Kids bring home from school the darnedest things. This past week my child came home talking about their technology class. They mentioned that “Everything on a .net website is true.” Whaaaat? I had to sit them down to explain where .net sites come from.
Much like .com sites, anyone can by a .net domain name. GoDaddy.com even pushes the sale of .net domains when you buy a .com web address. Unlike a .edu and some of the other domains, there’s no restriction on who buys these domain extensions. Back in the day, .net used to be used mostly by technology companies, but lately I’ve seen all kinds of businesses using this domain extension – probably because it’s getting harder and harder to find a .com names that are still available.
So it anyone and everyone has access to .net extensions, is there any guarantee that what you read on .net websites is any more true than on any other websites? Absolutely not. Websites are created by people. Some are knowledgeable, some are factual, and some mean to deceive. There’s no board that monitors the contents of .net websites or a panel that checks their content for accuracy.
It’s a “buyer beware” environment—it’s up to the user to be skeptical and fact check. Trust but verify because a website’s extension is no guarantee of truth.
