All: The DNS is indeed defined as a hierarchical tree and thus must have only one root. It will not work with more than one root. What Richard and Stef are saying, in short, is in agreeement with that in the sense that they recognized you would need an *additional* control structure in order to use multiple roots AND the DNS. But, adding multiple roots will NOT do away with the single root -- as Brian noted. That additional control structure for the "multiple roots" must still be controlled by someone -- and here is where we go back in a circle, Brian notes. However, what Richard is saying would create a delegation mechanism to the root, for those who want to use it. Those who do not want to use it, would still see only the DNS root. Richard is not solving the DNS control problem, he is just proposing a way to create a delegation mechanism that is entirely optional for the user to see. That said, this logic implies that operators of root A cannot complain if operators of root B define a TLD that conflicts with a TLD in root A. Thus, operators of an alternate root cannot complain if the DNS operators add .BIZ to the DNS TLDs and control it. An alternate root operator could also add .COM to their namespace and control it. Operators of intranets do it all the time. Cheers, Ed Gerck