First, thanks to all who replied to my original message (and a special thank
you to the person who telephoned me - it was the first time a post had
generated a phone call).
Most of the responses agreed with my view, that is, register both but
advertise .org as the "official" domain. There were some .com'mers among the
responses, and they couldn't quantify any lost or confused visitors, nor
were aware of a for-profit "stigma" attached to the .com(-pany) domain. But
no one has been able to point to any hard, concrete evidence to back up
choices. Such is the nature of the internet, of course, but considering how
many options there are available, the fact that there is a debate concerning
.com verses .org for a non-profit, and the costs associated with new domains
(e.g. .museum) I am surprised no one has formed a focus group or conducted a
survey. Granted, I am a survey nut - I'm much happier making decisions if I
can document it, read it, survey it, see it and quantify it.
In any case, thanks to all who responded. I'm searching for other "web
developer" listserv's to ask as well. If I find any hard evidence, I'll be
sure to share.
Thanks, and enjoy the holidays!
George
National Speedskating Museum and Hall of Fame
George Garner, Director and Curator
P.O. Box 3120, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
(518) 587-2609
--- Original Message ---
From: George Garner [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 9:57 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: .com or .org?
Contacts: Musuem-L
This may be more useful for a website developers forum, but since I don't
know any of those I'll start here.
I've been working with a group to start a webpage for a Museum organization.
Some members have promoted calling us www.xxx.com, while others (especially
myself) heavily favor www.xxx.org. The .com'ers believe that a number of
people do not differentiate between .org and .com and are more likely to
start with .com when blindly typing in a web address. I have yet to meet a
person who looks for a museum under .com and always use .org.
Is anyone aware of any studies or documentation about web users habits
regarding .com and .org? Are all of the .org Museum websites out there
losing visitors because they do not use or have not registered their name
with .com as well? Is their a "stigma" attached to museum's using .com
addresses, i.e. do they look more for-profit instead of non-profit?
I realize this may not be the best forum, but if anybody has any answers,
ideas, or suggestions I would be glad to hear them. Please feel free to
respond on and/or off list.
Thanks in advance,
George Garner
P.S. I'm hoping we can reserve both addresses to satisfy both "sides." The
problem is what to use for our generic email address - we would have to list
it as [log in to unmask] or .org.
National Speedskating Museum and Hall of Fame
George Garner, Director and Curator
P.O. Box 3120, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
(518) 587-2609
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