[dns-operations] When TLDs have apex A records

[Duane Wessels]

Recently someone asked me if I knew of any problems when a TLD zone has
an A record at its apex.  I did a quick scan and found the following:

AC has address 193.223.78.210
AF has address 65.219.4.91
AI has address 209.59.119.34
BI has address 196.2.8.205
CM has address 195.24.192.17
DK has address 193.163.102.23
GL has address 194.177.224.25
HK has address 203.119.2.28
IO has address 193.223.78.212
PH has address 203.119.4.7
PN has address 80.68.93.100
PW has address 203.199.114.33
SH has address 64.251.31.234
TK has address 217.119.57.22
TM has address 193.223.78.213
UZ has address 195.158.1.25
WS has address 63.101.245.10

I can imagine that the primary motivation doing this is so that
users can enter http://tld/ in a browser and find themselves at an
appropriate page.

But I expect the user's domain search list takes priority if one
of the searched domains has a name matching the TLD.

But I'm wondering if there are any negative side-effects?

Do these TLDs receive traffic that they shouldn't or don't want
because of the apex A record?  Maybe some mis-directed SMTP?

Duane W.