Bluesky CEO Toni Schneider announced that they are applying to get a new top-level domain (TLD).
He got asked right away, "why not atproto? or atmosphere?"1
Which of course is entirely correct -- atproto / atmosphere "belongs" to everyone building on interoperable protocols, not just Bluesky the company.
More TLDs for atproto
I have long been a fan of TLDs and have schemed about when the right time is to get one for various protocol endeavours.
There is .onion which is a special use case2, and there might be good reasons for the community to pursue a special case protocol domain -- that's likely a 5 to 10 year journey start to finish.
I'm very excited about the opposite of protocol TLDs. Community ones like dotMeow: "A domain for the Queer Community,by the Queer Community". Ideally they can have great success, fund good causes, and have a thriving business.
Does this make sense for the atmosphere community to pursue? Maybe, but I'd probably aim for something more fun than .atmosphere. Or want several fun options.
Tools for the TLDs
Because this is "just DNS", it's in fact something that we can get lots of people to work on!
While I might be eager to embark on a cool TLD that is community owned and run, I'd also like to see more things "just work" with atproto.
Can we collectively work on a small tool that integrates with friendly domain registrars or TLD owners so that "one click" buy and use a new handle works well?
Fun fact: a 2022 report of top level country code TLDs. Germany! UK! China! Gabon???? Way to go Netherlands!