back to article Flanders demands its own top-level domain

The detente between Belgium's fractious regions is under strain again after the Flemish parliament demanded its own top-level domain. Instead of .be it wants vla, .vln, .vlaanderen or .fla. Kris Peeters, the prime minister of Flanders, says he will look into the possibility of creating such a domain extension. The Internet …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Steen Hive
    Coat

    Hmmm

    Why should ICANN listen to some Ned from Flanders? "www.gov.diddly" FTW.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Awesome.

    Living in the Netherlands, about 15km from this particular border, I sincerely hope this will happen and that it'll be .vla.

  3. Ivan Headache

    @Hmmm

    I thought it was Nell Flanders

  4. Sam

    Here we go

    All this so Spit and Gob (the well known Flemish comedians) can have their own website...

  5. Mark
    Coat

    Gotta Say It.

    Stupid Flanders

    Doh!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Dominic van Berkel

    Living 4km on the Wallonian side I'm not so keen. I'm also not sure why you'd be pleased as the Flemish aren't that keen on the Dutch either :-)

    From an IT point of view I don't really care. The main day to day problem is that the hard liners on the Flemish side seem to stir the rest up to the point of racism. One teenager said to me "I hate all French speakers...." I asked if she knew any, "no" was the reply. They claim the Wallonian economy is going in a different direction to there's (ie the French speakers aren't as rich), but they don't like it when you point out that the same can be said about Limburg.

    Obviously the Franco-phones aren't completely innocent either, although theirs tends to be a sin of omission, in that they are too lazy to learn Dutch.

    Anyway, just the views of an outsider.......

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Bloody flems

    The Flems really do act like a bunch of kids sometimes. If it's not one thing, it's another.

    For now, Flanders is part of Belgium, and so should make so with .be as their TLD.

    If and when the time comes that they are an independant state, then let them apply for .vla or whatever. But for now, regions don't really get to have their own tld.

    And when that time does come that they are an independant state, let them apply as any other candidate country for membership to the EU, and see how far they get with their right-wing policies towards minorities there.

  8. Danny van der Weide
    Thumb Up

    Oh! I love .vla ...

    www.hopjes.vla

    www.chocolade.vla

    www.bananen.vla

    www.vaniglie.vla

    ... etc. etc.

  9. Charlie Clark Silver badge
    Coat

    I like vla

    http://lecker.dubbel.vla

  10. Jimmy Floyd
    Paris Hilton

    Give 'em to Luxembourg

    If Belgium does split , why not assimilate the French-speaking Walloon region (population 5 million) into Luxembourg (pop. 400k)?

    It's just a question of mathematics.

    Paris, because she knows where to stick many things (except the Belgians).

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Flanders - .vla?

    I'd prefer: .pop

    Lest we forget.

  12. Sam

    Tossers

    This would be the same belgian bastards who denied the release of ammo to the British during the Gulf war, overlooking the fact that if we hadn't bailed them out twice, they wouldn't exist?

    Anyway, if you want to do business, you speak English.

  13. Fred
    Thumb Down

    Hmm... stupid

    MY dads from flanders and mum from wallonia... i cant deceide, but the french speakers are alot better crack so ill go with them. Some flemish are getting a bit to big for their boots and the hard liners are just left over failed neo-nazi's ... and yes they did sympathies with the germans too...

    Happy days... glad the scots here arnt that militant lol...

  14. alan

    @ Oh! I love .vla ...

    me too having a dutch uncle does have some benefits, just dont let him hear me say that. Week on sunday my mum should be bringing me some back :)

    I vote we get VLA sold in brittain :)

  15. G2
    Dead Vulture

    hmmmm...

    if they get vla as tld I call dibs on "drac.vla"

    :D

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Scottish TLD

    The Scots have been refused their own TLD on numerous occasions as we are more than just a region.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Domains are handed out by country, not by racist criteria

    As long as its not a separate country, it should not get its own domain.

  18. scott
    Coat

    Whatever...

    If the do allow it, the Brussels should get .bru

    First dibs on irn.bru

    BTW, the article is wrong - 50% of Flemish don't want independence. It's about 10%.

    Mine's is the one with a bottle of Duvel in it.

  19. Patrick R
    Unhappy

    just preparing

    "Prime minister Peeters told the BBC this week he is not in favour of independence"

    He's not Prime minister, he's Miniter President of the Flemish Community.

    He's not in favour, he's just preparing it.

    They went to govern the country with an openly separatist party, and 15 months later (yes), they realized (...shock !) it wouldn't work. Quick, let's change the subject with a global economical crisis.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Moll Flanders?

    Wait, don't they already use .FR?

  21. Dave Murray

    Let 'em have it

    Let them have their own TLD and make it .vlaanderen. It won't do them any good coz it's so long no one will ever use it.

    Then give us .scot along with .eng and .wal or whatever.

  22. Jolyon Ralph
    Thumb Up

    It's why they all speak so good english.

    Because they refuse to speak to each other in their respecitve languages!

  23. Filomena

    regional TLDs

    Technically, Flanders (or Scotland for that matter) cannot get a country-code TLD (simply, it's not a country - yet).

    Given the precedent of .cat (for Catalunya), both Flanders and Scotland may be able to get a sponsored TLD instead if they meet the criteria of the new ICANN rules and are prepared to pay the registration fees ICANN will extor... ahem ask.

    On the personal side, generally I have no sympathy for separatist regions and separate TLDs, but who am I to influence ICANN's processes and policies.

  24. Bob

    I'm from the Flanders

    And i say NO. Just for the simple fact that all Belgian websites are cheap and lame. Most of them look like a 12 year old made them that was either drunk or wacked out on crack. What they have now is good enough (.be). Don't blame the Flemish for being needy when we all know the French side is just as bad if not worse. All the walloons do is sit on their lazy arse. Their side of the country is truly filthy. I know, i live close to it. Luik is only about half an hour away and It looks like a complete dump and not to mention Hainaut. You just don't wanna know.

    Anyway, Belgium won't split up. We can't afford it. It would destroy us. The taxes would rise immencely to compensate for the cut from wallonie and we already have 21% tax. Or atleast thats the story i'm sure they'll force down our throats whether its true or not does not matter in this country. They're choking this country to death as it is.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like