RE: [ga] Re: [wg-c] URGENT: Moratorium on all additions to confus ing GTLDs and ccTLDs Required.

[john.c.lewis@bt.com]

In days of yore folk said that no-one could possibly remember telephone
numbers with more that 3 or 4 digits, but what an underestimation of the
human brain that proved to be. Many of us remember scores of 10 - 13 digit
numbers today, for those we frequently call. How much easier and what
greater scope would there be for an intuitive alphabetic access system (just
like some of the very early telephone systems).  

Best regards

John C Lewis
Manager - International Organisations Europe
BT delegate ETNO Executive Board
BT co-ordinator ICANN representation
Tel: +44 (0) 1442 295258 Mob: +44 (0) 802 218271
Fax: +44 (0) 1442 295861

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	matt hooker [SMTP:matthooker@hotmail.com]
> Sent:	22 November 1999 15:20
> To:	ross@tucows.com
> Cc:	ga@dnso.org; wg-c@dnso.org; wg-b@dnso.org
> Subject:	[ga] Re: [wg-c] URGENT: Moratorium on all additions to
> confusing GTLDs and ccTLDs Required.
> 
> 11/21/99
> 
> The objection, which follows, to my proposal is a bad one. The analogy is
> a 
> bad one too. We do not use phone numbers as easily as we use words. We can
> 
> remember words more easily also. An area code simply adds a few more
> numbers 
> to a number. A TLD adds 2 or 3 (so far) letters - that may have no meaning
> 
> of their own, to a word or string of words or letters that has a meaning
> and 
> is usually easy to remember. People do not try to remember phone numbers 
> with their associated area codes, but rather keep lists or use directory 
> information services. With a domain name and the internet, people can 
> remember names as long as there are not too many TLDs added on to those 
> names. There are already too many TLDs added to the names (SLDs) for easy 
> human use and memory. To add more TLDs will only make this situation
> worse. 
> Furthermore, with telephone numbers and area codes, one knows that the
> area 
> code refers to a specific country, and area of a county. No such
> information 
> can be derived from and of the gTLDs or many (and, I might add, an ever 
> increasing number) of the ccTLDs. Thus without the associated place, which
> 
> is what allows humans to sometimes remember area codes, (because they 
> remember the physical location of the phone), it is much more difficult
> for 
> a human to remember an often meaningless gTLD or ccTLD, along with the 
> domain name itself. To have to choose among 5 or 10 or more domain names 
> which are exactly the same, with the exception of the TLDs at the end of
> the 
> name is extremely difficult for the human memory and leads to confusion.
> To 
> have to do this for any more than are already in existence - well, most 
> people won't be able to do it at all, and vast confusion will set in. We 
> need to REDUCE the number of TLDs NOT increase  it.
> 
> Matt Hooker
> Webmaster@Net-Speed.com
> matthooker@hotmail.com
> 
> In response to:
> Matt,
> 
> If your basic premise were indeed true, then the telephone numbering
> systems in use around the world would have fallen apart a long time ago.
> Your thesis conveniently forgets that a domain name consists of two
> important parts - the TLD and the SLD. The existence of multiple TLDs does
> not lead to a fractured Internet - it simply means that we have more area
> codes to work with.
> 
> -RWR
> 
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