On Fri, 19 Jun 1998, Simon Hackett wrote:

> I think that Rick's notion of criticising people for allowing subdomains of
> domain spaces that they control to be delegated to others is rather a
> strange one, given that the entire internet DNS works that way! 

Stranger things have been said on the net, Simon ;)

Seriously, I agree the DNS works in a hierarchical fashion,
but keep in mind that a domain name ultimately refers to
a host.

What occurs between the host name and the root TLD is what is
being considered by this thread. I still submit that the moment
the domain name 'leaves' the sanctioned root authority somewhere
along it's hierarchical path, we are out of the "delegation 
and onselling" arena and into the "user or customer" arena.

Example:

   www.dot.net.au     is our main web server

   It would be inappropriate and downright idiotic for
   Dot Communications to onsell domains piggy backed to
   the above, e.g.

   tieshop.www.dot.net.au     this is silly

   Let's move back up one level in the hierarchy.

   dot.net.au         is our root domain for our company

   Once again, onselling domains in this domain is
   a bit naf. e.g.

   tieshop.dot.net.au       not too portable! if tieshop
                            moves to OzEmail, they are screwed


   BTW: You see a lot of the above nonsense happening on the
   Internet, but strangely, only in the commercial areas ;-)
   If there is a fast buck to be made ... that doesn't give the
   product or technique any more validity.


   Finally, moving back up the hierarchy once more, we arrive
   at the 2LD managed by connect.com.au:

   net.au              fine ... delegate subdomains and have fun!

   This is because .net.au is INTENDED and SANCTION for this
   purpose.

Thus, it is simplistic and glib to say the entire DNS particpates
in this hierarchical process and thus all delegations at
any level have equal validity. There are semantics and rules
to each level in the DNS ... it is not an unamanged open slather.



Regards,
R Welykochy
Dot Communications Ltd