AGM: Voting is now open for NED & articles changes

[webber]

You should have received your voting packs today via email from Civica Election Services <[email protected]>.

If you're wondering how to vote and need some points about each section, here's what I would recommend to you:

Election of Director
You can watch the candidates at the Domain Summit debate and Nominet webinar.
Two of the candidates seem very qualified and I would recommend them, while the third has been a member of the Board during the Russell Haworth era and signed off on the diversification into cybersecurity and the subsequent loss of over £18m of members' money into CyGlass.
You can drag the names in the ‘Vote Preferences’ list and order them:

Ordinary Resolutions
2. Appoointment of Haysmacintyre LLP, Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor as the auditors of the Company
This is a welcome change which you can read more about here:
community.nominet.uk/t/change-of-auditors/1628

Special Resolution
4. That the Company hereby adopts revised articles of association
Well, read more about it here and wait for your refund :
acorndomains.co.uk/threads/why-you-should-vote-no-to-nominets-proposed-governance-changes

Hope this helps...

 

[Systreg]

You can drag the names in the ‘Vote Preferences’ list and order them:
View attachment 4034

Thanks, I didn't know it was multiple choice, so I might as well go with the 2 you suggest.

 

[ukbackorder]

I wasn't going to vote until I saw David put his name forward. Gives me a reason to sign in and vote for the other 2. Maybe he is there deliberately to encourage more people to take part

 

[Nigel]

imo the uk domain market is at an all time low - there are occasional decent sales reported, and no doubt many that go unreported, but you only need to look at the dnjournal sales report each week to see the strength of other cctlds compared to ours. Trying to squeeze a decent profit, after reg fees, from a fairly large portfolio is nigh on impossible. Of course the introduction of .uk has been the main cause of that - the need to often double the reg fee on many domains combined with the weakened price effect on domain sales - has dampened our market. So for us reg fees, and the promotion of the uk domain space is the main issue when considering voting in these elections.

I listened to the other two candidates and enjoyed their presentations - very professional - but have to say David is the only one who has focused on reg fees and possibility of a future promotional offer. Now we could say David is electioneering but this para from his link was important info for our company:

"I am a domain name investor and have advocated for domain name price promotions in the past. After the 2021 EGM you may remember Nominet offered registrars a price freeze and both registration and renewal promotions. I was on the board at that time. I know this is a very important issue for many portfolio holders. I will continuously advocate for Nominet to offer quality domain name price promotions."

So David I take it that you will raise the issue of reg fee promotions, inc renewals if re-elected. Did you have a say in the price promotion that was offered in 2021? Are there other board members who will support this? I understand total nominet registrations are now in decline - so I would hope this could be agreed quite quickly.

If either of the other two candidates want to comment here it would be good to hear their views. We don't intend to vote until the last few days.

 

[webber]

David is the only one who has focused on reg fees

That in isolation is actually true.
The last few price increases happened with his approval while he was on the Board, in order to build a merger and acquisitions budget or for vanity book publishing deals for the CEO.
Just saying...

 

[DJ]

I wasn't going to vote as I'm disillusioned by nominet, the false promises, and the toying the company line culture.

I then thought I would vote when I saw David was running, to make sure he didn't get elected.

Now I'm thinking I will vote for David, just so the current board have to deal with him , payback can be a bitch.

@invincible I notice your tone is a lot more pleasant now you are seeking election. It is a shame that your past comments and actions will come back to haunt you, as you probably do in fact have a lot in common with most of the small registrars on this forum. Sadly though, most of us have seen your true colours already or been a victim of your outbursts previously.

 

[Nigel]

Thanks the info David. I'm going to be pragmatic and vote according to the best outcome for our company. I know that renewal promotion was a welcome relief to a pretty dire period. Saved us over £10k over two years. Meant we could renew domains, and keep our portfolio strong until the better days come again....!!

 

[DJ]

Thanks the info David. I'm going to be pragmatic and vote according to the best outcome for our company. I know that renewal promotion was a welcome relief to a pretty dire period. Saved us over £10k over two years. Meant we could renew domains, and keep our portfolio strong until the better days come again....!!

Just to point out that Simon Blackler was elected with a promise to reduce prices. Nothing happened, and now it would appear that they are looking at increasing prices rather than reducing them. Inflation will be the ready made excuse that they need to justify their actions. Or they will try to sell the idea that a price freeze is a real world reduction.

 

[Nigel]

Just to point out that Simon Blackler was elected with a promise to reduce prices. Nothing happened, and now it would appear that they are looking at increasing prices rather than reducing them. Inflation will be the ready made excuse that they need to justify their actions. Or they will try to sell the idea that a price freeze is a real world reduction.

Agree - that was one of the main reasons I voted for him. Very disappointed. But if we can get a freeze and a renewal promotion that would be something.

 

[webber]

Simon is / David would be just one of nine Board members.
It doesn't matter what they say or want if the others disagree.
Even if all four NEDs would be voting in favour of lowering prices, they don't have a majority on their own so can't get anything passed.
They need to work together and build consensus, compromise in one place to get something in another.

I will vote for David, just so the current board have to deal with him , payback can be a bitch.

As you say, do you see him achieving anything with the rest of the board or just being a joker who everyone ignores but cashes in his flight expenses?

 

[DJ]

Simon is/David would be just one of nine Board members.
It doesn't matter what they say or want if the others disagree.
Even if all four NEDs would be voting in favour of lowering prices, they don't have a majority on their own so can't get anything passed.
They need to work together and build consensus, compromise in one place to get something in another.

As you say, do you see him achieving anything with the rest of the board or just being a joker who everyone ignores but cashes in his flight expenses?

So effectively voting for any of them is pointless, which is the reason I wasn't going to vote in the first place. Part of me would just love to see their reaction if David were to win .

I doubt I'll bother though.

 

[webber]

So effectively voting for any of them is pointless

Not quite, but they certainly can not do whatever they feel like on their own. Checks and balances and all that...

Part of me would just love to see their reaction if David were to win

Weirdly, I would too. But I just can't bring back a gravy train conductor just for my selfish anarchist pleasure.

I doubt I'll bother though.

Lack of engagement from members is what the Executive and Board expects and they use that as an excuse for a lot of things. What would really surprise them or make their life more difficult would be a high vote turnout every year.

 

[DJ]

Lack of engagement from members is what the Executive and Board expects and they use that as an excuse for a lot of things. What would really surprise them or make their life more difficult would be a high vote turnout every year.

When you try to engage you are either get ignored, shut down with a company line response, or offered false promises.

April Forsyth said they would look into improving the terrible new lookup tool back in Nov 22, but nothing has been done since and it is still as shit as it was the day it launched.

 

[webber]

the terrible new lookup tool [...] is still as shit as it was the day it launched.

At least there are clean and elegant alternatives available – rdap.uk or whois.uk
But joking aside, I agree. Nothing a board member can do about it though...

 

[webber]

You seem to have a strange view of me

It's not just me, mate... read the room. And this thread.

Go into the WDM [...] The pagination is wrong. I pointed that out at least five years ago and it was acknowledged but wasn't fixed. Still hasn't been.
I also plan to champion getting the WDM interface improved or some alternative developed.

So you couldn't do anything about this while you were on the Board for 6 years but you're standing again this year with a plan to fix it? Great stuff!
Are you sure you know what the Board does and that you're not confusing it with the Executive?

These are rhetorical questions, by the way... in case you intend to detail here your battle plan for how to convince the Board to fix WDM

 

[Ben Thomas]

Well I didn't vote for you David, but what I found fucking hilarious was that I was able to vote at all. I'm not a member, since around 9 months ago, yet still receiving all the member emails. Was able to login with my membership voting credentials which Nominet emailed me. They email me a lot, the time before this was for a membership fee. Lol.

Amusing. A shambles of an organisation.

 

[bb99]

Amusing. A shambles of an organisation.

Jesus Ben, are you saying that you've not been a member for 9 months and you've actually been sent the details and been able to vote in the NED election?

I appreciate that you have actually said that, but I'm so in disbelief that I thought I'd better double check

 

[Ben Thomas]

Jesus Ben, are you saying that you've not been a member for 9 months and you've actually been sent the details and been able to vote in the NED election?

I appreciate that you have actually said that, but I'm so in disbelief that I thought I'd better double check

Indeed

 

[Whois-Search]

Could it be the following scenario:

- You paid £100 on 1st August 2022
- You stopped using your tag 9 months ago?
- Brightwork not showing as deleted on the board reports
- Nominet sent latest membership invoice 1st August 2023
- You get 30 days to pay the membership invoice
- Nominet generated the voting rights 1st September 2023
- They were going to do it on the 8th but changed the date to the 1st September

So there are now members who haven’t paid the August invoice with voting rights?

Brightwork Ops Limited 1,416

 

[DJ]