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I couldn't find anything on this - but I suppose people have brought it up in the past.

It bugs me that there is inconsistencies when it comes to the URLs of different meta sites.

Some, such as meta.SE are in the form of https://meta.stackoverflow.com.

Others, such as meta.biology, are in the form of https://biology.meta.stackexchange.com

This is annoying if I want to quickly visit a particular meta site by typing in the URL, since I can never remember which way round some sites have their URL.

What's the reason for this incosnsistency and is there a chance of changing it?

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What's the reason for this [inconsistency]

The reason is a technical and economical one. By using https://*.meta.stackexchange.com the company only needs one HTTPS certificate 1 to offer you a secure connection for most of its 170+ sites. (a few outliers, mainly the trilogy sites, Area 51, Stack Apps, and SEDE). Otherwise they would need a certificate per domain/site and that becomes unmanageable fast. There are more nitty gritty details and the blog from Nick Craver describing the whole migration explains that thoroughly. Worth reading!

and is there a chance of changing it?

No. It was changed from https://meta.biology.stackexchange.com 2 to the current format back in 2017 to make the long overdue switch to HTTPS possible. All the former arguments to migrate to the current domain name format are still valid.

  1. All alternate domains in the certificate:

    DNS Name=*.askubuntu.com
DNS Name=*.blogoverflow.com
DNS Name=*.mathoverflow.net
DNS Name=*.meta.stackexchange.com
DNS Name=*.meta.stackoverflow.com
DNS Name=*.serverfault.com
DNS Name=*.sstatic.net
DNS Name=*.stackexchange.com
DNS Name=*.stackoverflow.com
DNS Name=*.stackoverflow.email
DNS Name=*.superuser.com
DNS Name=askubuntu.com
DNS Name=blogoverflow.com
DNS Name=mathoverflow.net
DNS Name=openid.stackauth.com
DNS Name=serverfault.com
DNS Name=sstatic.net
DNS Name=stackapps.com
DNS Name=stackauth.com
DNS Name=stackexchange.com
DNS Name=stackoverflow.blog
DNS Name=stackoverflow.com
DNS Name=stackoverflow.email
DNS Name=stacksnippets.net
DNS Name=superuser.com

  2. That URL still has a working redirect but due to a lacking valid certificate gives a security warning. If you take the risk and proceed you are redirected to the correct site.

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    Well, that only applies to the sites that don’t have their own domain names. To be consistent StackOverflow would have to have stackoverflow.meta.stackexchange.com.
    – ColleenV
    Commented Jan 13, 2021 at 17:09
  • @ColleenV as always the trilogy sites are the odd ones out ... as well as a few other exotic ones. The main point stands.
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 13, 2021 at 17:17
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    Yep, just pointing out there are two things contributing to the differences, not just one.
    – ColleenV
    Commented Jan 13, 2021 at 17:23

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