Most of the opposition to the domain name gop.gov seems to be based on
misunderstandings. First, the web server for GOP.gov is physically located
within the offices of the House Republican Conference. The private vendor
you see in the WHOIS listing merely handles the DNS hosting (which is all
that the WHOIS listing tells you). As someone pointed out already, it
wouldn't really make a difference if it were outsourced to a private
company. I just want to point out that it isn't.
Second, there are only two parties in Congress. The only "independents"
(Virgil Goode and Bernie Sanders) caucus with either the Republican and
Democrats. So, yes, whether you like it or not "Republican" and "Democrat"
are part of the institution that is the U.S. Congress. This top level
domain reflects the institution. If the flat earth society can get a
majority in Congress, they can have their own .gov -- but not until then --
and that's what the RFC says.
Third, although gop.gov currently only hosts information for the majority
party in the House of Representatives, it may offer information from the
Senate in the future. That's one reason why it does not have "house" in the
domain. Another reason is simplicity -- www.gop.gov is easier to remember.
If you want to complain about us not using hierarchical domain names, then
start your complaint with the administration. After all, "www.irs.gov"
should be "www.irs.unitedstatestreasurydepartment.whitehouse.gov" if you
follow that line of thought.
Richard Diamond
Office of the Majority Leader
US House of Representatives
www.freedom.gov
-----Original Message-----
>From: Jim Warren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Re: fwd: www.gop.gov ??!!!
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Ahah! The plot thickens.
>
>On the one hand, www.gop.gov -- by its dot-GOV domain-name -- pretends to
>be an official government site. And from what those who've accepted its
>cookies say, it *says* it's an official site of an official caucus within
>the official House of the official Congress.
[snip]
