You can register a second level domain (e.g. “google”, "lemmy”, “cnn”) with a specific TLD, resulting in a domain name (e.g. “google.com”, “lemmy.social”, “cnn.com”)
Mastodon.social is the address to that specific Mastodon instance.
Take a look at this site for more info.
why not make everything (instance).com?
I’m not exactly sure what you mean by that? Are you suggesting everyone to use a ().com? If so, because they are rarely available and if they are, quite expensive.
The cost of a (word).com domain can be tens of thousands of dollars if nobody owns it to millions of dollars if someone does. The cost of a (word).social domain is like $10.
Yup, this is why most Fediverse platforms are hosted on domains with TLDs that seem unusual (.social, .io, .ml, .xyz, .land, etc). Since most of these projects are funded by donations (if funded, at all), the domain is an excellent place to cut costs on a project like this.
So Social is the domain, and Mastodon/Piefed are the instances in my example?
If that’s the case, why not make everything (instance).com?
.com, .net, .org, and .social are called Top Level Domains
You can register a
second level domain(e.g. “google”, "lemmy”, “cnn”) with a specific TLD, resulting in adomain name(e.g. “google.com”, “lemmy.social”, “cnn.com”)Mastodon.social is the address to that specific Mastodon instance. Take a look at this site for more info.
I’m not exactly sure what you mean by that? Are you suggesting everyone to use a ().com? If so, because they are rarely available and if they are, quite expensive.
Not really.
Both mastodon.social and piefed.social are domain names that point to instances.
The last part of the domain name after the dot like .com or .social doesn’t really mean anything.
We have our instance on
.cafor example, since we’re a Canadian instance. Other instances might use.eubeing in the EU, or.frfor FranceSome instances pick the TLD (.com, .ca, .org, etc.) to have a fun name. For example, https://sh.itjust.works
Because using .com for everything is boring, especially when you can use TLDs like .ninja .dad .rocks or .party
The real reason is we will run out of useful .com domains sooner or later, so adding more TLDs means more people can affordably rent a domain
.com is for commercial sites (though many sites misuse it). Most Mastodon instances are not commercial.
The cost of a (word).com domain can be tens of thousands of dollars if nobody owns it to millions of dollars if someone does. The cost of a (word).social domain is like $10.
Yup, this is why most Fediverse platforms are hosted on domains with TLDs that seem unusual (.social, .io, .ml, .xyz, .land, etc). Since most of these projects are funded by donations (if funded, at all), the domain is an excellent place to cut costs on a project like this.
The cost of a .com Domain can be under $10/year
I just bought bitwaba.com for like 8.49 a couple months ago.
The last few letters are called a TLD, they show what type of site it is, .com-mercial, .org-anisation, .net-work, etc.
The actual site/instance is the part before it.