Setting up a free *.city.state.us locality domain (2025)

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Enthusiasm and nostalgia

  • Many commenters are delighted to learn *.city.state.us domains exist and are often free, expecting a spike in new registrations.
  • Several recall managing or using *.k12.state.us and locality domains in the 1990s–2000s, plus old local ISPs and dialup access; these domains evoke strong nostalgia.
  • Some still actively use locality domains and like their logical, hierarchical structure.

Practical issues and compatibility

  • Users report real-world friction with unusual TLDs or deep subdomains: some large companies’ forms reject them or silently break (e.g., .rodeo, .health, subdomain email issues).
  • Locality domains are perceived as confusing and hard to say aloud, contributing to schools and governments abandoning them for shorter .com/.org/.gov names.

Registration, delegation, and stability

  • Many locality zones are delegated to small ISPs or consultancies; some of these operators are now defunct or semi-abandoned, making changes or renewals hard.
  • Where delegation has reverted to localitymanagement.us / GoDaddy, people report requirements for notarized letters on city/county letterhead, which are often impractical.
  • The localitymanagement.us site appears overloaded, buggy, and now sometimes blocks new signups; this raises doubts about long-term reliability.
  • If a delegated registrar disappears, existing domains can be at risk, and new registrations may be effectively impossible.

Privacy, WHOIS, and .us quirks

  • Multiple commenters contradict the article’s claim that WHOIS won’t leak addresses: for direct .us domains, registrant data is typically public and privacy services are disallowed.
  • There is debate over “just put fake data in WHOIS”: some say it’s common and consequence-free; others warn it’s technically fraud and can trigger takedowns.

Geography, naming, and branding

  • Thread explores messy edge cases: duplicate city names in one state, independent cities vs counties, school districts crossing municipal boundaries, and NYC’s borough/county structure.
  • Some argue locality-style domains are conceptually clean but poor “brands”; others push back that public entities spending on branding is questionable, while opponents say clear naming improves civic engagement.

Alternatives and related systems

  • Mention of deprecated .name, city TLDs (.nyc, .boston, .miami, etc.), free *.eu.org, and experimental geographic/telephone-mapping systems (.geo, ENUM/e164.arpa).
  • A new private project (codify.city) aims to create city-centric subdomains plus AI-based civic interfaces, as a modern alternative to traditional civic web vendors.