Do You Think Scotland Should Have Its Own Internet Domain .sco

[Bill Fernie]

dotSCO are calling on individuals, businesses, groups and organisations to lend their support to the campaign for a .SCO Internet Domain for Scots Language and Culture.
Please visit http://www.dotsco.org for more information and e-mail your support to support@dotsco.org.

The Scots Language and Culture is a community that we believe should be identified with its own internet domain. Organisations, companies and individuals who express themselves in the Scots language and /or wish to encourage Scots culture will be able to register for a unique and clearly identifiable .sco internet address.

Here at Caithness.org we would love to be able to link to web sites with URL's ending in .sco

[JAWS]

Bill, I think it's a great idea.

I don't think it's a secret that I'm not of Scots origin but I never let little problems like that stand in my way!
Oh, yes and I can only speak a language vaguely related to English. (Not like the funny posh lot)

Scotland has a great culture and, even from the vague form of history I got at school, has a very interesting history and culture.
Braveheart was a ripping yard which occasionally blundered into fact, then rushed away in shock.
(I'm not knocking William Wallace but the vague resemblance to the facts in the film)
I believe there was a search for The Bruce's Spider but they now suspect story was from the same source as Nessie.
And I worry a little abut the King up a Tree nonsense, sounds far too undignified to me, most unseemly.

There are Scots all over the world and they obviously have a great interest in their Scottish roots.
And I would think Scottish Industry would also benefit hugely.
I don't know if Wales still produces a brand of whiskey but I do know I have never found an English one, good, bad, or indifferent.

Many things are unique to Scotland so why not it's own web Domain.

[Bobinovich]

While I agree in principle I feel that businesses and private individuals based in Scotland should be allowed a SCO domain if they wish. The rules on the www.dotsco.org site seem very limiting.

Just my thoughts...

[Niall Fernie]

Rules? Was there a page I missed? Could you clarify?

[DW]

Rules? Was there a page I missed? Could you clarify?

This is from the page


Who can join dotSCO?
Those organisations that work to promote the Scots language and culture can request to join by writing the interim council of dotSCO. Membership of dotSCO is subject to the approval of the interim council of the association. Membership is open to individuals and organisations that work to encourage and promote the Scots language and culture. Political parties and public administrations may not become members of the association.

[Bobinovich]

Yeah! Well I interpret that as being not open to just anyone in this fair land. You can't just visit your regular domain registration site and get yourself a .SCO, your aims / site will need to pass their "Scots language and culture" vetting before they'll authorise a domain purchase.

No problem for Caithness.org I'd imagine, but I'm guessing that'll stuff up just anyone wanting one.

[blueivy]

Hi,

Really can't see the reasoning behind a .sco TLD especially when it's being limited to only being applicable to a few hundred sites - lets face it how many sites are there that would first of all want a .sco and how many of them would then fall within the criteria of being allowed one? Would businesses from India, USA, England, Cambodia or wherever be a allowed a .sco if their site included a Scots translation? While these seems to be nitpicking, I think the restriction isn't quite clear.

There are restricted TLD's out there .pro being one of them so it's not unusual, but .pro is an international TLD so has a larger audience.

I think it's actually a bit arrogant to demand a TLD for such a limited number of sites that promote only the Scots language. Rather than a .sco (with limited market) we'd be better with an international .culture or a .community TLD. It would also gain more support from the internet community. After all we have .aero, .coop and .museum, why not .culture. If having a Scottish one was important you could always have .sco.culture.

Finally, you can't have a three letter country code, according to ICANN:

"
Two letter domains, such as .uk, .de and .jp (for example), are called country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) and correspond to a country, territory, or other geographic location. The rules and policies for registering ccTLDs vary significantly and a number of ccTLDs are reserved for use by citizens of the corresponding country.
"

While this isn't a technical limitation it seems to be a standards one. It would therefore need to be shortened to .sc.

[DrSzin]

Finally, you can't have a three letter country code, according to ICANN:

"
Two letter domains, such as .uk, .de and .jp (for example), are called country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) and correspond to a country, territory, or other geographic location. The rules and policies for registering ccTLDs vary significantly and a number of ccTLDs are reserved for use by citizens of the corresponding country.
"

While this isn't a technical limitation it seems to be a standards one. It would therefore need to be shortened to .sc.

It's not a country code, so the restriction doesn't apply. Scotland isn't an independent country so it's not eligible for a country-code top-level domain - according to the current rules, at least.

The restriction to Scots language and culture is political and operational, and it might be regarded as a foot-in-the-door towards wider involvement.

[blueivy]

It's not a country code, so the restriction doesn't apply. Scotland isn't an independent country so it's not eligible for a country-code top-level domain - according to the current rules, at least.

The restriction to Scots language and culture is political and operational, and it might be regarded as a foot-in-the-door towards wider involvement.

I'm not sure what you'd call .sco then if it's not a country code? You are restricting the TLD to content based on a particular nationality's language. Nothing else. I just can't understand the reasoning for that.

Whether it's a political or operational requirement is neither here nor there. Latching onto the back of the Catalonians campaign for their TLD is simply jumping onto the bandwagon. I don't see the point in the Catalonian TLD nor in the Scottish one either. As I said, a better use of structure would be to use a .sco.culture domain (or something similar) and that way at least it's international and would gain wider support. Hierachical structure is how the internet functions, making everything a TLD breaks that forumla.

And I know what the foot-in-the-door to wider involvement actually is - wider involvement in what?

[Rheghead]

OK, I don't know the 'ins' and 'outs' of domain names or how/why they are allocated but what is wrong with

.sco.uk ?

[scotsboy]

aye, but no .sco how about .raj or .cul?

[blueivy]

Hi Rheghead,

Nothing wrong with .sco.uk, in fact I was going to suggest something similar however the purpose behind the .sco suggestions was to:

Membership is open to individuals and organisations that work to encourage and promote the Scots language and culture


So I thought the .culture would be better for that.

Not sure how .sco.uk would fit in standards wise with ICANN but it would give Scotland it's own domain, would appeal to a wider audience (ie. wouldn't be restricted) and be easier to implement (as it would only require changes to the UK TLD).

If I had to decide between the two, I'd go for this one.

[Naefearjustbeer]

I think Scotland should get its own domain, it should also be free for general use like the other domains are. However might I suggest we could have .irn.bru as our domain. Or for the neds .buck.fast

[DrSzin]

I don't see the point in the Catalonian TLD nor in the Scottish one either.

This is what I concluded from talking to some proponents of .sco a few months ago:

• The desire for a Scottish TLD is political (in part).
• Some politicised campaigners are using the "Scots Language and Culture" argument to try to get a TLD. The Catalans have shown it can be done, and the dotSCOers have indeed jumped on their bandwagon. That's the operational bit.
• Once the .sco domain is up-and-running, the rules can be relaxed to permit more general use.

Of course, these views could be far from representative of the dotSCO organisation as a whole.

Your analysis is much too objective - that's a compliment, and it isn't something I say to people very often!

An application for second-level domain scot.uk was rejected years ago. The links on that page give all the gory details for and against the application.

At one time it was suggested that Scotland have a TLD of .al (for Alba), but Albania got that one long ago.

I don't know much else about this business - my interest in it ebbed away some years ago - sorry.

[pultneytooner]

aye, but no .sco how about .raj or .cul?

how about .bampot

[blueivy]

Your analysis is much too objective - that's a compliment, and it isn't something I say to people very often!

Thanks for the compliment!

An application for second-level domain scot.uk was rejected years ago. The links on that page give all the gory details for and against the application.

The .scot.uk propopsal is very interesting. I didn't know this was proposed before and after reading the proposal document it appears that the criticisms mainly fall into the technical and the business area's of it. In particular the proposal from ScotNom doesn't make clear the case for running it, and running it well. In addition there was no dicsussion with Nominet prior to the proposal so there was no basis or agreement on how this would actually work within the .uk framework. The proposal for the domain itself, from my brief reading of the proposal seems to have been accepted. I would think the dotSco campaign would have more success reviving the .scot.uk proposal and providing a better business and technical plan than continuing with their current campaign.

What I dislike about the whole things is the we're 'Scottish and deserve our own domain' argument. There needs to be a bit more substance to it and there just doesn't appear to be any there. Restricting it to only those sites that further the Scots language and culture reduce the case rather than creating a bigger one.

Anyway, that's my two pence worth. I think I've exhausted my argument!

[DrSzin]

Anyway, that's my two pence worth. I think I've exhausted my argument!

I tend to agree with your comments. A general-purpose scot.uk domain would be good. The ScotNom proposal was a bit flaky, but I'm sure one could do a much better job.

On the other hand, I guess those with nationalist tendencies would prefer a cultural .sco TLD. However, they'd have a problem converting it to a proper country-code at some later date because .sc already been taken - by the Seychelles!