[ih] Funny how things work out

[Dave Crocker]

On 2/1/2021 10:30 AM, Jack Haverty via Internet-history wrote:
> Fast forward to today, and I no longer have a clue what name to use to
> find what I want online, and the proliferation of TLDs and explosion of
> names isn't helping.
> 
> I'm wondering if, from the Users' perspective, the DNS mechanisms have
> simply become unusable and irrelevant.

The model you describe is for searching.  The DNS doesn't do that.  It 
does lookup. As already noted, there's a basic difference between being 
able to guess a string versus being able to remember a string.  There's 
also a difference between longer-term vs. shorter-term remembering.

The mnemoics of domain names is useful for shorter-term remembering and 
sometimes useful for longer-term remembering.  Since it isn't intended 
for searching, there shouldn't be any surprise that it's terrible for 
that function.  Always has been.


> So, as a user, I don't really care any more what the DNS "web address"
> is, whether asiangarden.gv or 19876.weirdname.whatever.something.   I
> never remember those, and never type them in anymore.
> 
> That's why I'm wondering if DNS and TLDs and all the name structure is
> worth all the trouble anymore.  It's still useful as a level of
> indirection to separate "names" from IP addresses that may change.   But
> as a mnemonic for Users, it's devolved over time to become useless.  At
> least for me...maybe other Users too?
> 
> I wonder when the "brand defenders" will realize this...funny how things
> work out.

What you describe has always been true.  The problem has been the 
re-application of long-standin (pre-digital) brand protection models to 
this very different world.

d/

-- 
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net