The cost of a (word).com domain can be tens of thousands of dollars if nobody owns it to millions of dollars if someone does. The cost of a (word).social domain is like $10.
Yup, this is why most Fediverse platforms are hosted on domains with TLDs that seem unusual (.social, .io, .ml, .xyz, .land, etc). Since most of these projects are funded by donations (if funded, at all), the domain is an excellent place to cut costs on a project like this.
Mastodon.social is the address to that specific Mastodon instance.
Take a look at this site for more info.
why not make everything (instance).com?
I’m not exactly sure what you mean by that? Are you suggesting everyone to use a ().com? If so, because they are rarely available and if they are, quite expensive.
So Social is the domain, and Mastodon/Piefed are the instances in my example?
If that’s the case, why not make everything (instance).com?
The cost of a (word).com domain can be tens of thousands of dollars if nobody owns it to millions of dollars if someone does. The cost of a (word).social domain is like $10.
Yup, this is why most Fediverse platforms are hosted on domains with TLDs that seem unusual (.social, .io, .ml, .xyz, .land, etc). Since most of these projects are funded by donations (if funded, at all), the domain is an excellent place to cut costs on a project like this.
Mastodon.social is the address to that specific Mastodon instance. Take a look at this site for more info.
I’m not exactly sure what you mean by that? Are you suggesting everyone to use a ().com? If so, because they are rarely available and if they are, quite expensive.
The last few letters are called a TLD, they show what type of site it is, .com-mercial, .org-anisation, .net-work, etc.
The actual site/instance is the part before it.
We have our instance on
.cafor example, since we’re a Canadian instance. Other instances might use.eubeing in the EU, or.frfor FranceSome instances pick the TLD (.com, .ca, .org, etc.) to have a fun name. For example, https://sh.itjust.works