My point is that if they're combining the two, why wouldn't they just move to a single domain instead?
I think the goal there is to combine them both to a single domain and still keep the boards separate. One or more parties didn't want to move them to a single domain.
You're saying they couldn't accomplish that without a subdomain?
gamespot.com/gamefaqs wouldn't work?
why would you have that clusterfuck of a URL which, by the way, uses the exact same DNS as gamespot.com thus ruining the search rankings.
How is that a clusterfuck? It's the exact same character length as using a subdomain.
You seriously think that move would ruin rankings? LOL
No it doesn't.
There is the fully-qualified domain to worry about, in this case www.gamespot.com/gamefaqs which is longer than gamefaqs.gamespot.com.
there are also other advantages to using a subdomain such as the ability to use a specialized or wildcard cert for https. as a website within gamespot, you can only use gamespot's cert which means when gamefaqs does something they have to make sure it plays nice with gamespot's cert. That increases SDLC time because you have to coordinate cert changes and deployments with more organizations.
and yes. full domains, TLDs, and subdomains all have priority in rankings over somebull.shit/morebull/shit.aspx?more=bullshit&shit=fromabull
Subdomains vs subdirectories have been a long-standing debate. This won't go anywhere, but I see your point. There's definitely value in a subdomain but this move in particular doesn't make sense to me. Just wish we could get some answers.
What doesn't make sense is subdomain vs sticking with a TLD.
But as I said earlier I guarantee you this decision wasn't made by SBAllen. This may have some cost overhead benefits for the site however this removes some control SBAllen had over it previously.
Speaking from experience with seeing this happen to other companies, this is typically the beginning of a slope that leads to being eaten kirby style. ---
