special features

[Kevin Darcy]

Stephane Bortzmeyer wrote:
> On Wed, May 07, 2008 at 04:27:04PM +0200,
>  Geoffroy ARNOUD <geo.arnoud at gmail.com> wrote 
>  a message of 20 lines which said:
>
>   
>> 2- Spoof of Name error response with a static IP address, in order
>> to better control the user experience. For example, a user
>> requesting www.unknownhost.com would not get an error from his
>> browser, but would get the configured static IP address
>> instead. Behind this IP address could be hosted a web server or
>> somethine else.
>>     
>
> That is a very bad idea and I'm glad it is not possible with BIND.
>   
Yeah, "better control the user experience" sent a chill up my spine too, 
accompanied by the faint sound of a distant cash register going 
"ka-ching!" as new marketing opportunities are being explored.

If something doesn't exist, tell the user it doesn't exist, and let the 
user (empowered by their browser of choice, and how it is configured) 
decide how to deal with that. That leaves the control in the hands of 
the user, not some marketeer who deceptively directs them to a "helpful" 
page laden with sponsored links.

- Kevin