this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2024
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a couple of reasons, some being that 1, ip addresses are limited on the internet, and making it free would instantly fill it up. another is that there is still some work involved,because once you register for a domain, internet service providers and DNS providers around the world need to also add your newly established domain to ip to their DNS so that people get redirected to your domain correctly. the domain endings also have a cost attached to them due to popularity and who is allowed to hand them out. e.g country related domains (e.g .kr for korea, .fr for france has their reasons to charge or without handing a domain out, but some countries may get lucky and happen to have a domain thats desirable (e.g Anguilla has .ai) and thus will charge more
you also want to prevent domain name ransoming. if domain names were free, there will be people registering for all domain names to use as bargaining chips against a person or company similar to social media handles
And it's really not that much, it's like $10/domain/year, though it varies by TLD (vanity TLDs are more, less desirable ones are less).
I have about 10, and I'll probably free up half of those the next time I need to pay for them (they were for a business idea that I've largely given up on).
Thanks for the explanation!