What's this about?
The day's biggest thread, and it's not AI. Verisign asked to destroy the entire third level of the `.name` TLD — every `first.last.name` domain — and ICANN approved it in July with minimal scrutiny. About 22,000 people lose domains they paid for; author Neil Fraser registered his in 2002, prepaid through 2040, and registered his daughter's minutes after she was born.
What exactly is a third-level domain?
`.name` was built so families could share a surname: Neil registers `neil.fraser.name` under the shared `fraser.name`. That structure — individuals owning the third level while nobody owns the second — is exactly what's being deleted, and it was the TLD's entire premise.
What's the community saying?
HN 1,431 points, 380 comments
- The proportionality argument: fine, stop *new* registrations — but terminating existing prepaid registrations, with no stated plan to reserve the freed second-level names, is the outrage.
- A precision correction that calmed some panic: second-level `.name` domains (`dvt.name`) are untouched; only the shared-surname third level dies.
- Paperwork archaeology: commenters read Verisign's actual request form and found most answers were a few words — "Have you communicated with affected parties?" "No. Not applicable."
- The it-could-be-worse-than-you-think camp: email on these domains anchors decades of account recovery (see next entry).
- Precedent hunting: ICANN is a California nonprofit, and the state AG's intervention in the .org sale is the model people reach for.
- A minority verdict: pinning your identity to a nonstandard TLD structure was always a risk the author should have priced in.