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If you play the domaining game, you may get the feeling that the field is getting a little overcrowded. One does not have to be a student of economics to understand the laws of supply and demand; this market, in my opinion, smacks of over supply.

Sure, there are some very worthwhile extensions. Dot-Com has been around since 1985 and has more than established itself as the undisputed "king of the pack". This mainly due to millions of dollars that have been spent over the years building the brand and, of course, it helps significantly being the default extension in our web browsers.

In addition to the prolific Dot-Com, other gTLDs ("generic" Top Level Domains) like .Net and .Org have also proven their worth, nothing compared to Dot-Com, but they are definitely worth the speculative fever. Then there are a few ccTLDS (country code Top Level Domains) that have also proven very popular. These include .De, .Co.Uk and to a much lesser extent .TV and are definitely worth holding...good generic samplings, that is. For the many other extensions though...one really has to question ICANN's (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) motives.

Take, for example, Dot-Mobi which was only recently launched amidst much fanfare. Since then, there has been much debate as to whether or not the mobile extension has any legitimate claims to being the "second coming" of Dot-Com. Indeed, there was some early promise. Flowers.mobi sold for a jaw-dropping $200,000 and there have been quite a few other very notable well-publicised deals.

As the launch of Mobi was reaching fever pitch, I learnt of yet another domain extension - Dot-Tel - that was also planning it's launch date. Why, I asked? The people behind Dot-Tel, TelName, claim specific usage in the "Internet communication" space; but from my perspective, all I see are glaring overlaps with other extensions, especially Do-Mobi.

To me, Dot-Mobi, Dot-Tel or .Whatever...the bottom line is that there are way too may extensions. Ever heard of domain extensions such as .travel,.pro, .museum, .jobs, .coop, .cat, and .aero? You better believe it! They, like Dot-Tel and Dot-Mobi, are regarded as sponsored extensions; and although in many instances are restricted in their use, are all a part of the overall glut I perceive...and there are more.

What about .biz, .edu, .info, .gov, .int, .mil and .name? Have you heard of those? Well, these are of the unsponsored kind like the more popular Dot-Com, .Net and .Org mentioned previously. And what of the proposed variety? There are many of those too - .cym, .geo, .kid(s), .mail, .post, .sco, .web, .asia and .xxx.

Again, if you ask me, just way too many extensions all with overlapping utility and many without any obvious and well-articulated added value to the Internet domain extension space. Sure there are some positives. In particular, if you are an end-user looking to build a brand and especially if you are looking for a great one word generic name, a properly chosen alternate extension, being substantially cheaper than Dot-Com, can be a great alternative.

However, to me the negatives are potent. Apart from the many domainers who are guilty of getting carried away in speculative fervour with each new extension extension launched, there is the much more serious issue of a sort of tacit encouragement for some to breach intentionally or not, the legitimate trademark rights of others.

To the thousands of domainers, this is no laughing matter. As usual, it's the very few driven by greed and selfish ambitions, who are making it hard for everyone. They are an undeniable force who, despite the well-placed intentions of others, are hell-bent on tarnishing the image of a "fledgling" industry.

Learn more about this author, Adrian Keys.
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