Northern Ireland has its own domainname now !

[Gerrit]

www.nic.co.ni




It brands itself as "THE POLITICALLY CORRECT DOMAIN" :D


Every company or hobbyist-webhost here in Northern Ireland has a dilemma: register a .co.uk and you insult the Nationalists, register a .ie and you insult the Unionists. Whatever you do, always 50% of the fellow Ulster folks won't like it.

Solution ? Register a .CO.NI !



Now because most people may not be into domainnames: .NI is the country extention from Nicaragua, just like .IE stands for Ireland.
Some smart people registered the domain co.ni and try to sell subdomains (subdomain.co.ni) as if co.ni stands for Northern Ireland. A neutral domain, unlike .co.uk or .ie, and one where all the cool names are still available.



I wonder if this will get people going or not... I mean, .ie and .co.uk sound very familiar, while .co.ni is not that common (yet) so not that easy to remember. Also, they ask 60 GBP per subdomain :eek: which is about 7 times the price of a .co.uk domain and about the same price as a .ie



I must say I have a bit of problems with the idea that a subdomain costs more than a real domain, if the guys who run CO.NI get hacked or forget to renew their domain, the subdomains are also gone.
They currently have a contract with the Nicaraguan registry, but the lads in Nicaragua can withdraw their permission anytime...

On the other hand, the idea is not that bad, and I must say at least they're being honest: their FAQ clearly states they sell a subdomain and that .NI comes from Nicaragua.
Which is still better than CentralNIC who try to sell uk.com and us.com subdomains as if they are real extentions...




So I wonder if people will fall for this idea... Maybe within a few months we'll be visiting www.linfield.co.ni or www.cliftonville.co.ni :confused: :o

Maybe a nice idea for hobbyists, but a Northern Ireland based company ?? No, better not to make your business rely on a subdomain. Companies that want to stay that neutral can register both .ie and .co.uk or just take the easy way out and buy a .com

[thejollyrodger]

something stupid and a typical norn ireland necessity

[dahamsta]

Anyone that pays £60 for one of these domains needs their head seeing to.

What's the deal with the wonky spacing?

adam

[Gerrit]

No typical Northern Ireland thing there, Jolly Rodger ! Lot of extentions are being used for non-relevant purposes:


.tv = Tuvalu //television
.fm = Micronesia // radio
.nu = Niue // new
.cc = Keeling Islands // creditcard
.st = Sao Tome // SiTe, Street
.sr = Surinam // senior
.ph = Philippines // phone


.ni for Northern Ireland kinda makes sense, I can see Seychelles people jump on the bandwagon sooner or later and sell .SC domains as Scotland domains :D



I agree with Adam. I mean, the guys who own CO.NI have to pay maybe 30 or 40 pounds for owning the domain, and then sell a part of their domain for 60 pounds ?! Seems like a rip-off.

Maybe if they drop their prices during my period in Northern Ireland, I'd give them a chance. But we're talking about radical price dropping. A subdomain should never cost more than 5 EUR/3 GBP, otherwise you can just as well buy a real domain (.COM costs 6 USD these days...)

One positive aspect maybe: popular names that are long registered with .CO.UK and .IE may still be available with .CO.NI

[Gerrit]

Seems however a few local companies use it... I don't understand how a company wants to let their online presence or webstore depend on a subdomain.
If the guys who own CO.NI forget to pay their renewal fees, their domain is gone and so are all registered subdomains. Or if the people in Nicaragua don't want it anymore that their extention is sold in Ulster, the subdomains are gone as well...

Imagine the loss a company could have when their webstore's URL is suddenly gone because the CO.NI people would forget to pay their annual registration fee...

[dahamsta]

I don't understand how a company wants to let their online presence or webstore depend on a subdomain.They probably have no idea.

[thejollyrodger]

well i think the new extension is more for religious tensions than for anything else

[CollegeTillIDie]

It's an obvious solution in a divided society...... In Serbia-Montenegro they still use the domain .yu ( Yugoslavia) although Montenegro ( Crna Gora in Serbian) uses .cg . Similar idea.

In all practical purposes administratively speaking... NI is a seperate entity within the GB & NI frame work anyway. Scotland has it's own laws and Departments. England And Wales have theirs and Northern Ireland has its own Government Departments many of which have totally different names to those in GB.

[dahamsta]

It's not a solution at all CTID. If anything it's taking advantage of NI citizens.

adam

[thejollyrodger]

can companies use .ie up there now as part of the good friday agreement ? im sure that would solve a lot of problems for republicans

[dahamsta]

Yes they can (http://www.domainregistry.ie/RegistrationPolicy.php). I'm pretty sure 32 county registrations predated the Good friday Agreement.

adam

[thejollyrodger]

excellent. :D

[CollegeTillIDie]

It's not a solution at all CTID. If anything it's taking advantage of NI citizens.

adam

Are companies risking alientating potential custom by using a politically charged web address be it .ie or .co.uk? This is neither one nor the other enabling companies who use it to attract custom from both. It is a small market after all.... don't want to alienate either 53% ( The Obi Wan constituency) of it or 47%( the Chucky constituency) for that matter.

[dahamsta]

Are companies risking alientating potential custom by using a politically charged web address be it .ie or .co.uk?COM, NET, ORG, BIZ, INFO...

All cheaper, more reliable, political connotation-free, and not lining the pocket of scam artists.

adam

[crc]

I'm pretty sure 32 county registrations predated the Good friday Agreement. I'm pretty sure of this too. The GFA didn't initiate the facilities which the southern state offers to northern citizens, it just gave these things a legal frame-work in UK Law.



...Or if the people in Nicaragua don't want it anymore that their extention is sold in Ulster, the subdomains are gone as well... While there is technically nothing wrong with your terminology (Northern Ireland is, of course, wholely within Ulster) you should be careful while you live in Belfast about which terms you employ. 'Ulster' as a synonym for Northern Ireland is a particularly Unionist trait, just as Nationalist would say 'the (occupied) six counties'.
If you wish to stay neutral on the issue (as far as this is actually possible), it is probably best to use 'Northern Ireland'.

=====

I'm still hoping for the .eu (http://europa.eu.int/information_society/policy/doteu/index_en.htm) domain to make its long-awaited début... :o

[CollegeTillIDie]

COM, NET, ORG, BIZ, INFO...

All cheaper, more reliable, political connotation-free, and not lining the pocket of scam artists.

adam

Perhaps they are over-subscribed?

[dahamsta]

Perhaps they are over-subscribed?COM definitely, NET not so much any more, ORG not so much either, BIZ and INFO hardly at all (most squatted registrations have been dropped).

adam

[Gerrit]

While there is technically nothing wrong with your terminology (Northern Ireland is, of course, wholely within Ulster) you should be careful while you live in Belfast about which terms you employ. 'Ulster' as a synonym for Northern Ireland is a particularly Unionist trait, just as Nationalist would say 'the (occupied) six counties'.
If you wish to stay neutral on the issue (as far as this is actually possible), it is probably best to use 'Northern Ireland'.

=====

I'm still hoping for the .eu (http://europa.eu.int/information_society/policy/doteu/index_en.htm) domain to make its long-awaited début... :o


Ah good to know. I didn't know that Ulster as synonym for NI was a Loyalist term. I thought everyone, regardless of their opinion on NI politics used terms like Ulster or Six Counties.
Good to know.



As for the market. I wonder if, apart from the fanatic Loyalists/Nationalists, people really care if a company is L/N. I mean, if a NI citizen needs to buy a new car, wouldn't they just go to the place where they can buy a good car for the most reasonable price? Would they really care if the garage owner is Loyalist or Nationalist?? I'm sure many people would just think of the car and their wallet, and not even try to find out if the salesman is Loyalist or Nationalist. And I'm sure a car salesman will be just happy when people buy from him, and not care if his customer is Loyalist or Nationalist.
Or am I being naive here?

A company that really cares that much about their image, could always register both company.ie and company.co.uk , which will not cost much more than 1 .co.ni

[dcfcsteve]

This new domain is just unnecessary nonsense.

If a company wants to avoid suggesting a political slant with their domain name, as stated above there are numerous well-recognised alternatives. And no - they're not full-up....

I'll take any bets that the take-up on this proves to be woeful. Absolutely woeful.

BTW Gerrit - your location is spelt wrong. It's 'Beal Feirste' (with a 'fada' accent over the 'e' in Beal). Stands for 'mouth of the (river) Feirste'.

[1 9 2 8]

BTW Gerrit - your location is spelt wrong. It's 'Beal Feirste' (with a 'fada' accent over the 'e' in Beal). Stands for 'mouth of the (river) Feirste'.
As in Béal Feirste

[holidaysong]

www.nic.co.ni

It brands itself as "THE POLITICALLY CORRECT DOMAIN" :D


Every company or hobbyist-webhost here in Northern Ireland has a dilemma: register a .co.uk and you insult the Nationalists, register a .ie and you insult the Unionists. Whatever you do, always 50% of the fellow Ulster folks won't like it.

Solution ? Register a .CO.NI !

UTV have both www.utv.ie and www.utv.co.uk. I think this is the best way to do it. Also if you can't choose between .co.uk or .ie then you could use www.u.tv. UTV really do make the complicated world of Northern Ireland internet use so easy and inoffensive...

[dcfcsteve]

UTV have both www.utv.ie and www.utv.co.uk. I think this is the best way to do it. Also if you can't choose between .co.uk or .ie then you could use www.u.tv. UTV really do make the complicated world of Northern Ireland internet use so easy and inoffensive...

UTV have business operations in the Republic - hence the utv.ie.

I think you're reading a bit more into a simple and obvious domain registration/protection process than is required.

[Thunderblaster]

Sure there are internet users in the Republic that uses .co.uk, for example; paddymurphy@yahoo.co.uk, so what is the big deal? The people of Ulster are just seen as Irish over the water, full stop.

[Gerrit]

Sure, .co.uk is one of the better known extentions across the world and Nominet policies make theft almost impossible. And it is damn cheap: www.ukreg.com charges 2 GBP only per year :)

NI companies that really care about image can best register both .co.uk and .ie, or go for something non country-specific such as .com, .info or ffs even fake global extentions like .ws (though I doubt if these are any good for commercial purposes).
Or: buy a .eu.com subdomain from CentralNIC which is a bit cheaper and long enough around to be labelled as stable.

By the way: UTV must pay a huge amount for u.tv ; TV domains are extra expensive when less than 3 characters

[dcfcsteve]

Gerrit - you haven't corrected the spelling of Beal Feirste yet. (there's a fada accent over the 'e' in Beal). :)

[Sliogán Dóite]

Also Gerrit - referring to NI as Ulster may offend those from Donegal, Monaghan & Cavan (who aren't Northern Irish)
.
Remember:
Donegal, Monaghan, Cavan - DMC - Don't Mix Counties :D :D :D

[Gerrit]

Location corrected :) I could have stated "South Belfast" as well ; the class part of town :D (I do live there, but I don't like to show off, so I'll just ditch the idea...)

[Gerrit]

By the way, another shameless domain trick (even worse than considering .NI to stand for Northern Ireland) :


.IN = India, they try to sell it as INternet :eek:



They label as "the most generic ccTLD in the world"... :rolleyes:

Why does a country with over 1000000000 inhabitants (the second largest potential marketplace in the world) need to use a cheap trick to sell its domains abroad?? As if there aren't enough people and companies in India to buy domains. This is so cheap it's getting ridiculous.

At least .TV makes sense (even though it should be Tuvalu's domainname), but which person is going to link .IN to the term "INternet" ?!