Nominet AGM on Thursday

[Whois-Search]

A few of us are going to the Nominet AGM and staying the night before:

Date and Time: Thursday 18th July 2019 - 10:30 to 12.45

Location: Nominet, Minerva House, Edmund Halley Road, Oxford, OX4 4DQ

So if you are in the area Wednesday night (17th July) let us know and we will meet for dinner.

If you want to go AGM signup is here:

https://www.nominet.uk/corporate-governance/agm/

There are still a few hotel rooms close to Nominet available:

• Hampton by Hilton (Kassam Stadium)
  https://hamptoninn3.hilton.com/en/hotels/united-kingdom/hampton-by-hilton-oxford-OXFHXHX/index.html
• Holiday Inn Express Oxford (Kassam Stadium)
  https://www.hiexpress.com/hotels/gb/en/oxford/ofdks/hoteldetail
• Oxford Thames by IHG (Sandford on Thames)
  https://www.phcompany.com/principal/oxford-thames/
• Oxford Spires by IHG (Abingdon Road)
  https://www.phcompany.com/principal/oxford-spires/
• Premier Inn (Cowley)
  https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/oxfordshire/oxford/oxford.html

The AGM is never advertised like a normal Nominet event and it should be IMO.

 

[Whois-Search]

Questions for the AGM

If you can’t join in person tomorrow....

Please could you join the webcast at 11:00 and ask questions online ?

Here are a few ideas (I can’t ask them all):

1. At the registrar conference this year it was claimed by Nominet there could be a price rise to at least £4 next year. Can Nominet please confirm this is still the case following the ROR release?

2. Now that both .uk and .co.uk are generally available many registrants have two names to renew or register. Will we see a discount on renewing / registering both extensions together?

3. During the ROR release a number of new members and tags joined Nominet to take advantage of extra EPP creates. Does the board intend to review connected parties in both membership subscriptions and access limits?

4. During the ROR release registrars were asked to deposit up to £90,000 each. Nominet only sold 41,459 domains in the first week which is only £155,471 in total. Therefore not one registrar even came close to selling 10,000+ domains and limits were allocated disproportionately. Why did those registrars claim they would Registrar far more than they did and why did Nominet ignore the petition signed by 45 members?

5. At the registrar conference the idea of Nominet publishing drop lists was discussed. Following the ROR release will Nominet now produce drop lists with an exact time the domain drops and introduce rate limiting?

6. In 2013 the total board remuneration was only £914,000 and in the latest accounts for 2018/19 the total board remuneration is £1,723,000. Please could you explain why board remuneration has doubled in just over 5 years?

7. In 2013 Nominet donated via the Nominet Trust £6 million. In the following years it donated £3 million , £4 million , £5.4 million. However in 2018 the Nominet Trust was renamed and donations stopped. In the past two years Nominet has spent just under £2 million on “public benefit” projects. Please could you explain why Donations have halved in just over 5 years?

8. In the NED election this year two new candidates stood against a larger registrar candidate (incumbent). Due to the weighted voting structure the new candidates can not mathematically win against a large registrar candidate (in a one seat year). When will we get a review of the voting rights which is a bye-law and can be changed by the board at anytime?

9. This year we had another one seat NED election. Next year we face the prospect of another one seat NED election. In a one seat election a candidate has to gain around 50% of the vote and in a two seat election only 33%. What is being done to realign the seats to two per year?

10. This year one Appointed non-executive Director could be re-appointed for a further 3 years (after 4 years on the board). Is it time to introduce a two term limit (6 years) for all directors?

 

[BG]

Some nice questions to put forward Andrew, good stuff!

 

[Domaintial]

Nice one, add more if you think of any ahead of the AGM tomorrow

My prediction as to what the answers to these questions will be (if they all get raised);

1. Yes, of course there will be a price increase - fluffy reasons will be given.

2. No, they are separate domains, in the same way .co.uk and .org.uk for example. So there will be no discounting. Also technically too complicated.

3. No, the subscriptions and limits were justified, however Nominet may consider introducing higher account tiers (more money) with higher limits (EPP).

4. There won't be a clear answer on this... it'll be referred to be "looked into".

5. No, Nominet won't consider supplying drop lists on an ongoing basis (and certainly not with the time).

6. One or more of reasons - Inflation, value, internal Nominet matter.

There won't be a clear answer on 7 to 10, these will need to be "looked into".

 

[Whois-Search]

Yes you can almost predict their replies to these can’t you lol

You won’t get much chance to reply again however if you do:

1. The figure of £4 was mentioned at Wotton House event. I’ve heard they want to go as high as £7 per name.

2. Nominet currently discount .wales and .cymru when you buy both together (technically it is possible).

3. What is the point in being an Accredited Channel Partner (audited once a year) if they are going to give EPP access to 10 random people who signup in Bulgaria?

4. The chairman’s salary is £92,000. Would the chairman like to spend his whole salary on EPP access at Nominet ?

5. The idea of a published drop list and drop times was introduced at the registrar conference with this slide:
http://twitter.com/whois_search/status/1122893538449068037

6. The biggest two increases have been the CEO and COO who is now MD of registry services:

CEO remuneration
2013: £273,000 (Lesley Cowley)
2019: £454,000 (Russell Haworth)

COO remuneration
2013: £165,000 (Eleanor Bradley)
2019: £325,000 (Eleanor Bradley)

7. Profit with a purpose isn’t charity. It’s expensive PR that only benefits Nominet.

8-10. I hope the NED candidates are both there to stick up for themselves on this one.

 

[Domaintial]

1. The figure of £4 was mentioned at Wotton House event. I’ve heard they want to go as high as £7 per name.

£7 !?!?!?!??!?!?!

Probably needed to pay for the increase in remunerations...

 

[Ben Thomas]

Questions for the AGM

If you can’t join in person tomorrow....

Please could you join the webcast at 11:00 and ask questions online ?

Here are a few ideas (I can’t ask them all):

1. At the registrar conference this year it was claimed by Nominet there could be a price rise to at least £4 next year. Can Nominet please confirm this is still the case following the ROR release?

2. Now that both .uk and .co.uk are generally available many registrants have two names to renew or register. Will we see a discount on renewing / registering both extensions together?

3. During the ROR release a number of new members and tags joined Nominet to take advantage of extra EPP creates. Does the board intend to review connected parties in both membership subscriptions and access limits?

4. During the ROR release registrars were asked to deposit up to £90,000 each. Nominet only sold 41,459 domains in the first week which is only £155,471 in total. Therefore not one registrar even came close to selling 10,000+ domains and limits were allocated disproportionately. Why did those registrars claim they would Registrar far more than they did and why did Nominet ignore the petition signed by 45 members?

5. At the registrar conference the idea of Nominet publishing drop lists was discussed. Following the ROR release will Nominet now produce drop lists with an exact time the domain drops and introduce rate limiting?

6. In 2013 the total board remuneration was only £914,000 and in the latest accounts for 2018/19 the total board remuneration is £1,723,000. Please could you explain why board remuneration has doubled in just over 5 years?

7. In 2013 Nominet donated via the Nominet Trust £6 million. In the following years it donated £3 million , £4 million , £5.4 million. However in 2018 the Nominet Trust was renamed and donations stopped. In the past two years Nominet has spent just under £2 million on “public benefit” projects. Please could you explain why Donations have halved in just over 5 years?

8. In the NED election this year two new candidates stood against a larger registrar candidate (incumbent). Due to the weighted voting structure the new candidates can not mathematically win against a large registrar candidate (in a one seat year). When will we get a review of the voting rights which is a bye-law and can be changed by the board at anytime?

9. This year we had another one seat NED election. Next year we face the prospect of another one seat NED election. In a one seat election a candidate has to gain around 50% of the vote and in a two seat election only 33%. What is being done to realign the seats to two per year?

10. This year one Appointed non-executive Director could be re-appointed for a further 3 years (after 4 years on the board). Is it time to introduce a two term limit (6 years) for all directors?

Brilliant questions. I won't be attending in person and unfortunately have a doctors appointment at the time of the webinar, but will try to catch some of it. Unless I can watch it somewhere afterwards?

If they were to go as a high as £7 per name, it wouldn't make any sense for anybody to register domains directly through Nominet. I'd sooner use a service like IONOS (and an API) to register them and transfer them to my TAG.

 

[RobM]

No £7 is what nominet would be selling to registrars.

 

[Domaintial]

If they were to go as a high as £7 per name, it wouldn't make any sense for anybody to register domains directly through Nominet. I'd sooner use a service like IONOS (and an API) to register them and transfer them to my TAG.

If you have your own TAG why don't you just register the domains directly yourself? I'm assuming you mean a self managed TAG right?

 

[Ben Thomas]

If you have your own TAG why don't you just register the domains directly yourself? I'm assuming you mean a self managed TAG right?

What I'm saying is, it's cheaper for me at £7 to register them through a 3rd party who can provide me a lower price because they do so much volume sales. Of course, I am an accredited registrar, but my point was that £7 is ridiculous. In fact, even £4 is ridiculous.

 

[Domaintial]

What I'm saying is, it's cheaper for me at £7 to register them through a 3rd party who can provide me a lower price because they do so much volume sales. Of course, I am an accredited registrar, but my point was that £7 is ridiculous. In fact, even £4 is ridiculous.

If Nominet put the registrar base price up to as much as 7 GBP, everyone's price will go up...

 

[Ben Thomas]

If Nominet put the registrar base price up to as much as 7 GBP, everyone's price will go up...

Indeed. But it’ll still be cheaper at some places because they do so much volume. They always have offers for the first year registration. I’ve found IONOS to be cheaper than Nominet on several occasions in the hope they will renew at the more expensive price the following year. But if I’m being honest, this was an annoying process. So I would probably just take the hit and go through Nominet. But it’s pretty shitty that were kinda barrelfished into whatever price they want us to pay.

 

[Gav]

Has anyone got the details to join the AGM webcast? Nominet seem to have neglected to send me the details after I registered.

 

[Domaintial]

AGM underway, I don't get why the GTM password wasn't on the ICS/cal invite, but ho hum.

 

[Domaintial]

Has anyone got the details to join the AGM webcast? Nominet seem to have neglected to send me the details after I registered.

You need a gotomeeting link thats unique to you...

 

[Gav]

You need a gotomeeting link thats unique to you...

OK thanks, have emailed them for my details. I doubt they'll respond in time though.

 

[Domaintial]

Some of what is being said just reminds me a little of the feeling you get when the ministry of magic is trying to convince everyone of their good intentions in Harry Potter... perhaps i'm just too jaded and sceptical... Esp on the expansion plan with acquisition of other entities, esp the cyber security push, which I don't fully understand the driver behind for what is fundamentally a membership driven registry service.

 

[Gav]

OK thanks, have emailed them for my details. I doubt they'll respond in time though.

They responded, but not in time.

Our main email service is on a .co domain. It turns out Nominet (of all people) presumed my email address was entered in error and changed it to .com which is why I never received my AGM access details.

To think that these are geniuses that are running our country's registry.

 

[RobM]

Interesting that they didn't think you had missed off .uk

 

[Gav]

Interesting that they didn't think you had missed off .uk

They obviously know .co.uk is on its decline now.