Public Interest Registry reports milestone.
Public Interest Registry (PIR), the registry that manages the .org top level domain, announced today that there are now 7 million .org domain names registered. Since management of the registry was assumed by Public Interest Registry in 2003, .org registrations have increased more than 250%, the registry reports
As part of the announcement, PIR got Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to comment about .org:
“We can’t imagine Wikipedia as a .com — .ORG is a core part of our identity,” says Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia and member of the Board of Trustees of The Wikimedia Foundation. “.ORG is available to anyone in the world, and it is a great way for an organization to signal an ambition to be inclusive and global.”
True, although like many popular .org sites Wikipedia also owns Wikipedia.com.
.Org is the third most popular generic TLD behind .com and .net. Although .org domain names were originally meant for non-profits, anyone can register a .org domain name. Below are some of the biggest aftermarket .org domain names sales according to DNSalePrice.com:
Domain, SalePrice, Sale Date, Sales Venue
Sexe.org $151,400 Jun 08 Private
Date.org $150,349 Dec 06 SnapNames
FreeCreditScore.org $123,000 May 07 Sedo
Revolution.org $120,000 Jul 08 Sedo
RingTones.org $120,000 May 08 Moniker/Traffic
Loan.org $105,500 Dec 06 SnapNames
Coffee.org $100,000 May 08 Sedo
University.org $100,000 Oct 06 Moniker/Traffic
Nihiltres says
“True, although like many popular .org sites Wikipedia also owns Wikipedia.com.”
This is a normal practice for prominent websites, *especially* high-profile ones such as Wikipedia. Allowing someone else to register that domain would allow for abuse, and keeping it allows for a redirect to the proper suffix, which is the case. I can’t imagine a more natural situation; it doesn’t compromise the integrity of the .org vision mentioned by Mr. Wales.
Andrew says
Nihiltres – Agreed. Just pointing out that popular .org’s should also register the .com, but I didn’t write it clearly.
Bob Lange says
There are still some very nice dot org domains available at very low prices, you do not have to look to hard to find them. I purchased DigitalProducts.org last year for reg cost.