They are called Handshake domains. I think Namecheap sells them as well. But for now you can only access them by changing your DNS server or using a browser extension.
One thing to keep in mind is that this Mastodon instance is purely used by the government to speak officially. It is not a platform where regular folks can create new posts (they can still comment on and like posts made by the government).
They are basically removing their dependency on Twitter as a platform for sharing information to the public.
Thanks, I'll check it out.
I'm on iOS. I've tried Liftoff!, Mlem and Thunder. So far I like Mlem the most.
I have never used Boost for Reddit, but I'm still excited to see what Boost for Lemmy will be like.
ruschroe
joined 1 year ago
Apparently Opera has support for it, but I don't use/like Opera so I can't confirm.
Yes, currently these domains are useless. A Lemmy instance on such a domain would only work if both servers and browsers support the Handshake protocol natively (without changing your DNS server and stuff). But maybe this will change in the future. Personally I think it would be cool to be able to come up with your own TLDs.
I was just as surprised as you! I was actually looking for a ".ks" domain last week because I had the same idea, and then I saw that Namecheap had it, only to find out it was a Handshake domain.