Due to the multitude of Top-Level Domains, this list will not cover them all. This is a brief overview of notable domain names, including .io and .su. It should also be noted that the Internet will not switch to a new web address system.
To preface - for the people in the back - a TLD stands for Top-Level-Domain, and is used within the process of Domain Name System (DNS). This system converts the name of the site, like google.com, into an IP address, allowing devices to communicate with the server and give the user their requested response. Another purpose is for easier recognition. For instance, a site name such as .cooking has a relation to food. This suffix rule extends to .edu relating to schools and universities, .org, for organizations/non-profits.
While the common website suffix of .com, .net .edu .gov are standard, they are boring and will not be the primary focus of this article. All TLDs are “owned” by ICANN, a nonprofit domain management organization tasked with maintaining the coordination and stability of the internet. The usage of “owned” is controversial as no single entity, company, organization or government runs the Internet. However, there are “operators” that help regulate standards for the internet, such as the World Wide Web Consortium, who administer website development and remove outdated code, which, fun fact, was made by Tim Berners-Lee, the individual responsible for standardizing “www”.
A “brief” history of How the Internet Works
BEFORE I SLIP FURTHER INTO THIS RABBIT HOLE I SHOULD MENTION. Originally users had to type, for instance, “www.example.com” to reach their desired site. But through technological advancement particularly between 2008-2010, have allowed for the cessation of complete URL typing. Developer simplification has also permitted the usage of domains being searched without their “www” preface– this is a naked domain. Moreover, the website name alone can be used in conjunction with the suffix variant– formally redirections. Resulting from this, our aptly named example site can be found with the domains of “Example.com” and “Example”-- which is much easier than typing the foremost domain name. Domain reforms, such as auto complete and naked domains, work like multiple keys granting access to the same home.
Important Operators
So there’s layers to TLD’s – okay so ICANN “owns” master index which is the servers that have the 13 special IP addresses which are nicknamed (A-M) and the reason why theirs only 13 is because when the signal DNS system was made back in simple computer times, it only was able to fit the 512-byte limit of a UDP packet but now with Anycast (1 out of 4) of the addressing methods of the Internet Protocol. All 13 exist everywhere.
So there are 3 main operators that are in contract with ICANN. Verisign operates .com, .net and older ones but Donuts Inc now Identity Digital (Thats how I’ll refer to them now so pay attention) and Radix own the more modern gTLDs (Generic TLDs).
These people are different from registrars because companies like the google domain now square-space, godaddy and pork bun don’t run anything, as they just approve the selling of these domains to the public.
I also have a brief timeline of how these companies started and how they got the rights to TLD’s (linked here)
By the way Donuts Inc. (Identity Digital) has no relation to the food donuts or doughnuts. It wasn't a clever office related joke they named it because it's easy to remember.
I have a conspiracies and some sources on another topic based on these practices with some ideas and crazy ideas later (linked here)
The "io" TLD
Introduced in September 16, 1997, originally ran from the British version of ICANN, called the Internet Computer Bureau as an Operator/registrar bought it from Name.com, but ICB were connected by Afilias a US corporation (Operator) then IT WAS MERGED INTO IDENTITY DIGITAL IN 2020 BUT DIDN'T DIE UNTIL 2022.
This was given to the British Indian Ocean Territory, but surprisingly the people that use it don't generally live in any of the Indian Ocean territory
but it first gained traction because it could be interpreted as Input Output (IO), which is a common computer concept. To explain how big .io is, Github, a popular code platform that hosts projects, uses it.
Now for the real reason people know .io. A specific game genre, called the .io games. One very iconic game you have probably heard of is agar.io. made by Brazilian game developer Matheus Valadares published by miniclip, which is still a very popular game even after 9 years now from writing this. THIS GAME HAD SUCH A INFLUENCE IT WAS LIKE THE BEATLES A FUCK TON OF YOUTUBE VIDEOS, MILLIONS OF DOWNLOADS ON BOTH ANDROID AND IOS STORES - IT SPAWNED SO MANY OTHERS LIKE SLITHER.IO AND HE TRIED AGAIN AND MADE DIEP.IO. What a time it was.
if you want to know more I highly recommend watching this video and the rest of his videos, they are good.
Possible death?
There's some talk, about how this TLD is going to be "removed" because in October of 2024, the UK will transfer it to Mauritius if IANA (Internet Assigned Number Authority) an organization from ICANN and a function, doesn’t change the rules and might force the .io to be phased out in 5 years roughly and exceptions have been made like for .su.
But if all hell breaks lose so many different groups are fucked because its not only small devs that use the .io but also huge companies like IBM, Ford, and even Microsoft since they bought Github for like 7.5 billion - Again so I don't expect a huge migration to a new TLD, Once it's on the internet it's there forever, but later there are going to be examples of some forgot or dead TLD's
some real Dead TLDs
Now for some dead TLDs, .yu WAS for the country Yugoslavia - but the reason why it doesn’t exist now is because Yugoslavia was a country of a bunch of different groups of people that hated each other like old german kingdoms that was "united" (forcefully) under one socialist regime AFTER WW2.
Long story short, the main reasons why .yu died was the death of Josip Broz Tito (the communist leader), a weak government, a lot of violence because of the Yugoslav Wars, economic decline, and the decline of communism in Europe. ICANN pulled the plug in 2010 being the longest “ghost TLD”
you don't know Yugoslavia is now modern-day - Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia, I MIGHT BE MISSING SOME. Which now they have their respect ones like .rs (Serbia) and .me (Montenegro)
Some other TLDs that are dead -> .dd for East Germany, but technically never made it to the live root DNS so technically no website ever had .dd because the country unified to one germany
Now for a unique one .cs for Czechoslovakia, which was split peacefully in 1993, which was dropped in 1995 quietly which is kinda disappointing because it has cs which could've had "computer science”.
the .su tld
The TLD ".su" tag, if you don’t know, was designed for the Soviet Union and after John Lenin, the previous revolt leader died, the powershift went to Joseph Stalin.
Eventually In 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev was the last leader the soviet union had before it dissolved only a year later but that's when the TLD of ".su" was made even after the Soviet Union dissolved it still exists now.
This was a TLD that had no restrictions and no government looking at it, now hardly run by the RIPN (Russian Institute for Public Networks). Even after this many groups have created a new history for this TLD, cybercriminals and scammers shaped the 2010s and was used in major cyberattacks SO EVEN WHEN IT SHOWED THESE PROBLEMS ICANN CONSIDERED REMOVING IT AND WAS PREVENTED BY LARGE SUPPORT FROM RUSSIAN GROUPS
but that doesn't mean all ".su" sites are still horrible.
Trust me you dont notice how many sites have .su until you are bored one day and look
But the reason why this was created was that in Europe a new set of internet domains was created like ".pl" (Poland) and even Russia itself had a new one instead of the ".su" domain it called ".ru" or ". PФ" which they still use.
