# .com -- even if you're noncommercial? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 5, 2001, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622 "2001-11-05T16:39:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622/21 "2001-11-06T02:37:46Z")
FWIW, when I registered a domain name for my company with Network Solutions several years ago (I registered the \*\*\*.net version because a Canadian company already had the \*\*\*.com domain) they sent me emails urging that I register the \*\*\*.org version as well. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622/22 "2001-11-06T02:59:58Z")
My personal site, which contains similar content to that which you plan to put up, is a .net domain. (I chose .net because I thought it looked better with my domain name than .com and .org did. ) As it has been said, you don’t need to justify your content with your domain-- no one really seems to care, so long as you cough up money for the name. Also: [Community Colleges Step Up Fight to Use ‘.edu’ Internet Addresses](http://chronicle.merit.edu/free/2000/11/2000112101u.htm) From last year. And [just last week](http://listserv.educause.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0111&L=edupage&D=1&H=1&O=D&F=&S=&P=75): > [@](#): > > GOVERNMENT GIVES CONTROL OF .EDU TO NONPROFIT GROUP > The U.S. government has made good on its promise to turn over control of the .edu Internet domain to the nonprofit group EDUCAUSE, as representatives from both groups signed off on a five-year management deal. ICANN President Mike Roberts said the move “gets [.edu] outside the government where the community has a more settled voice in it.” The move should end the protest that community college leaders raised when .edu was designated as a domain only for four-year institutions. EDUCAUSE Vice President Mark Luker announced in April that one of the group’s first mandates would be to set up an open decision-making process to propose policy changes. EDUCAUSE will allow community colleges to begin submitting applications for .edu addresses on Nov. 12, 2001. > (Newsbytes, 29 October 2001) ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622/23 "2001-11-06T03:08:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AudreyK \* > My personal site, which contains similar content to that which you plan to put up, is a .net domain. (I chose .net because I thought it looked better with my domain name than .com and .org did. ) As it has been said, you don’t need to justify your content with your domain-- no one really seems to care, so long as you cough up money for the name. Nitpick the first: You should have gone with the .com. It’s more alliterative with your domain, and alliteration is cool. Nitpick the second: You have no content on your site. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622/24 "2001-11-06T03:39:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KKBattousai \* > \*\*Nitpick the second: You have no content on your site. 🙂 \*\* It’s _there_. It’s just _invisible_. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622/25 "2001-11-06T06:06:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sunspace \* > **CookingWithGas** , for .edu you have to be a _four-year_ (i.e. university-equivalent degree-granting) institution in the United States, correct? No community colleges? And .edu is not worldwide, like .com, .org. .net (the Three Biggies)? \*\* No, this is not true. I attended Marianopolis College in Montreal for cégep (a Quebec two-year junior college granting university-preparatory and professional diplomas), and their url is [http://www.marianopolis.edu](http://www.marianopolis.edu) . ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622/26 "2001-11-06T06:18:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Sunspace \* > > **CookingWithGas** , for .edu you have to be a _four-year_ (i.e. university-equivalent degree-granting) institution in the United States, correct? No community colleges? And .edu is not worldwide, like .com, .org. .net (the Three Biggies)? \*\* > > No, this is not true. I attended Marianopolis College in Montreal for cégep (a Quebec two-year junior college granting university-preparatory and professional diplomas), and their url is [http://www.marianopolis.edu](http://www.marianopolis.edu) . \*\* Here’s a cite on the actual rules which states explicitly “_.edu, which is restricted to use by four-year, degree-granting colleges and universities;_” [http://www.icann.org/wipo/FinalReport\_1.html](http://www.icann.org/wipo/FinalReport_1.html) The fact that these rules are not strictly enforced is what leads to the OP’s question in the first place, but they are the rules nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![OneChance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@OneChance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneChance)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622/27 "2001-11-06T06:23:59Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by matt\_mcl_ > \*\*I attended Marianopolis College in Montreal for cégep (a Quebec two-year junior college granting university-preparatory and professional diplomas), and their url is [http://www.marianopolis.edu](http://www.marianopolis.edu). \*\* marianopolis.edu was registered in 1995. The rule that a .edu had to be a four-year institution went into effect in 1993. Marianopolis College may have slipped it in somehow, or their domain was originally registered before 1993, expired and deleted, then was allowed to be re-registered in 1995. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622/28 "2001-11-06T15:00:21Z")
at [register.com](http://register.com) you can find a list of all the extensions & also some country codes. e.g. .TV For fun, try [ebay.com](http://ebay.com) & search for names for sale. Then select highest prices first just for laughs. I wish I could get a .gov ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622/29 "2001-11-06T15:18:27Z")
For those interested in playing the search engine optimisation (and directory) game, it **is** worth getting a .org – when all else is equal, a SE ranks a .org above a commercial site on it’s results pages. Ditto Directories. However, there are a lot of ‘however’s’. Trying to read how each SE ranks and weights relevance-to-query factors on a web page is like cracking a safe, and that’s before considering non-page building factors like popularity and incoming links. Probably best to just say .org is better, as a general principle, but if you’re at all in commercial competition your rivals will likely turn you in to the engines and you’ll disappear. If viewings are important, the single most important thing I’d suggest is; spend as long as possible looking at Yahoo’s hierarchical category structure and the order in which those categories are presented on the results pages _in relation to_ the exact terms of the query (including word order). And then choose a category to submit to. BTW, if you can lay your hands on an academic suffix, do it 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shame\_s\_Joys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Shame\_s\_Joys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shame_s_Joys)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622/30 "2001-11-06T15:38:13Z")
Thanks for all the advice. So maybe I should go ahead and get a .org? I would just feel a little guilty taking something I didn’t really by right qualify to deserve. But since there is no default provided for personal web sites, why not just go ahead and help myself to whatever’s available and looks good? I’m not a business either, is my point. I was looking at buying my domain name from [hostsave.com](http://hostsave.com). They give you three choices: .com, .org, or .net (no .state.us) in sight. I wanted to know the best choice from these three before making a commitment. I only plan to buy one, not all three! ---
**Author:** ![Servo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@Servo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Servo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622/31 "2001-11-06T15:57:24Z")
If it’s just for a personal site, go ahead and get whichever one looks, or sounds, better. I really wouldn’t feel guilty about it. For the record, I’ve registered six domain names [all for various personal reasons] and all but one of them is a .com. [The other is a .net, which I use to host web-based mail for myself.] ---
**Author:** ![Shame\_s\_Joys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Shame\_s\_Joys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shame_s_Joys)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622/32 "2001-11-06T21:39:50Z")
Thanks to Cecil’s column up on the SD home page today, [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/011102.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/011102.html) I visited Rupert Sheldrake’s home page [http://www.sheldrake.org/](http://www.sheldrake.org/) and found that he too is just one individual person with something to say. He evidently decided that a .org served his vision of a web site the best. So analogously I think I’ll go with that myself. Thanks, everyone. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622/33 "2001-11-06T23:32:41Z")
Its actually cheap enough these days to get them all…why not corner the market on the three top ones for yourself? You don’t have to make a website for each name, you can get a cheap redirect to the main site from each one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/com-even-if-youre-noncommercial/91622.md?page=1)