back to article Mali to give away .ML domains for free

African nation Mali will give away domains in its .ML digital demesne for nothing. The giveaway starts in May, when Freedom Registry will open the floodgates, a term we use because “There will be no restrictions to registrations of free domains and anyone can claim its own .ML domain,” according to Freedom Registry's press …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Some potential there

    di.ml/y

    A site describing the thought process of the person that came up with this idea

    1. phear46

      Re: Some potential there

      Botto.ml/and

      I quite like for a pr0n site.

      1. Shagbag

        goatse.ml

        anyone?

      2. Euripides Pants

        Re: Some potential there

        ca.ml/toe

  2. jb99

    Bad idea

    I imagine that the .ml domain will become synonymous with spam, scams and general crap now.

    It's already so cheap to get a domain that the only people who will care it's free are those people needing a throw away domain for something.

    Good luck to them though, it's not a bad idea in itsself.

    1. Chris_J
      Facepalm

      Re: Bad idea

      Was thinking exactly the same thing, all it will achieve is to lower the quality of .ml domains possibly even to the point where mail server admins begin blocking the entire TLD.

      Then again maybe 419 scammers make up a large proportion of Mali's GDP so it can be thought of a measure to stimulate economic growth?

  3. Ole Juul

    For how long?

    How long can one have one of these domain names? If people can just register a bunch of them and keep them forever, then all the shorter ones will be gone, whether active or not. I think this will end up like Hotmail addresses and even Microsoft will be lucky to get "microsoft1975.ml".

  4. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

    Allegedly?

    Doesn't one of the major rebel groupings call itself Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb? That sounds quite affiliated to Al Qaeda to me. It's mostly a franchise anyway, so presumably you just have to pay your franchise fee, paint the name on the side of your vans, and you get to benefit from all the advertising that Head Office does. They're the McDonalds of terrorism, but the bacon sandwiches probably aren't as good...

    I guess I can see what the government are trying to do, but surely they'd be better to give their addresses away to people who live in Mali, if they want to do that. Unless it's a honey-trap, to get all the spammers to sign up to one domain, so we can either catch them or ignore them.

    Have any of the alternative domains done well? I keep getting offers from my registrar for .co addresses, and there was another one recently of a similar type, where they were more expensive than a .com!

    Also, has anyone ever used .tel?

    1. Phil E Succour
      Pint

      Re: Allegedly?

      >>They're the McDonalds of terrorism, but the bacon sandwiches probably aren't as good...

      I don't think that the things they serve at McDonalds count as bacon sandwiches....

      Please see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/05/bacon_sarnie_result/

    2. Melzeebub92
      Holmes

      Re: Allegedly?

      The only reason the bacon sandwiches aren't as good is because they don't contain bacon....

    3. The Indomitable Gall

      Re: Allegedly?

      Unfortunately, head office is the CIA, who in a particularly "Our Man in Havana"/"Tailor of Panama" move got some overpriced and underinformed informant to invent the name for them. Allegedly.

      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
        Black Helicopters

        Re: Allegedly?

        Are you saying that McDonalds is a CIA front?

        Hmmm. Makes sense actually. It was the Hamburgler wot done the Watergate break-in, and clearly Ronald McDonald is a fake. I'm sure he's not really their CEO.

  5. Roger Greenwood

    I suppose . . .

    that AlQaeda.ml is already taken?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    with so many

    does the end of a domain matter anymore?

  7. batfastad

    Tokelau

    Similar thing with .tk domains a few years back where you could register them for free. Just checked and you still can. They just ended up being filled with junk, spam, virus and phishing sites. I see no reason why .ml would be any different.

    In general I would think that operators of restricted/unpopular ccTLDs must be wanting to grab some of the cash before the whole raft of .whatevers dilutes the market for country-related domains.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Will you get full control over nameserver delegation etc

    or will it redirect to your page hosted elsewhere, possibly with ads?

  9. defiler

    QR Code Redirects

    That's what this should be ideal for. Register as short a name as you can, ending in .ml - then embed it in your own company's QRs on marketing literature. Using a short domain allows you to use more basic codes. Redirect to "full" domain for website. Done.

    I can't honestly think of any other reason I'd want one, and I have a short domain for QRs anyway. So, all in all, "meh" from me.

    1. Steve Knox
      Thumb Down

      Re: QR Code Redirects

      So, as mentioned several times above, junk/spam.

  10. Alister
    Thumb Up

    Gormless circumlunar HTML slumlord primly gimlets bottomless hamlet

    Nice!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Gormless circumlunar HTML slumlord primly gimlets bottomless hamlet

      Tell you who this would be perfect for- the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.

  11. Tom Chiverton 1
    FAIL

    Let's hope their DNS is more resilient than their web site, which is FUBAR right now...

  12. auburnman

    Won't this just land .ml on blacklists across the Globe?

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why are you complaning?

    Seriously, whats wrong with you people, viruses, malware, spam and general dickery is abundant today, adding another free TLD domain wont increase nor decrease the amount of malicious stuff on the internet.

    I for one commend this move compared to ICANN's blackmail with "1000 new TLDs a year" controlled by corporations willing to fork +100k per TLD.

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: Why are you complaning?

      It's nice they're giving stuff away for free. We're not complaining about the generosity. We're just doubting their wisdom. I'm not worried that this will create more spam or crap on the net, just that Mali will suffer disproportionately from it.

  14. LinkOfHyrule
    Facepalm

    Oh Mali not Mail

    I misread the headline - I thought you were saying the Daily Mail were giving away free domain names! I thought for a moment this was a news story about some new scheme to create a virtual online version of middle England or something!

    1. Anonymous Coward 15

      Re: Oh Mali not Mail

      daily.ml?

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    add it now

    to your blacklist. the 419ers will have competition.

  16. Forget It
    Unhappy

    Mali-ware anyone?

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I want to register ht

    I want to register "ht", and serve subdomains off it, so I can have:

    http:://index.ht.ml

    http://index.x.ml

    Just to keep it away from the phishers, who I am sure will be able to use such a domain to fool stupid people.

  18. Nigel 11
    Pint

    568.ml

    perfect for CAMRA? If the Eurosceptics don't get it first.

  19. Old Handle

    A free domain is all well and good, but if it's anything like .tk I advise everyone to stay away. I see .tk domains fairly often in various hobbyist circles like game modding, and they're nothing but trouble. They work at first, but inevitably stop working when you least expect it.

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