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>Techwhirler tie-in: If you're going to use a fake URL in a manual or
>printed publication (let alone in a message to techwr-l!), try out the
>URL first. Someone's bound to try it out (QED!), and you might be
>embarassed by what they find.
Just for reference, there *is* an existing standard for using example
domain names, in documentation or anywhere else. RFC2606 (found at
<http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2606.html> among other places) says this:
>Abstract
>
> To reduce the likelihood of conflict and confusion, a few top level
> domain names are reserved for use in private testing, as examples in
> documentation, and the like. In addition, a few second level domain
> names reserved for use as examples are documented.
[snip]
>3. Reserved Example Second Level Domain Names
>
> The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) also currently has the
> following second level domain names reserved which can be used as
> examples.
>
> example.com
> example.net
> example.org
Given that these are reserved, they can (and probably should) be used
anywhere you want to provide a domain name example without worrying about
where it will take the user. Presumably, variations on these domains are
safe as well, such as prepending "www" or "ftp" onto any of them.
