Re: What DNS Is Not

["Patrick W. Gilmore" <patrick () ianai net>]

As someone just said to me privately: "I dislike the pedantic ****  
nerds pull sometimes."  (The "****" is mine, not the original quote,  
so the Communications Committee doesn't send me a warning.)

On Nov 9, 2009, at 8:10 PM, bmanning () vacation karoshi com wrote:

>         good question - does patrick own the domain or has he paid for
>         the registration of mapping a string into a database? either? both?
>         neither?

The argument is silly at best.  I "own" the domain for the year I paid  
for it.  You call it "stewardship".  I won't argue if you want to play  
that game.

(BTW, I seriously considered putting the word "own" in quotes, but it  
would have required five extra keystrokes on the iPhone and I didn't  
think it was worth the effort.  Everyone - including Bill - knows  
exactly what I meant.  I mean, we're not newbies or idiots or ....   
Oh, right.  Teach me to be lazy.)

Let's use "stewardship", or any other string of characters that makes  
you happy.  The basic premise does not change.  My "stewardship" of ianai.net 
 (and it's not ".com" - one would think someone like you would  
realize the difference) is qualitatively different than the  
"stewardship" of the *TLDs.

For one thing, I have every right to point any hostname in my domain  
at any IP address I want.[*]  I could create a zone file with 36^N  
entries pointing them all at the same IP address.  No one would blink  
an eye.  It is not unexpected, inappropriate, or in any way "wrong".   
Putting "* IN A 1.2.3.4" has the exact same results for any hostname  
up to N letters.  Consider it shorthand.  Think of all the RAM I'll  
save!

Verisign putting a domain into .com that does not exist is not only  
unexpected, it is inappropriate, and Just Plain Wrong.  They do not  
"own" the zone, they have _no_right_ to put any entries in that zone  
that are not requested through the appropriate method.

If you do not (want to) see that, we will have to agree to disagree.


Also, you were so busy picking on my choice of words that you  
completely ignored the "choice" point.  Guess you couldn't come up  
with any feeble semantic arguments on that one?


>         not being able to resist the analogy....

s/the/a really bad/

>         Its ok for me to practice indentured servitude in my home, yet when I
>         see my neighbor practicing it in their home - I call the cops on her
>         for practicing slavery.  and hope that no one notices me.

Honestly, Bill, don't you think that was a little pathetic?

Why don't you just compare me to Hitler and get it over with.

--
TTFN,
patrick

[*] I'm not going to explain things like "I shouldn't point hostnames  
at IP addresses I do not own" (er, "steward") because anyone who  
brings up that point is not worth talking to.  If your best counter  
argument is so stupid that anyone with more than three brain cells to  
rub together already knows, understands, and has gone right past, then  
please un-sub from NANOG, throw your laptop in a lake, and go get a  
job a HS drop out can do.  Because that's all you deserve.