Example.com alternative [closed]

StackOverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/608293

  •  03-07-2019
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Question

Let's say you want to provide an example url in documentation somewhere. The correct thing to do is use example.com, since that is the defined location for such things and anything else you come up with is likely to be actually registered somewhere and serving up who knows what to your readers.

My questions is, what do you do if you need to provide 2 contrasting examples? The best I've seen is site1.example.com and site2.example.com, but that doesn't always cut it. Any other ideas?

Update:
Accepted @Yuval's answer, since it is the most technically correct response. However, due to forces beyond my control I'm actually going with Jekke's (tempuri.com).

Was it helpful?

Solution

Use example.net and example.org.

Per RFC 2606, they are all reserved (Wikipedia summary).

OTHER TIPS

RFC 2606 also reserves the TLD (Top-Level Domain) ".example" so you can use "foobar.example", "something.example", "stackoverflow.example", etc.

Unfortunately, all these names include the string "example" and therefore are not distinguishable enough in documentation. I hope there will be an update of RFC 2606 one day, with more names.

As previously mentioned, example.com, example.net and example.org were officially reserved by the IETF for documentation purposes. Additionally, ICANN has also reserved example.edu.

Some ccTLDs and newer gTLDs have equivalent example domains reserved. Most probably, all gTLDs managed by ICANN have the same restrictions regarding reserved names. Further below, I've listed a few that I've been able to confirm as reserved.

On some occasions, I need an example domain name longer than 8 characters (excluding the TLD itself) and it doesn't matter that it isn't valid — I just want it to not resolve. Therefore using an underscore in the domain name is an acceptable solution in those cases (e.g. example_domain.com or your_domain.com).

Another alternative TLD, although not officially reserved, would be .tld (!). I've looked at ICANN's new gTLD current application status list and .tld doesn't show up. So any domain could be used under this TLD (e.g. example.tld or yourdomain.tld). I would however recommend using it with caution, as the fact that it's not currently assigned doesn't mean no one will ever apply for it. As a side note, be aware that both Amazon EU and Charleston Road Registry have applied for .dev.

Reserved generic example TLDs (not including the latest expansion):

Reserved country code example TLDs (not a complete list):

  • example.ae (Domain reserved by .aeDA)
  • example.at (Registered by NIC.AT GmbH. admin: NIC.AT Role)
  • example.bg (Registration status: forbidden)
  • example.ca (Restricted: not available for registration)
  • example.co (Domain is on list of restricted and reserved names)
  • example.hk (Domain is currently not available for registration)
  • example.jp (Reserved)
    including co.jp ne.jp or.jp subdomains
  • example.la (Banned)
  • example.nl (Registered by Stichting Internet Domeinregistratie Nederland)
  • example.pt (Registration forbidden. Article 9, point 1)
    including com.pt net.pt org.pt edu.pt int.pt nome.pt publ.pt subdomains
  • example.se (Registration blocked. Example and test domains.)
  • example.su (Stop-list: Domain can not be registered.)
  • example.sx (Unavailable)

References:

You can also use tempuri.org, like is used in many XML-based examples.

I'm wondering if you can squeeze in some character into the URL that would make it invalid if cut and pasted into a browser. A little like 555-XXXX numbers in movies.

There is also example.net and example.org. If you need another, I don't see a problem with using a domain you already control.

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