Why no uk domain

[PaulHogan]

Why are there no .uk addresses - or at least why can't I buy a domain anding in .uk. Most countries now have a country suffix for domains eg .fr .be .de So why no .uk?

[nonplussed]

Have a look at this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.uk

[PaulHogan]

Thanks.

So my question should be why are the only .uk domains all second level domains eg .co.uk .gov.uk .org.uk etc.

Why do no domains end .uk

Why can't I buy a .uk? only a second level domain ending in .uk?

[sjg]

Because .uk is controlled by Nominet, who make the rules. They only allow second-level domains from their specified list, and your part goes before that. As the wiki article says, there are a few exceptions that go way back in time, but they don't allow any new name.uk registrations.

[Hedders]

But, why?

There must be a justification for the UK being singled out?

[sjg]

Decisions about whether to allow people to register their own second-level domains, or have a fixed list, is made by the registry or NIC responsible. Nominet do .uk, they set the rules. Other country top-level-domains have different NICs and different policies.

[lestag]

PaulHogan said:

Thanks.

So my question should be why are the only .uk domains all second level domains eg .co.uk .gov.uk .org.uk etc.

Why do no domains end .uk

Why can't I buy a .uk? only a second level domain ending in .uk?

in short nominet make the rules and thems the rules. No new 'normal' registrations at the second level are accepted although there is a system for allocating new second level domains to expand the capacity of the system. Such allocations are rarely made.

Because that is the way it is managed. Once apon a time, last century the americans thought the internet was only for them so they set up the .org.gov.net.com. Then it became worldwide and that got confusing. So those responsible for the top level domain of each country put in place different standards of how the second and third level domains should be managed fro their country.
in the .uk case they wanted to give defined structure so that if you got a .gov.uk domain name people would have some idea that it was a govenment organisation.

in the .nz domain space some of these second level domain names are moderated so you have to be say a government department and the doman name you want has to be reasonable and in keeping with your business. This can give people some confidenced thatg they are dealing with a government department

from the wikipedia article:

The general form of the rules (i.e. which domains can be registered and whether to allow second level domains) was set by the Naming Committee. Nominet has not made major changes to the rules, although it has introduced a new second level domain .me.uk for individuals.

It is prohibited to register a domain name directly under .uk (such as internet.uk) and a second-level domain must be used (such as internet.co.uk).

[joewilliams]

I always imagined it was to prevent things like www.whogivesaf.uk

[Hedders]

joewilliams said:

I always imagined it was to prevent things like www.whogivesaf.uk

Nah, www.suckmyco.ck is possible currently