# How hard is it to make www.domain.com the same as domain.com ?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-make-www-domain-com-the-same-as-domain-com/501263
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 28, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-make-www-domain-com-the-same-as-domain-com/501263 "2009-06-28T17:27:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@the\_first\_supraliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_first_supraliminal)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-make-www-domain-com-the-same-as-domain-com/501263/1 "2009-06-28T17:27:47Z")
The www in front of urls should have been made obsolete about twenty years ago. For that length of time almost all sites have mapped to the same place whether it’s specified or not.
Yet it still causes confusion.
Compare these two urls [www.kallback.com](http://www.kallback.com) and [kallback.com](http://kallback.com)
The first works and the second gets a Page Load Error
Now try [www.fathom.org](http://www.fathom.org) and [fathom.org](http://fathom.org)
The first fails but the second works.
Isn’t it like one line on the registry page? And shouldn’t everyone have noticed by now if their site doesn’t honor one or the other?
---
### Author:  [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-make-www-domain-com-the-same-as-domain-com/501263/2 "2009-06-28T17:37:23Z")
Pretty easy to do but I wouldnt say it is obsolete. WWW tells you what type of site it is. just like [m.whatever.com](http://m.whatever.com) says its a mobile website. [FTP.whatever.com](http://FTP.whatever.com) tells you its a ftp site. There are others. The reason why [www.fathom.org](http://www.fathom.org) doesnt work is because it is not WWW it is FFF
---
### Author:  [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-make-www-domain-com-the-same-as-domain-com/501263/3 "2009-06-28T18:31:05Z")
It is extremely easy to do. It is one line of data in the .hosts file, if my memory is right. I recall screwing up a couple in my day, but unless there is a compelling reason, I would default to [domain.com](http://domain.com) going to the website.
Yes, back in the day, it was very useful to have ftp., www. or mail. in front of things so you knew what you were doing. However, I don’t much see the point any more.
---
### Author:  [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-make-www-domain-com-the-same-as-domain-com/501263/4 "2009-06-28T18:31:08Z")
You might be interested by [no-www.org](http://no-www.org/).
---
### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-make-www-domain-com-the-same-as-domain-com/501263/5 "2009-06-28T18:40:12Z")
The kallback sites both go to the same place for me. It depends on your host as well. Some automatically fix it so your names go to the same place.
Some people are afraid to change this, cause Google will treat the page rank seperately of a [www.example.com](http://www.example.com) vs [example.com](http://example.com)
Though a 301 redirect should be OK, they don’t want to take a chance.
The real problem is browsers are so good at fixing people’s programming errors we have no incentive to make the webpages correct in the first place. That’s a pet peeve of mine. When I make a site I always use XHTML strict and validate it. Most places don’t even care, 'cause they know the browser will fix it.
---
### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-make-www-domain-com-the-same-as-domain-com/501263/6 "2009-06-29T00:46:23Z")
Setting up the www subdomain is not a coding or a scripting thing. Yes, the lack of the subdomain can be FIXED with coding/scripting but the host is responsible for setting up the www subdomain in DNS and also in the web server (such as IIS or Apache).
---
### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-make-www-domain-com-the-same-as-domain-com/501263/7 "2009-06-29T01:22:27Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#):
>
> WWW tells you what type of site it is. just like [m.whatever.com](http://m.whatever.com) says its a mobile website. [FTP.whatever.com](http://FTP.whatever.com) tells you its a ftp site. There are others.
But this is by convention of practice only, not necessary technically. I could have an ftp site on a www server if I wanted to. I could have a web server, SMTP server, and ftp server all running on the same machine with no prefix at all (there are conventions for which ports are used for these, but that’s convention too).
---
### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-make-www-domain-com-the-same-as-domain-com/501263/8 "2009-06-29T01:56:28Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#):
>
> Pretty easy to do but I wouldnt say it is obsolete. WWW tells you what type of site it is. just like [m.whatever.com](http://m.whatever.com) says its a mobile website. [FTP.whatever.com](http://FTP.whatever.com) tells you its a ftp site. There are others. The reason why [www.fathom.org](http://www.fathom.org) doesnt work is because it is not WWW it is FFF
Either I am misunderstanding you or I think this is incorrect.
WWW is not the equivalent/alternative to FTP. FTP is the protocol and the equivalent/alternative is HTTP. WWW denotes the server and can be any protocol.
---
### Author:  [@Caldazar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caldazar)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-make-www-domain-com-the-same-as-domain-com/501263/9 "2009-06-29T03:10:14Z")
As others have said, it is pretty easy for make both www.\. and \. point to the same place. The www is administrative convention so we sysadmins don’t have to stare at a DNS record and guess what the record is for. You could assign your web server to ftp.\. and your ftp server to www.\. if you wanted, but you’d annoy your techs.
Historically, \. A records have been used for lots of different purposes: web servers, mail servers, authoritative DNS servers, etc…, so having the naming conventions eases administrative burdens.
---
### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-make-www-domain-com-the-same-as-domain-com/501263/10 "2009-06-29T03:32:42Z")
> [@sailor](#):
>
> Either I am misunderstanding you or I think this is incorrect.
>
> WWW is not the equivalent/alternative to FTP. FTP is the protocol and the equivalent/alternative is HTTP. WWW denotes the server and can be any protocol.
Right. It’s solely for us humans: Computers distinguish by assigning different port numbers to different services, which is also merely a convention but it’s enforced by software to a much larger degree.
There is no reason to keep using the www prefix: The Web won as far as mindshare is concerned, so it gets to be the default and prefixes, if they are used at all, should only be used for secondary services such as FTP, Gopher, SSH, and so on.
---
### Author:  [@the\_first\_supraliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_first_supraliminal)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2009, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-make-www-domain-com-the-same-as-domain-com/501263/11 "2009-06-29T13:31:57Z")
> [@ctnguy](#):
>
> You might be interested by [no-www.org](http://no-www.org/).
I think those guys have the right idea: the “www” is as obsolete as typing “http://” in front of every url.
I tested my own sites, provided by free online services, and got a Class A rating, something I can put into a homemade certificate and frame! Won’t my grandchildren be impressed!