This is the first time I’ve seen this…
I recently visited family in Texas and saw something that caught my eye.
First, I passed a sign for a church that uses the domain name cityreach.church. I’ve come across a handful of churches using .church. I see them online and in reported sales lists. Choosing a .church domain makes a lot of sense for churches, especially if they don’t have the budget to buy the ideal .com domain.
So I noticed the .church domain—no big deal. But then, when I pulled up to the next stoplight and saw the billboard there, I did a double-take. There was an ad for cryptocurrencies, and it showed the domain m.guide. That domain forwards to marketcap.guide, a page with cryptocurrency prices.
I can’t recall ever seeing two signs in a row that contained domains ending in new top level domains.
New TLD usage is growing. It’s not a rocket ship, but it’s growing. Over time, I expect to see more concentration of names ending in .whatever along the highway.
Millions of signs and billboards still use .com and .org though.
Yeah I’ve noticed the .church billboard and the .guide one a billboard in North Austin at 45th and Burnet Rd., and then also in South Austin at South 1st and Oltforf Rd. “Bitcoin wastes [strikethru “wastes”] stores energy.” m.guide/bid . I’ve also noticed billboards and radio ads for Broadway.bank, which is a San Antonio bank that is advertising in the Austin area.
Reminds me of the .TV news reports that people used to post 15 years ago. If spotting these names counts as “news” then that is a really bad sign for New TLDS.
BTW: I played roulette at the casino last night and the ball landed on 23 RED twice in a row. The probably of such an event is 1 in 37 on every spin, so if you are watching for an hour you will likely see a double.
Having news of gaining popularity is supposed to be good for new gTLDs. In fact, it applies to any commercial product, not just TLD. Isn’t it illogical to say having these news is a bad sign?