| Introduced | 1995 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
| Status | Active |
| Registry | SamoaNIC (Computer Services Ltd. Samoa) |
| Sponsor | Government of Samoa |
| Intended use | Entities connected with  Samoa |
| Actual use | Not used much inside Samoa, popular for domain hacks |
| Registration restrictions | None |
| Structure | Registrations are directly at second level |
| Documents | Policies |
| Dispute policies | UDRP |
| Registry website | www.SamoaNIC.ws |
.ws is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Samoa. It is administered by SamoaNIC, for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Samoa.
The .ws domain is an abbreviation for "Western Samoa", which was the nation's official name in the 1970s when two-letter country codes were standardized. Although there are no geographic restrictions on registration of most second-level .ws domains, .org.ws, .gov.ws, and .edu.ws registration is restricted.
Prior to March 14, 2008, .ws domains were not allowed to be transferred from one domain registrar to another.
The .ws country code has been marketed as a domain hack, with the ws purportedly standing for "World Site", Web Site or Web Service, providing a "global" Internet presence to registrants, as it supports all internationalized domain names. Due to its potential popularity, a sliding scale of prices is operated by the registrar, depending on the brevity of the desired domain. Domains with four characters or more are competitively priced while three-, two-, and single-character domains have their own pricing tiers, quickly scaling into thousands of United States dollars.
In 2016, .ws gained popularity as one of the first domain name registries to offer emoji domains.[1][2]
As of 2018, there are approximately 25,000 emoji domains registered on .ws.[3]
Google treats the .ws ccTLD as a generic top level domain gTLD.[4]
See also
- Internet in Samoa
References
- ^ Mihalcik, Carrie (28 October 2016). "Emoji could soon take over domain names". CNET. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ Coren, Michael (11 November 2016). "The land rush for emoji domains is coming". Quartz. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ Johnson, Paddy (2 February 2018). "Emoji Domains Are the Future (Maybe)". Gizmodo. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
- ^ International targeting, Search Console Help, Google Inc., retrieved 30 July 2017
External links
- IANA .ws whois information
- SamoaNIC.ws (for registrants in Samoa and some nearby countries)