27 days... Model C... an auction model

[Murray]

Did it ever come to mind that it might not continue as it had been doing and you should think about planning for that day?

How do they put up with you at Nominet ooze condescension

As you're aware my post wasn't about me, the sentiment was future mes who might have come across the domain industry and wanted to learn and get into it, that door will now be shut for them other than speculative .com registrations

Leaving the door open for people to make successes of themselves is far superior to charity

 

[webber]

And as someone mentioned earlier, how convenient just in time for Septembers drops.

They stated in the webinar that this will be implemented with ample notice, which is how it should be. I expect something like 6 months notice to implement changes at registrars. This won't impact September drops I don't think.

I personally think Nominet can take a hike, off a cliff preferably. This is a non-profit organisation. What business do they have auctioning names they don’t own?

Except they are not a non-profit organisation, they are very much for-profit. If they want to implement changes then let's look deeper than dropcatching and review why they are the uk registry without any competition to this title, and why they can offer a utility-style monopoly service with totally unregulated profit margins

 

[martin-s]

I really do not like the auction model, at least with some sort of dropcatching method, it is more open to everyone, lets be honest a auction model will just result in a monopoly with the deep pocket investors moping up.

Or end users

 

[mcrick]

As you're aware my post wasn't about me, the sentiment was future mes who might have come across the domain industry and wanted to learn and get into it, that door will now be shut for them other than speculative .com registrations

You may have tried to frame it as only being about future entrants but I think fairly and squarely it is about you. You got in whenever you did, enjoyed it and were encouraged to pursue it therefore made money. Others who did the same likely failed because they weren't as skilled as you. However it was opportunistic and like many you must thank your lucky stars that you found out about it when you did. If you've done well, good. Future changes are inevitable and future entrants will adapt to the circumstances presented to them at the time. I do think about those who came into it, made money, spent it all and now have nothing to show for it if the taps are turned down/off and I hope that isn't the case for the majority. I hope some, but I can't know which ones, will have been mindful to realise they were onto a lucky break and should invest the money in something which will give them a future return (such as themselves) if/when it all ended for them. It is business, though, not for fun.

 

[rottensoundz]

Hi All,

I haven’t posted in a while and have mostly moved on from domaining but I still enjoy frequenting Acorn and keeping up to date and felt like I wanted to contribute to this.

I have read this whole thread and the news article thread, please excuse me if i am repeating anyone elses ideas.

Currently I am against the Auction model but want to keep this post constructive so I would like to lay out some concerns I have on this model so they can be debated and maybe even have my view changed.

For me it comes down to ethics, trust and perceived neutrality.

Please except some of my thoughts are theory that might be wrong or never come to place but I believe they are worth exploring and might start to prove this model could work out to be a headache.

My first thought was about domains expiring with trademark issues, what if a (perceived to be) valuable domain had bids against it and it was heavily trademarked would any of the trademark owners have legal right to litigation against nominet? If so would they implement some sort of trademark filter to stop these domains from going to auction or would the trademark owners have first rights, would I then be able to (time permitting) acquire a trademark to better myself in acquiring this type of domain ?

What statistics are going to be used to choose what domains are valuable?

Would backlinks be a statistic? Can anyone see any potential problems if domains with backlinks are auctioned by Nominet?

Would the amount of times a domain gets looked up at Nominets whois be used as a statistic?
I currently trust the whois, I only look up domains there instead of registrars whois’s because of the practice of domains being registered after X amounts of look ups.I would perceive people having less trust in the whois if there was a possible benefit from the statistics gained from using it.

Or is it just going to be domains with pre-bids that go to auction?

If so I think there will still be some sort of dropcatching of non-auctioned domains that are still valuable.


I would feel less trusting of a company that has a vested interest in my (valuable) domain expiring, I would not be expecting any underhand tactics but what if a email accidently did not go out about renewal, my domain dropped and it was auctioned by the company that was meant to send the email out?

Could I drs nominet at the point they are auctioning a domain I think I have ‘rights’ to?

What about paranoia of shill bidding to drive their profits up?

What if someone who works at Nominet wants a domain being bid on, will they be allowed to bid in the auction?

Here is a article published yesterday at the register.com
I re-read it today and then went on to read the comments, the ones I noted are from, Diogeness8080,Maffski,Mike137

https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/22/nominet_uk_addresses/

 

[ian]

My first thought was about domains expiring with trademark issues, what if a (perceived to be) valuable domain had bids against it and it was heavily trademarked would any of the trademark owners have legal right to litigation against nominet? If so would they implement some sort of trademark filter to stop these domains from going to auction or would the trademark owners have first rights, would I then be able to (time permitting) acquire a trademark to better myself in acquiring this type of domain ?

Nominet claim that the 90 period is sufficient for this not to be a problem, and as they only facilitate the auction on behalf of buyers, they would likely allow domains to sell, then accept a DRS against the new owner, not Nominet. Existing rules on swear words, blatant misspellings etc continue to apply.

What statistics are going to be used to choose what domains are valuable?

Expressions of interest.

Would backlinks be a statistic? Can anyone see any potential problems if domains with backlinks are auctioned by Nominet?

Same as your first question really, backlinks from the past don't except a domain from sale in the future.

Would the amount of times a domain gets looked up at Nominets whois be used as a statistic?

I doubt it, they'll use expressions of interest. It isn't Nominet's place to determine value.

If so I think there will still be some sort of dropcatching of non-auctioned domains that are still valuable.

Yes, none contested domains will drop for registration using EPP using a timestamp or set time.

What about paranoia of shill bidding to drive their profits up?

Always possible, no idea why anyone would bother, apart from Nominet themselves.

Note - just my opinion based upon research and webinars etc, Nominet may do something else entirely.
Disclaimer - I'm against any auction model