Phil Landmeier (shuttersparks@qoto.org)'s status on Saturday, 24-Feb-2024 19:28:26 JST

@janeadams @Martoni @GossiTheDog Agreed. As unbelievable as it might seem to some, I'll bet they didn't think it through.

Just so y'all know, most of those two-letter TLDs like .af refer to countries. In this case, Afghanistan. The country itself is the owner of that TLD and can decide who can and cannot use it. That's how TLDs were set up long ago and I see nothing wrong with it.

So think before using one. In all cases you have to to ask yourself two questions before using it. 1) Might my content offend that country? 2) Do I want to appear to be aligned with that country?

This second one has puzzled me for years. I see two-letter country TLDs on websites that, in my opinion, clearly shouldn't be aligning themselves with that country.

Bottom line: understand these two-letter TLDs and think before using them.