Calculating the frequency of first letters in domain names.

Is the letter “T” under-represented on the interwebs?

Maybe, although you can draw your own conclusions as to why, and if you really care.

Paul Kedrosky took a look at the top 1 million domain names on the web according to traffic and tallied them according to their first letter. He then compared that to the frequency of each first letter in the English language.

He found that the letter T has the biggest difference between starting a domain name and starting an English word. 6.5% of the top 1 million domain names start with “T”, while 16.7% of the English language starts with the letter.

The most popular starting letter for domain names was “A”, starting off 7.1% of the top one million sites. Could this be a throwback to the days of Yahoo! Directory and other web directories that were sorted in alphabetical order?

The most over-represented letter is “C”, which starts off 6.8% of domain names while starting only 3.5% of English words.

Time is ticking, but here are some extra ways to save money.

You have just three days until most discount domain name registrars increase their prices on .com and .net domain names thanks to wholesale increases by registry VeriSign. It’s your last chance to cleanse your portfolio and renew domains early to save some money. I’ve already renewed almost all of my domains that expire before the end of the year.

Thankfully, you can save even more money on your renewals. Here are a few ways to keep a few more dollars in the bank:

1. Bulk renewal – many registrars offer discounts for renewing in bulk.

2. Transfer prices – most low cost registrars offer steep discounts if you transfer domains to them. Transferring includes an added year of registration, so this is a good way to save some money. Many registrars even offer transfers below cost to try to win your business. Some registrars, such as Moniker, offer zero interest payment plans if you transfer in bulk.

3. Coupon codes – GoDaddy is perhaps best known for offering coupon codes, although renewal codes aren’t as plentiful as new registration codes.

4. High volume accounts – rather than fuss with coupon codes, see if your domain name registrar offers discounts if you keep a certain number of domains with them. Moniker is known for multiple pricing levels. And if you like GoDaddy, you should consider keeping 300 or more domains in your account. That qualifies you for an executive account manager. This gives you a lot of perks and customized service at no additional charge, but it gets you very low every day pricing without hassling with coupon codes.

5. Remember the extras – take into consideration the entire cost of keeping domains with your registrar. One may have a lower price on registrations but charge more for privacy. You may be better off paying a slightly higher price in return for cheaper add-ons and better service.

With the renewal price of .com domains steadily increasing, take advantage of the next three days to save a bit of money.

Trueman says decision was “foolish and unnecessary”.

Pat Trueman, former Chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, called ICANN’s decision on .xxx today “foolish and unnecessary” in an interview with Domain Name Wire. Trueman served in the Justice Department starting with Ronald Reagan in 1988 to the end of the administration of George H. W. Bush.

Trueman said ICANN’s board appears to be caught up with process in making its decision.

“They seem to be caught up in process rather than need,” he explained. “They had a non-binding ruling against them saying they didn’t follow their process. It was not binding that they change their position [on .xxx].”

He said the .xxx domain name will make pornography even more available to children than it is now. Although he admitted that pornography is easy to find now, this will make it even easier: children will just have to type .xxx after a domain name to be guaranteed of finding adult content. Furthermore, he said no existing .com porn site would switch to a .xxx and leave the .com behind.

Using internet filters to block .xxx won’t be much of a help, claimed Trueman. “Filtering companies will all tell you filtering isn’t the problem, it’s that so few families use filters,” said Trueman. He said only about 20% of families use an internet filter.

Trueman thinks the only group that wanted .xxx approved was ICM Registry, which will operate .xxx.

“So what is the point?” he asked. “The pornographers didn’t want it. The people who want to protected children and others from internet porn didn’t want it. The only people who want it is ICM Registry, who will make money.”

Porn sites will feel compelled to register their .xxx equivalent to prevent competition. But ICM registry will make money from more than just adult entertainment sites, Trueman explained.

“There will be a britneyspears.xxx,” he gave as an example. “People have to buy up the .xxx domain to protect their own good name, and they will pay a higher price than .com”.

.XXX still has hurdles before it becomes a top level domain name.

As expected, ICANN’s board approved a resolution today that allows ICM Registry’s .xxx application to move forward. But there are hurdles, or at least red tape, between now and the introduction of the top level domain name.

Reading the resolution aloud during ICANN’s board meeting today, board chairman Peter Dengate Thrush noted several steps that remain:

-The staff must conduct expedited due diligence to ensure that the ICM application is still current and that there have been no changes in ICM’s qualifications.

-If the expedited due diligence results are successful, then the ICANN staff will proceed with draft contract negotiations with ICM, taking into account the GAC advice received to date.

-Upon the staff finalizing a draft contract with ICM, the board will determine whether the proposed
contract is consistent with GAC advice and, if not, will enter into GAC consultation in accordance with the bylaws.

-After the GAC consultation is completed, the board will decide whether to approve the contract and will
declare whether its action is in accordance with GAC advice or not.

The step that could slow the process down the most is if the board determines it needs to go back to the GAC (Governmental Advisory Committee). We’ll also have to have another formal vote at a board meeting to “approve” the contract before .xxx gets the official green light.

It will be interesting to see if ICANN tries to delay the introduction until closer to the launch of the proposed round of new TLD applications.

Interestingly, ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom didn’t approve the resolution. He abstained, noting:

While I accept the contribution to ICANN’s accountability and transparency provided by the existence and the use of the independent panel review process, I am nonetheless concerned about the determination by two of the three panelists that the ICANN board should not use business judgment in the conduct of its affairs.

In my view as CEO, the board must be able to use business judgment in order to protect the global public interest in the coordination of the root of the Internet and the domain name system.

Asian language top level domains coming to the internet.

The Board of ICANN has approved the delegation of two Chinese-character country code top level domain names to China, two to Taiwan, and one to Hong Kong.

During ICANN’s board meeting today in Brussels, ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom called it a historic moment:

Just one brief remark and that is to say this is a truly historic moment. More than one out of five people who walk on this planet speak Chinese as a first language. In addition to all the incredible engineering work that’s gone on for many years, the policy work, the work by linguists and the work in the last six months by the operators in China of this proposed IDN ccTLD and the intense work of the board of ICANN and staff and the community have been remarkable. And it’s exciting for all of us, I think, to be here and to see the root truly embrace the world.

The board’s vote on the IDNs was followed by not just applause, but standing ovations according to the transcript of the meeting.