Some questions about namecoin

[buffalo-namecoiner]

I'm not new to crypto currencies but I have a few questions about namecoin in particular.

I set up a home server, built a website, and registered a .bit domain pointing to it. Nice!

But I can't promote it. I want everyone in my community to check it out but all I can do is give them the IP directly. Asking them to download a chrome extension is asking too much. Relying on domain suffixes (such as .pe) makes me cautious; all of my site data is routed through some unknown server, and if the operator disappears one day then all of my users would disappear with it.

1. Will .bit websites ever be viewable by the public? Do I have any way to promote this to my community aside from giving an IP, or registering an overpriced domain?

2. What happens when ICANN decides to add .bit domains to its own repertoire? Couldn't they just kill .bit by making it a "new" TLD that's all centralized through them?

3. Is there any way to deal with squatters? I see all the posts about squatters should be shunned, etc. Domains are so damn cheap and easy to batch register that I don't think shunning can hold up large scale.

4. Looks like the forums logo in the top left is at an invalid URL.

Thanks and I look forward to posting here more often in the future.

[yasser]

good morning ...he..he

[cassini]

Asking them to download a chrome extension is asking too much. Relying on domain suffixes (such as .pe) makes me cautious

As long as the standard browsers do not support .bit out of the box, we have to bite the bullet. You either have to rely on 3rd party solutions (.pe suffix, .bit proxies, or .bit-enabled DNS servers) or you need to be prepared to download some extra piece of software.

if the operator disappears one day then all of my users would disappear with it.

The same applies for the ICANN world if you cannot inform your users about unexpected website problems.

2. What happens when ICANN decides to add .bit domains to its own repertoire? Couldn't they just kill .bit

It seems that ICANN consider Namecoin an interesting concept worth watching. In fact, they mentioned Namecoin positively in their Draft Report on the Identifier Technology Innovation Panel from Feb. 21st, 2014.
But even if they change their attitude towards Namecoin all of a sudden and start killing .bit we could simply change to .b, .n, .nmc or anything similar.

3. Is there any way to deal with squatters?

See http://forum.namecoin.info/viewtopic.ph ... 8436#p8436

4. Looks like the forums logo in the top left is at an invalid URL.

Indeed. Please help bothering khal with requests to fix it. Likewise, his Namecoin explorer (explorer.dot-bit.org, explorer.namecoin.info) doesn't work at the moment.

[biolizard89]

For the record, the average Firefox user has 5 extensions installed. Asking users to download one additional extension is not that big of a deal. It simply is not possible to make your computer do something new without installing a new program that does it... this should be obvious to anyone who knows how computers work. It would be great if Firefox, Chrome, Windows, or a major Linux distro decided to bundle a .bit resolver pre-installed, but this is highly unlikely at the moment, and is not something that we have direct control over.

In the meantime, you can have your users install a .bit resolver, or if they trust a 3rd party website to route them there (which is probably unwise), they can do that.