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On Stack Exchange sub-sites it seems to be a common practice to refer to other Stack Exchange sites by abbreviating the ".stackexchange.com" part of the domain to simply ".se" (often capitalized), as in "math.SE" or "unix.SE". These aren't actual Stack Exchange domains, but they could be, answering only to GET on the root path and redirecting to the relevant .stackexchange.com URL.

Pros:

  • Leverages an existing community custom from an abbreviation convention to actual references to the relevant sites.
  • Shortens getting to the main page of a site by 15 characters.

Cons:

  • Some domains such as unix.se are already in use, which at the very least complicates things.
  • Introduces an inconsistency if .se domains for some important sites cannot be bought.
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    And the converse, let's redirect idownvotedbecau.stackexchange.com
    – Glorfindel Mod
    Commented Jul 6, 2018 at 21:22
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    .se is the TLD for Sweden. Not sure if the SE team were willing to pay extra for those domains.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Jul 6, 2018 at 21:26
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    they would need to register a lot of domains (170) then, where not all of those that seem logical will be available. I doubt that this is going to work out as you intended.
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jul 6, 2018 at 21:27

2 Answers 2

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No.

I just checked a few of the subdomains we'd want and none of them were available. We tend to use simple, descriptive words for subdomains, and those tend to get snapped up fast on all TLDs.

Setting aside the fact that we can't even get some or most of the domains, it looks like .se domains are $35/year. We're not adding the financial and time costs associated with managing an extra nearly-200 domains. Plus extra for new site launches.

As for ease of typing... autocomplete and bookmarks exist in browsers. I think you vastly overestimate how much this kind of redirect would be used, especially on the smaller sites.

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It's easy for the writer of a comment to do this using mini-markdown, and for questions/answers using full markdown.

As the question notes some sites are not available, and there's the outliers like SO being nameless in a domain. Buying a domain only for a redirect is rather wasteful, and it's not impossible for the editor to do the fix-up automatically in matching text (if we wanted that).

Example:

No link: For questions about Unix visit unix.SE.

Linked: For questions about Unix visit unix.SE.

How-to: For questions about Unix visit [unix.SE](https://unix.stackexchange.com/).

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    In the comments, just [unix.se] would work, no need to specify the link in the parentheses. Example: Unix & Linux.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Jul 7, 2018 at 2:58
  • Yes, it works even with the last two letters capitalized: [unix.SE] Unix & Linux. Thanks, GTK.
    – Rob
    Commented Jul 7, 2018 at 3:09

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