WWW-What?

Random rant:

Why, oh why, is it that some websites will work ONLY if you type in the "www" in the first part of the address? Most competent, reputable websites will get to where you're going without the lead "www." Why can't they all do this?

Good Example: washingtonpost.com and www.washingtonpost.com both take you to the same place.

Bad Example: The District of Columbia bar's web page is at www.dcbar.org. But if, for whatever, reason, you don't type the "www", you get a missing page error.

Wassup widdat?