Concerned about accuracy of Nominet member list

[Kieren]

Nominet supplied me with a list of its members as part of my Board election bid and I sent a mailing to every active member in the UK asking for their support.

I was expected a few returns but many more than I expected came back, every one due to some kind of issue with delivery: the most common being a Royal Mail sticker with the box "addressee gone away" ticked. My local postie tells me that is when a business has moved.

So I started digging into some of these returns, and I've been amazed to find that some addresses - which are still in Nominet most current member data - are a decade out of date. One even had "Demolished" written on it - I checked it out, and the trading estate it was addressed to had been raised at least five years earlier and a new housing estate built on top.

Not only that but two Nominet members have been in touch with me to say that they haven't received the voting email from Nominet - presumably because Nominet also has the wrong email address for them..


Why is this important and why am I bugging you about it?

Because Nominet is a member organisation and so much of what Nominet decides and how the organisation approaches the .uk space is built on that membership. It informs what Nominet does, and how it does it and it also impacts members' voting rights.

It's very possible - even likely - that many of those assumptions are simply wrong because the org is working from decade-old data. Imagine if you were working from .uk domain data from 2010.

So my question to you all - I assume the majority of you are Nominet members - is: has Nominet ever contacted you to verify your contact information?

If you move address, or change email, is it on you to inform Nominet - and, crucially, have you remembered to do so?

I recall Andrew Bennett has not once but twice identified voting miscalculations by Nominet - each time in the largest registrars' favour. It's possible that the whole system is skewed because a lot of members are effectively unreachable.

 

[Kieren]

How many is 'more than you expected' as that makes a difference to how much of a problem this actually is?

So I sent just over 2,000 and so far I've got back 91. Another 7 arrived this morning,

Which is relatively small - under 5 per cent. But I'm willing to bet that there are many more that have simply been put through the wrong company's post box and then chucked in the bin.

Here's what's really worrying me: I was talking to Nominet about member engagement literally last month and they admitted that they simply don't know who 1,000 of their members are. That's 1,000 out of 2,500 members.

I recall having a similar conversation with Lesley Cowley when she was CEO and there was a very low voter turnout for one of the big efforts to change the org's corporate structure.

Her assumption was that most Nominet members simply didn't care enough to vote and so she took that as evidence that they implicitly supported her plans. I'm willing to bet Nominet's staff and board continue to think along these lines.

When it comes to some of the returned mailings: some are quite big registrars.

One example: Heart Internet. When it was bought by Host Europe more than ten years ago it moved address from Nottingham to Middlesex. And then again in 2015 to London when GoDaddy bought Host Europe. But Nominet still has it listed an active member based in Nottingham.

The company that used to be based in the destroyed trading estate is still presumably paying its annual member fees - but very possibly not seeing any communication from Nominet.

The other reason this concerns me is that I'm standing for the election on a platform of improving member engagement and trust and improving communication. And you can't engage or communicate with someone if you don't know anything about them.

 

[diablo]

Were any of the returns from Truro per chance? At one point, it was domainer central but the company providing addresses closed two years ago.

 

[Kieren]

Where any of the returns from Truro per chance? At one point, it was domainer central but the company providing addresses closed two years ago.

I've got 7 seven members listed in Truro but so far no returns from any of them.

 

[JimDavies]

I agree with you that this is higher than it should be.

My guess would be that payments are on direct debits/standing orders and just go through while the member company or person exists, even if the address is wrong or if they have become part of a bigger group.

On a positive note, I don't think Heart still has a vote. But again I think that is probably because Andrew or others informed Nominet, rather than anything proactive. I remember doing some of that clearing up a while back with him, but it would be fair to say it was mostly him.

Either way, a more proactive approach at Nominet should be able to clear it up. There are only 2,500 or so members, so getting through the list should not be a big staff resource issue. Possibly something both of us could agree to instigate if elected?

 

[Kieren]

I agree with you that this is higher than it should be.

My guess would be that payments are on direct debits/standing orders and just go through while the member company or person exists, even if the address is wrong or if they have become part of a bigger group.

On a positive note, I don't think Heart still has a vote. But again I think that is probably because Andrew or others informed Nominet, rather than anything proactive. I remember doing some of that clearing up a while back with him, but it would be fair to say it was mostly him.

Either way, a more proactive approach at Nominet should be able to clear it up. There are only 2,500 or so members, so getting through the list should not be a big staff resource issue. Possibly something both of us could agree to instigate if elected?

Sure.

 

[Kieren]

I've been digging into this a little more.

It looks as though Nominet has adopted a slow-rollout approach to accurate member data where it prods people to become Accredited channel partners and then as part of that accreditation gets updated company information.

My guess is that the returns I've receiving are from either non-accredited channel partners or self-managed tag holders but the member list I have doesn't include that information.

If anyone is willing to explain the benefits to being accredited, or why you would wish to remain non-accredited, would be interested to understand.

 

[rob]

As a data point I sent a first class mail out to named individuals (not domains/nom) and had an apparent 4% fail rate just off the postal service. Zero returns mind, but different type of thing so aware of what turned up / didn't.

 

[Kieren]

As a data point I sent a first class mail out to named individuals (not domains/nom) and had an apparent 4% fail rate just off the postal service. Zero returns mind, but different type of thing so aware of what turned up / didn't.

Thanks, useful.

I expected a few "return to senders" but not the amount coming back, especially with official stickers on. I figured a few business would have shut down, especially with the pandemic. But it's clear there's not been an effort to keep the member data current.

 

[Kieren]

Just as a data point: I've received a further 3 returns this morning. So the rate is slowing down but it still looks like a significant problem.

 

[DJ]

I never received your mailout btw, and my address is correct.

 

[martin-s]

I received the mailout fine, having updated our address when we moved office last year.

 

[DJ]

I never received your mailout btw, and my address is correct.

I should add that I received the other mailouts and my address is up to date.

 

[xdnet]

If anyone is willing to explain the benefits to being accredited, or why you would wish to remain non-accredited, would be interested to understand.

https://registrars.nominet.uk/uk-namespace/registrar-agreement/accredited-channel-partner/

Main benefit, you can edit registrant and manage your own data quality to avoid Nominet suspending your customers. In return you have to show you have insurance and have thought about disaster recovery etc.

 

[Kieren]

I should add that I received the other mailouts and my address is up to date.

You're the second person that's told me that. I'll try to check on why

 

[stitchbob]

I've also received no mailshot from you, and I've only ever had my current address registered with Nominet.

 

[Kieren]

I've also received no mailshot from you, and I've only ever had my current address registered with Nominet.

Email me your details - [email protected] - and I'll check. Could be Nominet, could be the Post Office.