I always thought .mobi domains were the most idiotic type of domains on the planet. What is the point in them? It makes MUCH more sense to write code on your dot that detects the visitors browser and sends them to a mobile version of the site… m.sitehere.com became the more logical standard. But now an even more idiotic domain extension is cropping up: .Tel

.tel domains are controlled by telnic and are used ONLY to put contact information on the site. Beyond that, they control the format of your contact information so there is somewhat uniform display of .tel domains across websites. Now let me emphasize how I feel about this:

What. The. Hell. ???

Is there some law against having contact info on a “contact” or “about” page on your regular web address? Has anybody ever used Yellowpages.com? Oh nevermind… I think I’d rather pay $20 for a .tel domain ha no.

Perhaps they have a bigger vision in mind. Perhaps they’d like to use these domains to move into the same type of territory that OpenSocial is moving as readwriteweb implies. But regardless, the entire idea is just outright idiotic. This sounds like the type of idea I would have when I first started internet marketing, was up way too late and went domain hunting and tried to think of a cool concept for an idiotic domain and convinced myself it was brilliant.

The difference is I would wake up and realize it in the morning. When will Telnic realize how royally they screwed up?

Perhaps more shocking is that Bloomberg reported on the domain extension like it was actually newsworthy and even worse: a good idea! When you view the video make sure to tune in to the :34-second mark where the interviewer whips out a transvestite-ish tone of voice topped with a quick lip smacking: “The new dot tel domain name could spell the end of old style directory services”

At least I got a good laugh out of it. I feel sorry for anyone and everyone involved with this imminenet failure of a concept. Perhaps they should have just registered how-to-flush-money-down-the-toilet.com, started a blog and called it a day.

The only idea dumber than this comes from the people that end up buying one.