[Rover]

.de has always been a comforting thing to me.  Back in the early days of the internet I used to be a regular on Wilders computer site which was a .de site.  It seemed the sleazier sites became, the more I looked to non-US sites for quality security and business applications, and more genuine and enthusiastic forums.  Then I got involved with beta testing and using a couple French based forums and software products.  Sad to say, but I find American sites are often a lot ruder and less helpful.  But, hey!  That's just based one my own experiences.  You may love .com sites and blogs.  It's just my own particular history.

An interesting perspective you shared there. I wonder if there's a feeling of being (in) a more separate, segregated Internet segment in Germany, akin to what the RuNet is? Of course, this site is in English and therefore appealing to the entire world, and there is no language barrier to separate it, but it's sometimes interesting to explore the national segments of the Internet because they have their own peculiarities, their own go-to services (unless Google and Facebook have stomped everything out, like the transnational businesses do on most weaker markets where the local players do not have enough strength to resist this), their own lingo and anecdotage, after all...