[ih] Funny how things work out

[Brian E Carpenter]

On 02-Feb-21 15:14, Dave Crocker wrote:
> On 2/1/2021 5:50 PM, Brian E Carpenter wrote:
>> So we got 1261 gTLDs
>> and counting.
> 
> 
> While I think it's easy to view the number of TLDs as not needed or 
> maybe even silly, it's less obvious to me that this qualifies as a 
> serious badness, absent careful articulation and substantiation.
> 
> Beyond possible waste and unpleasant emotion, how does this qualify for 
> more than a 'so what'?

Because it's become a method of wealth transfer which (whether or not you
agree that it's corrupt) is clearly of no underlying productive value.
The world would be no worse off if most of those TLDs did not exist,
except that the millions of dollars paid to ICANN and various registrars
would have been used otherwise. I don't think it's "possible" waste;
it's definite waste, and probably wastes quite a bit of energy every day.

Admittedly, that's true of many of the things we do in the rich countries
of the world.

   Brian