If .com had never existed, would domains still hold the same power today? (1.Viewing)

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NiceNIC

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Imagine a web without .com, no google.com, no amazon.com, no facebook.com.

Would domains still shape how people remember brands? Or would the internet have evolved into nothing more than a network of search results and social profiles?

Which TLD do you think could have taken its place or risen the fastest, and would that have changed domain investing?
 
If .com didn't exist, then .NET would likely be in that position. .ORG would also probably be even more popular.

It's not like .COM is magic. It is the first popular extension, and is synonymous with the internet.

The same would have happened with another extension, without .COM.

Brad
 
An example is .co.uk was put into place before .uk was open

Now even though name1.uk is open and they were given given first crack at it because they owned name1.co.uk many of the registrants did not register the .uk because they thought it was not needed.

Whatever comes first seems to be everyones comfort zone even though .uk should be slaughtering .co.uk by now.

Another example is the forum Acorn Domains runs on AcornDomains.co.uk and technically should be running on AcornDomains.uk but instead it looks like they did not even register it. So here we have a domain forum that specializes in domains and they still did not pick the shorter better version.

That is why .co will NEVER beat .com even though it is technically shorter.
 
DataCube said:
If .com didn't exist, then .NET would likely be in that position. .ORG would also probably be even more popular.

It's not like .COM is magic. It is the first popular extension, and is synonymous with the internet.

The same would have happened with another extension, without .COM.

Brad
Click to expand...
Fair view, Datacube. Then what do you think actually creates a TLD’s long-term cultural dominance?
MapleDots said:
An example is .co.uk was put into place before .uk was open

Now even though name1.uk is open and they were given given first crack at it because they owned name1.co.uk many of the registrants did not register the .uk because they thought it was not needed.

Whatever comes first seems to be everyones comfort zone even though .uk should be slaughtering .co.uk by now.

Another example is the forum Acorn Domains runs on AcornDomains.co.uk and technically should be running on AcornDomains.uk but instead it looks like they did not even register it. So here we have a domain forum that specializes in domains and they still did not pick the shorter better version.

That is why .co will NEVER beat .com even though it is technically shorter.
Click to expand...
Good point, and I’d add that adoption grows when ecosystems reinforce what people already trust.
 
I think the better mental exercise would be to ask: if all domain extensions that currently exist, were also to exist when .com and the first TLDs launched, which one do you think would be the most popular?

I think .net, .biz, .org would have much higher amounts of registrations. So would .online (and .onl). We would then have .site, .website, .page, .ooo (as directly opposite of www on the keyboard) and .xyz in top standings as well.
 
dotcomma said:
I think the better mental exercise would be to ask: if all domain extensions that currently exist, were also to exist when .com and the first TLDs launched, which one do you think would be the most popular?

I think .net, .biz, .org would have much higher amounts of registrations. So would .online (and .onl). We would then have .site, .website, .page, .ooo (as directly opposite of www on the keyboard) and .xyz in top standings as well.
Click to expand...
Good point, though how do you think user perception would’ve shaped pricing and trust back then?
 
NiceNIC said:
Good point, though how do you think user perception would’ve shaped pricing and trust back then?
Click to expand...

I think it would've become normal to use whatever extension you wanted, to express yourself and your business/brand.

This notion of .com being the best (and the luxury/high-end feel of certain names on .com) wouldn't be as important when choosing their digital real estate to operate from. High resale/aftermarket pricing would also have spread outside of .com into premium names on other TLDs (more so than now).

In regards to trust, I think users would've gotten used to visiting all kind of SLD.TLD combinations, and people would have already acclimated to the reality that premium domain names exist in all TLDs (not just .com). So they would trust premium names across a larger gamut of TLDs.

On the other end, I don't think the premium/domainer market would've started existing as early as it did (90s) without just .com (.org., .net, etc.) to choose from. The liquidity would have been spread across 1,000+ extensions, and this industry wouldn't exist in this form, or maybe at all by this period.
 
dotcomma said:
I think it would've become normal to use whatever extension you wanted, to express yourself and your business/brand.

This notion of .com being the best (and the luxury/high-end feel of certain names on .com) wouldn't be as important when choosing their digital real estate to operate from. High resale/aftermarket pricing would also have spread outside of .com into premium names on other TLDs (more so than now).

In regards to trust, I think users would've gotten used to visiting all kind of SLD.TLD combinations, and people would have already acclimated to the reality that premium domain names exist in all TLDs (not just .com). So they would trust premium names across a larger gamut of TLDs.

On the other end, I don't think the premium/domainer market would've started existing as early as it did (90s) without just .com (.org., .net, etc.) to choose from. The liquidity would have been spread across 1,000+ extensions, and this industry wouldn't exist in this form, or maybe at all by this period.
Click to expand...
That makes sense, and it also makes me wonder if a wider mix of “trusted” TLDs would’ve pushed branding to evolve faster too, more emphasis on naming style, memorability, and use-case fit, instead of everyone anchoring to one default.
 

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