Comment by zupa-hu
3 years ago
Which in the end is true for domains as well. Someone decides to sell subdomains of X, weather X is com or omg.lol.
Com could be free as well. The only real difference is choice.
Or to put it differently, you say it doesnt need registration. Well, it does. They require it. So what.
I think the main difference is a proper domain from a major registrar grants you ownership rights that you don't get from leased subdomains like OP's (mainly the ability to keep the domain even if the registrar goes out of business; and moving the domain between registrars).
You can move between registrars, but the registrar's not the one that you're leasing the domain from; they're just a reseller.
The entity that you're actually leasing the domain from is the registry operator-- such as Verisign for .com or PIR for .org. And, yes, it's still a lease relationship-- while there are some ICANN-mandated consumer protections around your "purchase" of a domain, if you stop paying your annual renewal (or run out of whatever amount of time you've prepaid), that domain isn't yours any more.
Omg.lol is operating the same way (albeit not under ICANN oversight, as they're not running a gTLD); they've just cut out the middleman and are leasing subdomains directly rather than via third-party registrars.
> Omg.lol is operating the same way
Not entirely true; I'd argue it's closer to subleasing a part of the property they're currently leasing from an ICANN accredited registrar.
> they've just cut out the middleman
Quite the opposite! They've just introduced themselves as yet another middleman on top of the already existing middleman (there's still a value proposition to this, but it's not the same).
TL;DR: subtenant rights ⊈ tenant rights
1 reply →
What do you mean “ownership rights”?
If you buy a gTLD domain through a registrar, your ownership of the domain is bound by the rules established by ICANN [1][2]. If you purchase an eTLD+1 [3] subdomain from omg.lol (as part of the offered services) you're not covered by [1][2] but instead by [4, Section 1.5 part B, Section 3.2 part A].
What this means is OP can arbitrarily shutdown their offering at their sole discretion and, as a result, you'll lose access to the eTLD+1 you've purchased (domain, email, all gone). However, if you purchase a gTLD domain through an ICANN accredited registrar, the registrar can't unilaterally do the same (even if the registrar implodes, you still own the domain and you can move it elsewhere).
[1] ICANN Registrants' Benefits and Responsibilities: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/benefits-2013-09-16-en
[2] ICANN Registrar Compliance Program: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/registrar-2012-02-25-e...
[3] https://jfhr.me/what-is-an-etld-+-1/
[4] Neatnik LLC (the company behind omg.lol): https://home.omg.lol/info/legal
1 reply →