2013-03-14



Being edgy with domain choice often means venturing into obscure extensions. Getting something short and “cute” can be difficult in .com, especially if it’s a single word domain. Why not just get it in .ly, .tc or another extension where it’s available? Believe it or not, there are risks involved with that.

This was evident initially when Libya suddenly started cracking down on certain .ly domains back in 2010. That was one of the most publicized incidents given the country involved and the extension gaining steam in the social community and among URL shorteners. Other incidents however, some even more serious, can happen without much press when it involves more obscure country codes.

A few days ago, registry AdamsNames claimed their primary domain was hacked and stolen by a former partner of their registry operations. While this didn’t affect owners of the domains on their extension, it could have affected direct customers looking to buy domains in the extensions they run (.tc, .gd and .vc).

Due to the extensions involved and the countries they represent (Turks and Caicos for .tc, Grenada for .gd and St. Vincent and the Grenadines for .vc), this likely won’t get much mainstream press. There are however some popular sites like is.gd, bc.vc and others on these extensions that should be paying close attention.

Likewise, when the Libya story broke out, many were concerned that Bit.ly might suddenly be taken down. At the time, they were in the top 500 trafficked sites online, with tens of millions of links shortened through them. No doubt no one was more concerned than Bit.ly after all they had invested in that site.

We have dealt with domains in many different extensions. In fact, I owned and sold domains in .tc, .gd and .vc several years ago – premium single words like Business and Poker. I saw the writing on the wall however and got out of them. Ultimately the risks just aren’t worth it.

Simply put, you don’t see these kinds of things happen in .com, .net, .org, or in the established ccTLDs like .uk and .de. While .uk may still have its own issues to deal with, .co.uk and .org.uk owners will never be at risk of suddenly losing their domains due to instability of the registry or country.

There are more reasons not to use obscure extensions other than the risk factor. We’ve gone through some in past articles such as not being where customers expect you to be, trying to be too clever, or simply that .com is the best for businesses anyways.

That said, those issues are more about obstacles and setbacks in not using the right domain. The registry instability issue takes away one of the keys of having a domain to begin with – it puts your business entirely in someone else’s hands. It’s similar to using a Facebook page as your primary business presence, which can be taken away at a whim as Roger Ebert can attest to.

Ultimately, taking the risk on a domain in an obscure country-code extension is up to you. It’s just not something we would recommend.

Not sure which domain to use for your business? We can help. Contact us today and we’ll go over how we can assist you in getting the right domain name.

The post Bizarre Situation Highlights the Risk of Using a Domain in an Obscure Extension appeared first on Domainate.com.

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