THIS one has been long overdue. About a month ago I wrote about the issue of Philippine League for Democratic Telecommunications Inc. acquiring the rights to the "www.pldt.com" domain, while the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. is still using "www.pldt.com.ph" for its Web site. I mentioned there some words from Joel Disini, administrator of the PH domain. He had some things to say about the column. Let's let him do the talking:

"Leo,

"Before we get deluged by calls and e-mail from MIS managers asking about PH and COM domain registrations, please allow me to shed some light on the matter. The COM, NET and ORG domains are primarily generic domains administered by Internic. The PH domain, on the other hand, is a country domain administered by the PH Domain Registry (support@ domreg.org.ph), in the same way that the french have FR and the kiwis have NZ and the Swiss have CH (Conf Helvetica). The US also has a country domain (US), but because it is hardly used, COM, NET and ORG have largely replaced 'US' as the domain-of-choice for American companies.

"First of all, contrary to popular belief, the logical place to look for a non-US company's Web page, especially among non-Americans, is NOT in the COM domain space. Tissot watches, for instance, is at 'www.tissot.ch,' not 'www.tissot.com.' Ditto for omega watches, which is at 'www.omega.ch.' Airfrance is at 'www.airfrance.fr.' Aerospatiale is at 'www.aerospatiale.fr,' and Renault is at 'www.renault.fr.' Now that I think of it, I am hard pressed to find a Frenchman that I know of who uses the '.com' domain name. I think les francaise would find it tres abominable to use les domain americain (make expectorating sound).

"Generally the more nationalistic the country, the more likely are its people to use their country domain name. Jollibee--the Filipino burger, for instance, puts their Web page on 'www.jollibee.com.ph,' not at 'www.jollibee.com.' BusinessWorld uses 'www.bworld.com.ph.' I notice that 'www.inquirer.com.ph' works, but why on earth is your newspaper using 'www.inquirer.net'? The NET namespace was originally reserved for networks in the US. Www.inquirer.com, another newspaper like PDI, is the Web site of the Philadelphia Inquirer. They use 'com' rather than 'net.' Personally, I find it disappointing that a newspaper with 'fearless views' would show even a hint of colonial mentality. We have enough problems from the black-and-white crowd, who consider US domain addresses more prestigious than a PH domain address (perhaps because the former costs 16 times more than the latter, over a 10-year timeframe).

"Now, having said that, there are cases when it makes sense for a company to register its domain name in the US (and other countries).

"When a company does business overseas, it may make sense to go for that COM domain (provided, of course, that it is still available). Qantas, for instance, uses 'www.qantas.com.au' (Australia), while redirecting 'www.qantas.com' to its Australian site. Ditto for 'www.sabena.be' (Belgium), which is referred to by 'www.sabena.com.' Virgin Atlantic is at both 'www.virgin.com' and 'www.virgin.co.uk.' More important, if a company like PLDT intends to do business in Hong Kong, or Indonesia, it would do well to register its domain name in ID and HK, well before someone beats them to it. The same, too, applies for trademarks.

"Lastly, if I may correct a quote you attributed to me, PLDT does have legal recourse in obtaining its domain back from Mr. Kaimo.

"Since the domain was registered in the US, then the venue for any legal action would be in the US courts. There have been legal precedents, and in fact, there are US companies on the Web that specialize in protecting a company's trademarks on the Internet (see www.netnames.com). What I had said was that since the wheels of justice grind more slowly here, the PH Domain Registry does take pains to disallow "com.ph" registrations from companies or individuals who seek to take the PH domain name of a top-500 Philippine company (and later attempt to sell the domain back to the top-500 company).

"I hope that clarifies the issue for those MIS managers in the hot-seat."

Point well taken in general, Joel. However, I disagree with you on two points. First you say that:

1) "Contrary to popular belief, the logical place to look for a non-US company's Web page, especially among non-Americans, is NOT in the COM domain space."

I disagree. If you were a non-Swiss and you were looking for Tissot's Web site based on a hunch, would you automatically type in "www.tissot. com.ch?" In the first place, how many people out there do you think know that the country domain of Switzerland is "CH?" I still believe most Joes would type in "www.tissot.com" first. Good for that company if such entry is redirected to the site with their country domain name.

The point is, a lot of Netsurfers are used to keying in the popular domains (".com," ".net," ".org") instead of having to remember all the country domains of the world. Most would end up searching for the site using one of those portals.

2) You say that: "I notice that www.inquirer.com.ph works, but why on earth is your newspaper using www.inquirer.net?"

Again, you prove my first point. We wanted to get "www.inquirer.com" but, like you said, it was already taken by the Philadelphia Inquirer. We instinctively sought the ".com" domain. I'm sorry we didn't get the ".com.ph" domain immediately. That would have meant faster revenue for you, I understand. But think about it Joel: Why didn't we get the ".com.ph" immediately? Why do people still register with the Internic (over the Web, in dollars, using a credit card) even though you're here to offer the PH country domain (where you can interface with humans instead of a Web site and pay in pesos)?

I think you should answer that question.

And so our first site developer got the "www.inquirer.net" domain. It was faster and easier. And people started logging on. And once your site visitors get used to an address, it's better to stick to that one because of the recall you've already generated.

That's why we're using "www.inquirer.net." Should we move to "www.inquirer.com.ph?" Maybe. Maybe not. We could even have both, such that "www.inquirer.net" and "www.inquirer.com.ph" would both be pointed to the same server.

Lastly, you say: "Generally the more nationalistic the country, the more likely are its people to use their country domain name. . . Personally, I find it disappointing that a newspaper with 'fearless views' would show even a hint of colonial mentality."

You're right about using the word "personally," man. That's your own opinion. But I find it ridiculous for you to think that our newspaper with "fearless views" is showing "a hint of colonial mentality," merely because we're not using the PH domain. I understand that you have to promote the PH domain, being its sole administrator. But please, don't try to accuse the Inquirer of not being nationalistic just because we didn't patronize your service.

That, my friend, is my fearless view. Thank you for reading the Inquirer and being a partner of its Internet services.