Is Namecoin better than Bitcoin?

[allinvain]

I was thinking, some minutes ago...

* Bitcoins don't have intrinsic value
* Namecoin do have an intrinsic value (they can be "bartered" with the "system" for a new domain/for renewing the domain)

Both can be traded between persons. Clearly the value of a domain isn't "fixed" but...

Nothing has intrinsic value. What you wanted to say is that namecoins has another use apart from bieng money while bitcoins can only be used as money.

The problem with Namecoin is that if it does become money its value will skyrockedt and it wont be used for domains, therefore rendering its porpouse useless. It could also cause a panic when people realize its original poropouse is lost.

Water has intrinsic value..food does...air...

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[Stardust]

What about highly sought-after domains, such as sex.bit? You are saying that you don't want a market where these domains are traded, because people shouldn't pay for them?  Then how do you propose to go about the allocation of sex.bit? by lottery? by decree from satoshi?  

Sure you can trade them, just like IRC channels, you could trade them for bitcoins, but when sex.xxx, sex.com, sex.net, sex.sex, sex.xes, sex.sexy, etc, are available there won't be much of a fight for them.

[Stardust]

The Domain Name System has to be hosted. In your proposal there's a lot of Top Level Domains to be hosted (where now there's relatively few). Who do you suggest is going to pay for that hosting?

Volunteers, just like free shells, IRC servers, Bittorrent, Bitcoin nodes, etc.  They can collect bitcoin donations for their contribution.

[bitclown]

With the current cost of name_firstupdate and NMC/BTC/USD rates, a .bit domain costs twice as much a .com domain. Keep pushing those prices, only the sky is the limit!

[ryepdx]

I don't agree with Namecoin.  People shouldn't have to pay or mine for domains. There should be a huge number of TLD, from .a to .zzzzzzz for example, and anyone should be able to register domains for free. Of course it would be better if DNS was decentralized and P2P.

There's going to be a cost somewhere, and mining for domains can be quite a bit cheaper than just buying them. Plus mining contributes to the network, so the people who are using Namecoin the most are the same people who are supporting it.

Mining is the cost you pay for a p2p, decentralized DNS.