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Although this may have been explored in other threads I would like to specifically discuss this particular issue in a seperate thread in an attempt to really iron out what happened and why.
Many of us went through two consultations prior to the final decision, released by Nominet this past week, detailing how forthcoming .uk domain names will be allocated. Consultation "v1" aimed to give trademark holders and other unregistered rights holders first refusal. That was forgotten about after so many negative responses. Many of the responses to v1 would possibly have suggested that .co.uk registrants should have been given first refusal. However Nominet responded by publishing consultation "v2" which aimed to give the current oldest registrant of a matching {.co|org|me|ltd|plc|net}.uk and possibly even sch.uk and ac.uk first refusal over the forthcoming .uk. Some considered "oldest registrant first" fairer but eventually, in response to v2, that was forgotten after probably many further negative responses to it. Finally Nominet skipped a third consultation, deciding to release a plan of action and giving all .co.uk registrants that existed at 23:59:59 on 28th October 2013 first refusal over the forthcoming .uk. Up until then I hadn't seen any indication from Nominet that the result could go that way. In many roundtable meetings in response to the v2 plan we had representatives from .ac.uk and gov.uk as well as charities. We all spent copious amounts of time listening to represenatives from some of those indicating that they might be quite interested in getting their hands on the matching .uk for their domain name registration. My assumption, in respect of the responses to v2, was that the overwhelming theme throughout the vast majorityof responses received must have been for .co.uk holders to be given first refusal. Furthermore it wouldn't surprise me if the Government felt that .co.uk registrants should be given first refusal as well.
What I fail to grasp is why, until the recent "final" decision, which could have been released as a third consultation instead if Nominet had wanted to be absolutely sure of final opinions, the idea of giving .co.uk registrants first refusal hadn't been taken more seriously by Nominet earlier on. Why did their v2 consultation not consider it instead of the oldest possible registrant idea? Were they dead against the idea? Were they dragged kicking and screaming to the final decision that was recently published or was it just the normal way of consulting on such things (i.e. present something nobody wanted on two occasions before changing ones mind and finalising on something that was never presented in a prior draft consultion in the end)?
I've read in their FAQ's an acknowledgement that oldest registrant first would have been difficult to impliment due to timestamps and confusing for end users. Surely they know this, before, when they published the v2 proposal? I certainly did and I told them in my response. However nobody at Nominet seemed to suggest that they knew it would be confusing and there was no prior hint that .co.uk given precident was the way it would end up.
Did we as respondents really steer Nominet into the final decision because they had absolutely no clue beforehand that it was the best one, or did they know this beforehand and instead felt they needed to pretend they didn't and present two other possible solutions over the past 13 months?
Many of us went through two consultations prior to the final decision, released by Nominet this past week, detailing how forthcoming .uk domain names will be allocated. Consultation "v1" aimed to give trademark holders and other unregistered rights holders first refusal. That was forgotten about after so many negative responses. Many of the responses to v1 would possibly have suggested that .co.uk registrants should have been given first refusal. However Nominet responded by publishing consultation "v2" which aimed to give the current oldest registrant of a matching {.co|org|me|ltd|plc|net}.uk and possibly even sch.uk and ac.uk first refusal over the forthcoming .uk. Some considered "oldest registrant first" fairer but eventually, in response to v2, that was forgotten after probably many further negative responses to it. Finally Nominet skipped a third consultation, deciding to release a plan of action and giving all .co.uk registrants that existed at 23:59:59 on 28th October 2013 first refusal over the forthcoming .uk. Up until then I hadn't seen any indication from Nominet that the result could go that way. In many roundtable meetings in response to the v2 plan we had representatives from .ac.uk and gov.uk as well as charities. We all spent copious amounts of time listening to represenatives from some of those indicating that they might be quite interested in getting their hands on the matching .uk for their domain name registration. My assumption, in respect of the responses to v2, was that the overwhelming theme throughout the vast majorityof responses received must have been for .co.uk holders to be given first refusal. Furthermore it wouldn't surprise me if the Government felt that .co.uk registrants should be given first refusal as well.
What I fail to grasp is why, until the recent "final" decision, which could have been released as a third consultation instead if Nominet had wanted to be absolutely sure of final opinions, the idea of giving .co.uk registrants first refusal hadn't been taken more seriously by Nominet earlier on. Why did their v2 consultation not consider it instead of the oldest possible registrant idea? Were they dead against the idea? Were they dragged kicking and screaming to the final decision that was recently published or was it just the normal way of consulting on such things (i.e. present something nobody wanted on two occasions before changing ones mind and finalising on something that was never presented in a prior draft consultion in the end)?
I've read in their FAQ's an acknowledgement that oldest registrant first would have been difficult to impliment due to timestamps and confusing for end users. Surely they know this, before, when they published the v2 proposal? I certainly did and I told them in my response. However nobody at Nominet seemed to suggest that they knew it would be confusing and there was no prior hint that .co.uk given precident was the way it would end up.
Did we as respondents really steer Nominet into the final decision because they had absolutely no clue beforehand that it was the best one, or did they know this beforehand and instead felt they needed to pretend they didn't and present two other possible solutions over the past 13 months?
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