Re: Government URLs that don't end in .gov

#137

Post by gbear605 »

asperous wrote: post #121
bombcar wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

even usps.gov just redirects to usps.com which I feel is a bit of a loss. Lots of small towns have dot coms when they could have dot gov.

USPS I think from a branding perspectives wants to be compared to retail shipping and not come across and some stuffy/slow bureaucratic agency, even though they totally are.

They’re a lot more functional than UPS or FedEx.

Re: Government URLs that don't end in .gov

#138

Post by granzymes »

jomar wrote: post #134
easton wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is that it’s because the US built the thing, they decided .gov was to be for US Government sites. Then when other countries joined they got their own TLDs, which they added a .gov. to for their own purposes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.gov (Which seems to make my guess right, .gov is operated by the US Government)

That was introduced in 1985, almost 40 years ago. For how many decades is this going to be a reasonable argument? In 100 years, will it still be reasonable for the USA to say "we built the thing, so it is appropriate for us to continue to be the default country in domain names. The rest of you must use your ccTLDs, but we remain special." In 200 years? The only non-pathetic option is for the United States to transiti…

Country calling codes date from the 60s and yet the US (and Canada?) are still +1.

The real answer is that it’s way too much work to change now for essentially no benefit, so it will probably continue indefinitely unless a new system supplants the current internet.

Re: Government URLs that don't end in .gov

#139

Post by plandis »

jomar wrote: post #134
easton wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is that it’s because the US built the thing, they decided .gov was to be for US Government sites. Then when other countries joined they got their own TLDs, which they added a .gov. to for their own purposes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.gov (Which seems to make my guess right, .gov is operated by the US Government)

That was introduced in 1985, almost 40 years ago. For how many decades is this going to be a reasonable argument? In 100 years, will it still be reasonable for the USA to say "we built the thing, so it is appropriate for us to continue to be the default country in domain names. The rest of you must use your ccTLDs, but we remain special." In 200 years? The only non-pathetic option is for the United States to transiti…

Here’s the reasonable argument: US citizens are now used to .gov domain names being solely used by US government entities. They won’t change it, nor should they, as forcing domain name changes will simply add confusion for Americans.

Just because you don’t like that the US government has first mover advantage isn’t a good reason to change this.

Re: Government URLs that don't end in .gov

#140

Post by dQw4w9WgXcQ »

jomar wrote: post #134
easton wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is that it’s because the US built the thing, they decided .gov was to be for US Government sites. Then when other countries joined they got their own TLDs, which they added a .gov. to for their own purposes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.gov (Which seems to make my guess right, .gov is operated by the US Government)

That was introduced in 1985, almost 40 years ago. For how many decades is this going to be a reasonable argument? In 100 years, will it still be reasonable for the USA to say "we built the thing, so it is appropriate for us to continue to be the default country in domain names. The rest of you must use your ccTLDs, but we remain special." In 200 years? The only non-pathetic option is for the United States to transiti…

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