I agree that I don't really like them either, as they can be confusing and for most web properties they don't work as the everyday lay-person doesn't understand TLDs. But, in some cases it does work, at least for techcentric crowds like DN. And heck, part of the necessity at this point to buy danged alt TLDs is because you can't buy a friggin .com with the name you want anymore.
I agree that I don't really like them either, as they can be confusing and for most web properties they don't work as the everyday lay-person doesn't understand TLDs. But, in some cases it does work, at least for techcentric crowds like DN. And heck, part of the necessity at this point to buy danged alt TLDs is because you can't buy a friggin .com with the name you want anymore.