Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Domain Names : .gw domains

[Hikari]

Last year I read about .gw being used as "global web" and that registrations would be available until end of year.

But until today I don't see anybody talking about it seriously. I applied for a domain and had no answer at all.

Do you guys know how it is doing, and if there is already any big website using any .gw domain?

tnx

[Techno]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.gw

.gw is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Guinea-Bissau. The IT & Media Corporation (itmedia.gw) lists register.gw global web as one of its projects, but only pre-registrations are being taken as of 2008.

Intended use: Entities connected with Guinea-Bissau
Actual use: Few existing domains, mostly domestic. Pre-registrations are being accepted internationally.

Unless you live in Guinea-Bissau I don't see any point in registering a .gw domain for either development or speculation.

[Hikari]

And what exactely "pre-registrations" means?

What I read was that .gw would be used as "global web", competing with .com

[hekwu]

Originally Posted by Hikari

What I read was that .gw would be used as "global web", competing with .com

I'll try not to be blunt here and make you mad at me... but please don't buy into the marketing department's ploy of "global web."

Techno explains the facts as they stand...

In addition to what techno said, I'd say that gw is very close to qw... I though this thread was about qw, not gw. You can see my point with the underline... is it a G OR Q?


I'd not do it... if you really wanted to waste your money do it on something cool like .asia... at least if you hold that for 50 years, it might be worth something.

On the other hand, if you want a domain for personal use only and you don't plan on doing business with it, go for it. I'd still get a .com in this case, but the argument with these domains are very short names. No biggie, each his or her own....

[Hikari]

Sorry I also didn't want to make anybody mad
I'm also against sell country domains to international people/business, it's like br.net that redirects to argentina.com >.<, but since it was available...

All .com .net and even .biz and .info are registered, I looked for .asia also but I'm not from Asia, and take an asian name from them is not funny too. And as long as I know I'd need an asian address to try to buy any name.

Since I didn't heard of .gw anymore, I came ask here where the most experts are

So, is there preview of if and when .gw will be available for selling?

Originally Posted by hekwu

I'll try not to be blunt here and make you mad at me... but please don't buy into the marketing department's ploy of "global web."

Techno explains the facts as they stand...

In addition to what techno said, I'd say that gw is very close to qw... I though this thread was about qw, not gw. You can see my point with the underline... is it a G OR Q?


I'd not do it... if you really wanted to waste your money do it on something cool like .asia... at least if you hold that for 50 years, it might be worth something.

On the other hand, if you want a domain for personal use only and you don't plan on doing business with it, go for it. I'd still get a .com in this case, but the argument with these domains are very short names. No biggie, each his or her own....

[Lubeca]

When you register a domain in a foreign ccTLD you put yourself at the mercy of that country's national registry (which could be anything from a government office to a private company), and you are conducting a transaction under a foreign country's laws.

If you are simply registering a domain for personal use, and you don't mind losing it, then there is no problem with registering under some exotic country code.

However, it would be very foolish to base your entire online presence on a domain name registered in Guinea-Bissau or Western Samoa or Moldova or Suriname or Laos.

Every so often some clever person thinks up some clever use for some country's ccTLD. We've had dot-Medical-Doctor (Moldova), dot-Senior (Surinam), dot-Los-Angeles (Laos) and dot-WebSite (Western Samoa). Some of these schemes have lasted, some have not (and people have lost their domains).

As I said - if you can afford to lose your domain, if you just want to register a fancy name for a bit of fun - no problem. But using an exotic ccTLD for business, or for something that is meant to last, is just very foolish.