>I know HackerNews thinks gail.com is really clever/cool, but imagine if every single domain was like this.<p>Most domains already are. If it's not one lucky Gail, it's a random sub-sub-brand of a corporate behemoth who got there first, and all the content served from the domain amounts to nothing more than an advertisement flyer (or a 302 to the parent company). In the grand scheme of things, Gail's domain is probably the preferable allocation.<p>But these conversations are boring. I don't think there's any method for good allocation of the domain space. And anyone who defines commercial activity as a proxy for measuring good use of a domain has already decided the allocation scheme they prefer.
Whenever you register a domain you should be asked what you would sell it for. That would increase the amount of domains available for sale and lower prices. It would also be a good business for domain registrars.
People who don't own $valuable_asset believe that it should be regulated and there should be mechanisms in place so that everyone has some $valuable_asset.
I don't even understand why we need TLDs. Like, I get infrastructurally why they're there, but I don't get why we need them to even exist anymore.