On (Un)Necessary Prefixes

Learning to translate links into html for my posts, I have come across the surprising realization that the "WWW" previously wedded--webbed, I suppose--to my conception of the website's name is actually irrelevant for your browser; you don't need it when typing a site in anymore than you need this semi-colon.

But, given the shorthand phrasing, acronyms, and emoticons that have appeared and flourished with and within the Internet's development, I wonder why websites--these emblems of quickly offered and recieved information--are still frequently addressed so properly and lengthily. Why start out the web-name with its official "WWW" title, as if we were Eddie Haskells greeting Mrs. Cleaver or formerly introducing ourselves to the boss during an interview? Is it perhaps that with all of the ephemeral hypertext links and electronic spandrels woven throughout the web by and for millions of anonymous spiders that we need to add a firmer sense of place and familiarity to the many and varied sites we visit after leaving our own homepages?