The domains registry calls a domain a name and a served domain a placement, and neither word says what it is #37

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2026-09-21T07:18:12Z

cgalo5758 commented

2026-09-21 07:18:12 +00:00

The question

The registry's vocabulary has three words a newcomer has to learn before the Domains page or its documentation makes sense. A name is a DNS domain, the thing every other system calls a domain. A claim is ownership of a domain and everything under it. A placement is the record that wires one exact domain to the site that serves it, and it is the one word that reads as nothing in particular: it does not say serving, routing or binding. Should the registry keep these words, and if not, what replaces them?

What depends on the answer

Every surface that shows the registry: the operator's Domains page and its three tables, the member's domain flows, the setup and hosting documentation, the model page, the registry's API names, and the issues written about any of them. The words in the code and the database can stay whatever they are; the question is what a person reads.

Options known so far

Keep the words and explain them where they appear.
Say domain wherever the code says name, on every surface and in every document, and keep claim and placement.
Rename placement as well, to a word that says what the record does, and decide whether the code follows the surfaces or only the surfaces change.

Decided when

The model page for the registry states the vocabulary a person sees and the vocabulary the code uses, with the mapping between them, and the surfaces and docs match it.

## The question The registry's vocabulary has three words a newcomer has to learn before the Domains page or its documentation makes sense. A *name* is a DNS domain, the thing every other system calls a domain. A *claim* is ownership of a domain and everything under it. A *placement* is the record that wires one exact domain to the site that serves it, and it is the one word that reads as nothing in particular: it does not say serving, routing or binding. Should the registry keep these words, and if not, what replaces them? ## What depends on the answer Every surface that shows the registry: the operator's Domains page and its three tables, the member's domain flows, the setup and hosting documentation, the model page, the registry's API names, and the issues written about any of them. The words in the code and the database can stay whatever they are; the question is what a person reads. ## Options known so far - Keep the words and explain them where they appear. - Say domain wherever the code says name, on every surface and in every document, and keep claim and placement. - Rename placement as well, to a word that says what the record does, and decide whether the code follows the surfaces or only the surfaces change. ## Decided when The model page for the registry states the vocabulary a person sees and the vocabulary the code uses, with the mapping between them, and the surfaces and docs match it.

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Reference: wiki-cafe/member-console#37