>Where were you Jon?

I was employed by the .au registry for the last Names Panel so was not in a position to stand or make my (long-standing) views on this topic known. Before that, I was in the UK.

I completely agree that it is time for a calm, rational debate on this issue. Terms like 'madness' are clearly not helpful.

I realise change is hard for some people, but having lived in England for many years, I can assure readers that the English are reflexively and seriously change-resistant. Yet, they're doing this.

There are many different approaches to handling grandfathering of existing 3rd level names. I'm not sure I like the .uk approach.

It should be emphasised that this is about increasing choice.

For thosr worried about 'consumer confusion', I have two points:
1. 25 years ago, most people had never heard of domain names
2. there are about to be hundreds of new gTLDs released into the market.

Jon

-------- Original message --------
From: David Goldstein <david at goldsteinreport.com> 
Date: 21/11/2013  07:58  (GMT+10:00) 
To: "'.au DNS Discussion List'" <dns at dotau.org> 
Subject: Re: [DNS] Catch-up time for .au 
 
Where is the evidence of ?utter confusion? Doug? This process has happened in a number of ccTLDs around the world and the sky hasn?t fallen in. And where it has happened and there is an equal choice, that is the same policies for both spaces, registrants overwhelmingly prefer registrations at the second level.
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And then it comes back to individuals. Individuals are treated poorly under .au. Oh yeah, they can go and use .id.au, but it is unloved and almost nobody wants to use it. Go to .fr, where individuals can register domains, and registrations are around 50/50 for business and individuals.
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These are two issues I have campaigned on at the last two Names Policy Panels with limited support. Where were you Jon? The problem is the issues are put as simple yes or no questions that doesn?t work. The issue needs to be a discussion about the pros and cons and how the transition would take place. It?s a serious issue that requires serious discussion as happened in .uk and .nz. Not a simple yes or no option in a questionnaire.
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And I?m not sure where you get your information from Doug. The .co ccTLD seems to be progressing nicely with over 1.5 million registrations in 3 years.
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So how about an informed discussion on the issue without the histrionics.
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David
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From: dns-bounces at dotau.org [mailto:dns-bounces at dotau.org] On Behalf Of Doug Robb
Sent: Thursday, 21 November 2013 2:55
To: '.au DNS Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [DNS] Catch-up time for .au
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Err this is madness!
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From the article:
?In the small proportion of instances where there could be competition ? e.g. where one person holds example.co.uk and another holds example.org.uk ? the shorter domain will be offered to the .co.uk registrant.?
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So the domain space is collapsed by a mass migration of .co.uk to .uk for what purpose? What utter confusion for the .org?s and the like. Perhaps the .co is meaningless in people?s minds ? a mistake of the past. We should be so lucky to be .com.au and get the best of both worlds ? a recognized brand and a regional separation with the potential for further discrimination between logical groups.
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Leave me out of destroying this in favor of a once off land grab by existing .com owners or companies with deep pockets ?..
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Doug
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From: dns-bounces at dotau.org [mailto:dns-bounces at dotau.org] On Behalf Of Jon Lawrence (Personal)
Sent: Wednesday, 20 November 2013 9:00 PM
To: dns at dotau.org
Subject: [DNS] Catch-up time for .au
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http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/nominet-ushers-new-era-uk-namespace
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So, .uk are doing it. And .nz is doing it (opening up registrations at the second-level). And as they're both currently 'co.', they don't even suffer from the same brand confusion that we get from being 'com.'.
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I call on auDA to urgently convene a new Names Panel to consider the issue of opening up second-level registrations in .au.
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Sorry Chris, but the 'let's see how the dust settles on the new gTLDs first' line is, in my opinion, naive, and I believe puts the long-term success of .au at genuine risk.
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Who's with me?
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Jon
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