concerned, very concerned

[nomiwatch]

Nominet is poised to start competing with its own members.

Nominet's agenda is now out in the open.

Nominet Director (who would be in line for Directors bonuses should the EGM motions be passed) openly admits that Nominet wants to be a registrar for other suffixes (not just .UK) Times Online "We can't consider working outside the .uk registry without these changes."

Once Nominet gets its motions passed at the EGM it is then free to become a registrar for .COM domains.

Nominet being free to be competitive can :

(1) jack up its monopoly membership fees and co.uk domain registration pricing to increase revenues

so as to

(2) cross-subsidize .COM registration pricing.

This could mean that Nominet can then ruthlessly compete for .COM registrations business. This would be in direct competiotion with many of its membership (some of which are .COM registrars in their own rights One&One, Register.com, Tucows, NetworkSolutions, Easyspace etc etc etc, or resellers of .COM registrars.

Nominet can achieve this because it is a monopoly supplier of .co.uk domain names. If the EGM is passed Directors can jack up .co.uk prices without seeking approval of the membership.

Both smaller members (who could be winkled out by higher membership fees) and larger members (who are either .com registrars or large registration companies of .com domain names) should be concerned, very concerned.

 

[domaingenius]

In other words Nominet wants to become a Registrar as well as a Registry.Thats what comes from appointing a business orientated solicitor as its Chairman. Strange how Nominet have always put up the answer "we are a non profit making organisation" when questioned about anything and yet now they are reversing that. What is going to happen if Nominet gets its way is that it will eventually become more pro active and there will be no more catching deleted names as they will be auctioned off (maybe thats a good thing).

Yes definately vote against any changes.

DG

 

[Jay Daley]

You are mis-reading this. The international business opportunities are in other registries - for example we did not bid for .eu but the winning consortium is made up of three country code registries including .be, who do most of the technical work.

 

[FC Domains]

By a very lucky accident, the original Nominet rules put the fundamental decision making in the hands of the members, not the board.

The result is that the interests of the members are in their own hands and we are not pushed aside by "non-profit making" empire building.

It seems that these rule changes are just the prologue to a radical change of emphasis. If you view Nominet as a business this might make sense. However if you want it to remain an organisation that serves the interests of it's members, then you could be throwing away your rights.
This may not be the intention of the board, but I can't tell.

Vote against the rule changes.

 

[Nigel]

Agree that this sounds a very worrying proposal. Bigger does not always mean better. Let's hope the members vote against and Nominet's officials and staff are content to put all their efforts in serving the needs of UK Internet Consumers which was the reason it was established in the first place.

 

[rob]

nomiwatch who are you?

No offense, I am totally with Hazel on the matter, but a new member on an anon name doesnt really give weight to your post.

 

[retired_member11]

Agree that this sounds a very worrying proposal. Bigger does not always mean better. Let's hope the members vote against and Nominet's officials and staff are content to put all their efforts in serving the needs of UK Internet Consumers which was the reason it was established in the first place.

The people who work for Nominet are not doing so out of the goodness of their collective hearts. They go to work every day and want the best contractual terms of employment they can get (i.e. top remuneration) just like most everyone else out there. Think about it from their perspective. They see quite a few members making very good money from domains and yet they cannot share in this opportunity directly. The only way they can improve their position is by reinventing Nominet and the business model to generate more turnover and gross 'profits'... leading to better pay. To do this they have made the necessary proposals being put before the EGM, proposals which amount to a coup d'etat against the membership.

Sorry to be blunt, but it amounts to a legal f**ing of the membership by the staff (not necessarily all of them, just the 'self serving corporates') we 'employ'. Are you voting for that?

Have a look in the mirror and see if a turkey stares back at you.

 

[Nigel]

The people who work for Nominet are not doing so out of the goodness of their collective hearts. They go to work every day and want the best contractual terms of employment they can get...

Sounds like they'll be voting for a final salary pension scheme next

 

[retired_member11]

Sounds like they'll be voting for a final salary pension scheme next

You see my point. It's 'us' and 'them'. I don't blamr them. It's logical behaviour, but it's important to understand what's happening and why. I voted no, no, and no.

 

[domaingenius]

You are mis-reading this. The international business opportunities are in other registries - for example we did not bid for .eu but the winning consortium is made up of three country code registries including .be, who do most of the technical work.

Jay, please tell us then what the actual reason behind wanting to go into other business areas (geographically or otherwise) is ?. There can be no other reason than to seek to make a profit as I am sure you are not doing it for the love of doing it ?. Either way Nominet is trying to step outside its original remit and/or non profit making approach. Is Nominet suggesting that it is seeking to expand into other areas to make more "non profit" and if so why ?
The answers given so far do not add up and I think that either the Chairman or someone has a hidden agenda beneath the "do not worry" words it is giving out. Nominets job is strictly looking after UK registry on non profit making basis and perhaps if it wishes to go commercial Nominet should form a seperate company ??


DG

 

[rob]

perhaps if it wishes to go commercial Nominet should form a seperate company ??

Which I believe it was going to do if it was to run the .EU registry... or something along those lines.

I hope all tagholders will either vote or give Hazel their proxy not just ignore this

 

[domaingenius]

Which I believe it was going to do if it was to run the .EU registry... or something along those lines.

I hope all tagholders will either vote or give Hazel their proxy not just ignore this

Hmm, seems that Nominet wishes to try and shake off its members ,and if it did indeed try and establish a seperate company I could see some kind of legal action being taken by some/most of the members against it. I am not 100% certain but I do not believe that Nominet can simply use its name (which after all is akin to a co operative) to obtain business for a seperate company.
Anyway lets see how things pan out,

DG

 

[netserve]

Nominet is owned by the members so if it created a subsid company to run another registry that too would in effect be owned by the members.

As far as I know Nominet is working with very little margin of error. If it's seen to be getting too involved in matters outside of it's .uk remit then the MMC etc would all want to know why.

 

[retired_member11]

I can imagine that if they don't get their way a new VC funded start up might appear at some point staffed by ex Nominet people who, with their expertise and contacts, would be able to secure contracts to run several extensions quite profitably. Good luck to them, but trying to re-engineer Nominet to serve their ambitions isn't quite cricket.

Anyone who has a vote but doesn't......may not have a vote in the future.

 

[domaingenius]

It is blatantly obvious what the agenda is. Get the changes put through and then somehow swing it that they take Nominet public and float it and make sure that only a select few make much money from it and throw a few crumbs to the members. What they see is a nice company ,making regular income and the only thing between "them" and making a bomb by floating it is the members !.It is not hard to see how things have gone in this direction now they have a new Chairman with business contacts etc.

DG

 

[Beasty]

Some might say that drawing salaries of £257K (that's more than a quarter of a million pounds!) and £151K for the top two execs in a "not for profit" organisation with a turnover of about £10 million is already quite generous.

Figures taken from Nominet's 2004 report - page 32, Note 5.1

http://www.nominet.org.uk/digitalAssets/4841_AnnualReport2004.pdf