Talk:Domain name

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I removed the following paragraph from the section "Commercial resale of domain names". It didn't seem to fit with the article, especially since the linked Google search doesn't seem to validate what he/she's saying. --216.195.163.105 21:57, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

United Arab Emirates based company Serenade Ltd. is an example of 'warehousing' thousands of domain names for future profit. Each of the thousands of sites displays a page titled "World News Network" standardized news gathering array is presented as the main page on each of thier thousands of sites. Numerous lawsuits have been mounted by individuals, small business, and even local government to gain control of these domain names, all of which have failed. Google "Serenade Ltd" and see for yourself. All the news comes from Reuters and the like, and no company details are found easily on any of the sites. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.195.163.105 (talk • contribs) 21:57, 24 June 2005

I bet there's an article where content like that would be more appropriate than this one, e.g. DNS Elvey — Preceding undated comment added 23:20, 6 November 2005

A few years ago, there were discussions about implementing the ".orb" top domain for space stations and other objects in orbit. I can't find any references to it here. Additional information on this topic would be interesting! 11:47, 26 September 2006 (CET) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.100.17.254 (talk • contribs)

Here is an ammended version of the awful rambling over-blown summary that someone added to this article, thus burying it. If someone wants to rummage through it and re-insert some of it please be mindful of the stated scope of the article:

In computer networking, a domain name is a name given to a collection of network devices that belong to a domain, an administrative space managed according to some common characteristics of the members. In particular, the term domain name is best known in connection with the Internet where it describes the regions of administrative authority within the Domain Name System.

Internet domain names are used in a variety of contexts for identification, reference, and access to Internet resources. They can appear as components of a Web site's Uniform Resource Locator (URL) Web-address (e.g. www.wikipedia.org) or in an e-mail addresses after the customary '@' separator (e.g. example@wikipedia.org), or an X.500 directory such as LDAP or Active Directory.

Domain names are created out of a naming space and methodology that was first defined by Paul Mockapetris in IETF publication RFC 882 and RFC 883 (1983) and used in the first expansion of the ARPANET, a predecessor of today's Internet. The model prescribes a tree-like structure of named nodes starting from an unnamed root node (cf. DNS root zone) that was only designated by a full stop (period, dot, "."). The complete domain name of each node is the string of names of nodes leading to the root node, each separated by a dot. The sequence is written from left to right with increasing order of scope, e.g., node-d.node-c.node-b.node-a. When the full name path of a node is specified, the domain name is said to be fully-qualified (cf. Fully qualified domain name). This condition is often, particularly in the technical aspects of DNS), indicated explicitly by appending a dot at the end of the name (to indicate the root domain).

The DNS methodology confers a unique name to every resource or service participating in the domain name system. This name is referred to as the domain name of a device or Internet host. However, not all nodes in the tree system denote a specific device, rather they are parent labels of an entire collection of subordinate nodes. Such nodes are the domains of the Internet. They represent the spaces of autonomy that are delegated by a group of service providers, called domain name registrars.

These registrars are accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization charged with overseeing the name and number systems of the Internet. In addition to IANA, each top-level domain (TLD) is maintained and serviced technically by a sponsoring organization, the TLD Registry. The registry is responsible for maintaining the database of names registered within the TLDs they administer. The registry receives registration information from each domain name registrar authorized to assign names in the corresponding TLD and publishes the information using a special service, the whois protocol.

In this context a domain name is sometimes referred to as a 'product' sold by domain name registrars. However, the rules of assignment specify that no legal ownership is conferred with such transactions, only the right of exclusive use and the authority to the name space. Once assigned, a domain name becomes part of the pool of registered domain names and is no longer available for use by anyone else. Colloquially, marketers incorrectly refer to domain names as "web addresses", however, a web address is actually a fully specified World-Wide Web resource locator, such as http://www.example.org, actually pointing to a web site.

New domain names are usually registered through the registrar for annual terms with a minimum of one year. The maximum length of prepaid registration is often 10 years, but varies depending on the policies of the sponsoring registry of the top-level domain under which registration is sought. Registration periods may be extended, usually at any time, until the end of a grace period after the registration expiration date.

Domain names may be transferred between parties or advertised for 'sale'. This is often called the "domain name aftermarket" (see below). After a domain name registration and the grace period expire, the domain name is either returned to the pool of available names, or receives special treatment by the registrars and could possibly end up in the 'aftermarket'.^{[citation needed]}

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Anon lynx (talk • contribs) 2008-10-17T21:00:24