Re: lynx-dev lynx: "guessing" foo.com ==> foo.com.org (???)

[Webmaster Jim]

On Mon, Sep 14, 1998 at 05:03:44PM -0700, Dave Eaton wrote:
> On Mon, 14 Sep 1998 address@hidden wrote:
> > Yow!  Is there also a "www.com"?
> Yes, there is ... it rolls over to http://www.eni.net/
> > What if someone is accustomed to shortcutting to "com" and expecting the
> > browser to guess "www.com.org" and someone suddenly creates "www.com"? 
> Today that person will go the the "Epoch Internet" Web site.
> > I think guessing is a Bad Idea.
> Without some way as a user to control what "guess" went in which order, I
> certainly agree. I've already seen cases where "www.XYZ.com" and
> "www.XYZ.org" both exist, but are different entities. Someone used to just
> putting in "XYZ" when they wanted "www.XYZ.org" got the ".com" site, then
> complained to the "www.XYZ.org" entity that their site didn't contain
> what they were told it would. Since the person didn't understand what was
> happening, they never realized they needed to try a different top level
> domain -- they didn't even know there was such a thing.
> 
> Then imagine a parent's frustration if their child just enters
> "whitehouse" ... though if you've done that, you may realize there are
> those who might contend that these days there's not much difference in the
> result. <g>
> 
> There are some reports that the "big two" are looking at "smart guessing" 
> which (at least according to one report I read -- and lost the reference
> to) translates into "first 'guess' the URL that paid me the most money,
> then 'guess' the next, etc." The extrapolation can get pretty scarey.
> 
> No thanks, I'd rather not have that help. 

Look at URL_DOMAIN_SUFFIXES in your lynx_cfg.h for explanation of the
Lynx "guess" algorithm.

------
<http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/db/users/us/md/lib/bcpl/jspath/face.xbm>
Marvin the Paranoid Android says:
Why stop now just when