That's an odd comment to me. Different TLDs have different pricing, different restrictions, and so on. Giving the topic some thought isn't stupid. And .com is a pretty crowded namespace.

>different pricing

.com is the cheapest

>different restrictions

.com has the fewest

Anything else?

>.com is the cheapest

It isn't, either for initial purchase or renewal, and that's pretty easy to verify.

>>different restrictions - .com has the fewest

How so?

Country code TLDs (ccTLDs) [1] often have rules set by the country of origin. These rules vary widely, but some of them include country of residency requirements (you can't buy as a foreigner), ban on pornography, or strict adherence to religious requirements.

Popular domain hack ccTLD .ly is required to adhere to Libyan and Islamic/Sharia Law [2]

(edit because my posting is rate limited: )

There are plenty of non-ccTLDs, though, including thousands of gTLDs.

You can register a .horse domain if you want, and as far as I know, there are no restrictions on use.

You just need to research what you're buying.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_code_top-level_domain

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.ly

Yes, but singling out .com as if it were the only non ccTLD doesn't make sense.

Likely because 'respectable startups' (with money) can afford to buy the .com.

https://www.arbo.works/ is a new, and very respected startup. They don't have a .com (yet).

Discord couldn't afford to buy discord.com, so they bought discordapp.com. They didn't think of buying discord.io or discord.app or some crap like that.

Ah yes, branding is "stupid" now. Gotcha.

I think the GPs point is that anything other than .com is stupid branding. Not that branding is stupid.

yeah, and that's the reason why most of them have stupid names