I'm honestly not sure, and I spent some time checking that on #Wikipedia before I posted.
But tentatively, I believe ICANN is the only "landowner" so-to-speak, which rents out in bulk to the various wholesale/resalers, who in turn handle retail rentals.
... I think.
In the process, I did discover the existence of OpenNIC ... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenNIC
Now trying to figure out how useful they are.
@DataDrivenMD @foufoutos I mean a server with millions of users or followers on it would be kind of impossible to maintain for you as well I think.
In any case I don't agree with promotion of specific people which is what this essentially is. People need to get off the Twitter mindset of things being advertised to them. Creators making their own server is the best solution on many levels. I just think previously verified people are kind of spoiled coming from other platforms. No offense meant.
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