Many people already know the basic idea of the domain extensions
.com = commercial
.org = organization
.gov = government
But what about the other extensions like:
.fm Micronesia
.tv Tuvalu
.tw Taiwan
.tz Tanzania
.ua Ukraine
.ug Uganda
.uk United Kingdom
.um U.S. Minor Outlying Islands
.us United States
.uy Uruguay
.uz Uzbekistan
My questions:
Are these extensions really based on geographical location?
(scenario) If someone in Micronesia went to {website}.fm… Would the website function faster?
What else do domain extensions do, besides indicate the foundation of a website (whether organization, company, or a geographical location)?
They are owned by the specific countries and the countries can do what they like with them. Some countries restrict their use to people within the country while other countries with smaller populations make them temporarily available to anyone (temporarily in that they can change their mind at any time).
It is where the site is hosted, not what TLD it uses that determines how quickly a site can be accessed.
Many have restrictions on who can use them and so that the site is able to use it means that the owner meets that criteria. eg .travel domains are only available to people actually in the travel industry and .com.au is only available to registered Australian businesses. So for example if you have problems with a .com.au site you know that it is a registered business and so can take action that is possible against a registered business that is not possible against an individual that you may not even be able to identify.
Okay so i should probably register under .fm and .com both in case the country decides to restrict access then.
Felgall,
Thank you very much for taking the time to help me out. I’m most likely at a lower tech-level than you :p, but if there’s anything i can help you with let me know:).