.UK Announced

[grantw]

We need something to engage business owners and members of the public, we need to inform them on how this will impact them.

Maybe a few well placed posts on uk busness forums would kick start things, the current proposal would mean that existing .uk owners would potentially not get a chance at the .uk unless they also had a trademark on the term so I imagine that alone would get end users attention.

Grant

 

[foz]

Maybe a few well placed posts on uk busness forums would kick start things, the current proposal would mean that existing .uk owners would potentially not get a chance at the .uk unless they also had a trademark on the term so I imagine that alone would get end users attention.

Two or more applicants will be fighting it out in the auctions. Nominet Bank - "We love to suck you dry".

 

[Edwin]

Maybe a few well placed posts on uk busness forums would kick start things, the current proposal would mean that existing .uk owners would potentially not get a chance at the .uk unless they also had a trademark on the term so I imagine that alone would get end users attention.

Not to mention the fact that a .org.uk or .me.uk owner could (probably? not 100% clear) act as a spoiler blocking the .co.uk owner from obtaining the equivalent .uk domain. I imagine that 99% of (for profit) businesses using a .uk domain of any kind will have gone for the .co.uk over the latter 2 extensions, so this is another huge issue for them.

 

[Bailey]

To be fair to Nominet mate they never had any issues or nor did they ever threaten to shut down ebout.co.uk when it was my platform back in 2009.

I don't have any fears of censorship from Nominet, I think they are pretty much relaxed when it comes to criticism.

Whilst I would agree with that statement up until a short while ago and indeed the service has been brilliant (in the past) - I think you'll find thats all about to change.

My guess is some new bodies have been brought into Nominet - not at the very Top, (that would look too obvious) but at the Executive level, to shake up the whole organisation and setup. I wouldn't be surpised to find that their "buried" as/at a Consultancy level input

And I do have my reasons to believe that to be true

 

[Alpha]

http://www.that.co.uk/that-blog/call-for-an-egm-at-nominet.html

I haven't registered a domain in the UK space for years, I haven't used my tag since 2006, and I haven't been on this forum for a loong time, I also only have a few low value .co.uk's.. so very little to lose actually.

but I am sick of registrars raping the registrants, so I signed up.

 

[foz]

I haven't registered a domain in the UK space for years, I haven't used my tag since 2006, and I haven't been on this forum for a loong time, I also only have a few low value .co.uk's.. so very little to lose actually.

but I am sick of registrars raping the registrants, so I signed up.

Welcome comrade.

 

[afx]

Does anybody honestly think that this isn't already a done deal and the the usual consultation isn't just fluff ? I'd love to hear why and also be pointed in the direction of a single consultation that returned a result opposite to what Nominet set out to achieve and was then subsequently canned.

My two cents; even if the consultation is along the lines of .nz opening, it will be done regardless. I don't think for a second any of the members opinions matter at all.

 

[RSK3000]

This is a terrible idea. I would also suggest that if domain name governing bodies in the US and elsewhere see that UK companies are more than happy to fork out £20, + whatever the registrars slap on top, for .UK domains we could see similar price rises for .com and other TLDs too.

 

[Simon]

Just read through this thread agree with most of the opinions. To Greywing and the other tag holders good luck with the call for a EGM. I'm not a tag holder so will be out of that but will do my part by filling in the survey.

I've thought .co.uk was a fairly safe environment with more of a worry from devolution in Scotland and .scot/.wales/.cymru than .Uk secondlevel registrations. Now I am starting to wonder.

If this is offered at the same time as the new GTLDs are coming out where will all the punters go. It will be a mess in particular if no grandfather rights are offered.
As lovekraft mentioned; this must leave a bitter taste in the mouths of businesses who shelled out in the LL .uk auctions and for those that have recently spent large sums on .co.uk domains such as cheapcruises and watertanks.

 

[GreyWing]

Guys the new that.co.uk site will be live tomorrow with some things we can all do to counter this; members, non members, business owners, charities, MP's. I know some people think it is a done deal and it will be if we believe that. There is a hundred times more power against it than for it, it is just a case herding that power together in a coherent fashion. That started today and will continue tomorrow...

The people who emailed and called me today surprised even me. I do ask thought that people don't go off message, stay with the program and we'll get it sorted.

 

[DomainManagement]

hi all this is very serious

Do you think we could stage some sort of public protest

with banners and placards , as quite rightly this effects every online

business owner in the uk ( pardon the pun ) are terrible

will they realise there digital assets will become diluted , there customers

confused and so many more

so i am up for a public protest with banners and all , and maybe some media

attention , as this is all a little bit like being hijacked , no doubt the spin will

sound good they give to the layman , but in reality i can't understand why

a non profit making organisation act with such commercial intent

and to the detriment of it members , are we being hollowed out ? out from

within , how could a governing body bring out such a proposal with out realising

its potential ramifications , and if not it renders them at least as incompetent


maybe naive , because the alternative is almost unthinkable to undermine their members

digital assets , and business aspirations and hope is what a lot of us are hanging on to

in these present times

i seem to remember there was a closed door meeting , were top registrars and

the dti attended before xmas funny now how this has happened , and now we have what we have ?

when i called nominet today i asked why the consultation had been made

public , they said a number of people had asked about the possibility

of a .uk and it was their duty to explore the options

i asked could they tell me how many requests they had had ? they said they could not tell me , i asked could they tell me from what dates

these requests had come , i was denied that information , so in my eyes this is based on hear say , as dates are important as there could be

even a conflict of interest question raised with the sale of 2 letter domains last year as they would have not got the values if this so called

public discussion was realised before

also strange, how its been brought out ,after the introduction of 10 year renewals everybody flocking to by 10 yrs because they want to show

google there serious are , you have to potentially buy now a £20 a yr .uk so show

you can perform like a poodle ,

to be honest i see , nominet as a mirror of society , we few controlling events
for their own benefit , at the suffering of the majority , while pretending they're doing it for the good of the masses , or should i call it the party of

Do as i say , and not as i do

the hypocrites motto for the little people

end off

 

[anthony]

Grandfather rights are not an issue you should be arguing for, all it does is uphold a greedy self interest which will play right into Nominet's hands. Kill any idea of looking after No.1 in any way, it'll dilute every other valid arguement you put forward, and will be used against you for sure!

This grand plan has been a year or two in the making, you must all see that now. Nominet will have already run through countless scenarios, if you want to derail this, you've got to think big, really big. Domain names are not a subject that the British public, or industry, cares much about, so you're not going to appeal to much of a sense of injustice in their minds, no matter how hard you try. Importantly though, you must engage with the Press whatever you do, especially those who have been critical of Nominet in the past.

You also have to appreciate that within Nominet, everyone of influence will now have bought into this, they'll have been told how this is their way forward, how it is the next stage in Nominet's development, how as Nominet is central to the future of the internet in the UK, they are all going to play an important part in re-shaping the future of .uk.

Remember, as domainers you are tolerated at best by them, don't kid yourselves of anything else, it is dillusional.

 

[Edwin]

Grandfather rights are as important to any business established and branding itself on the .co.uk extension as they are to domainers - the only difference is the number of domains in question. But whether it's 1 or 10,000 domains at play, the fact remains that .co.uk has been marketed as THE extension for UK businesses since the earliest days of domain name commercialisation, and Nominet's proposal potentially pulls the carpet out from under that, breaking the "trust compact" with millions of businesses collectively worth hundreds of billions of pounds.

The "internet economy" (online purchases) is worth more than £2,000/person/year in the UK (highest in the G20) and a huge proportion of that business is inevitably being transacted off of websites under .co.uk.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17405016

 

[namealot]

That’s just self preservation which I understand but again why should domainers have anymore protection from ups and downs of the capitalist system, free market etc than any other business, stock pilling investing etc whatever you want to call it always has a risk.

Giving grandfather rights etc why would that work or be fair how would you do it an org.uk, me.uk etc that’s an older registered than the .co.uk who should get it then?

Why should a 20 year old initially free to reg co.uk that’s never been developed just sat in someone’s portfolio or an adsence page take priority over a ten year old developed and running business that has a org.uk etc
Why should a new cctld be such a threat yes for sure if you’re not developing and have been in the position to dictate the price you wish as there was no real alternative you may well have to re think your business plain?

If the new cctlds go along the same route as the old... domainers buying up better ones before anyone else creating a whole new group of big portfolio holders etc that’s not going to drive it on much lol after all many are always doom saying, writing off new TLDs etc

Why should the public or business adopt or get used to it... Effecting big business ? or even smaller they often go with there name not the generic etc because they couldnt get it,,,? The bigger ones go Brands (a route many business went really wont be affected at all apart from the irrelevant reg fee if they even bother) you can get protection for a brand you can’t or its much harder for a generic which I suspect apart from the fact they didn’t want to pay the price many domainers wanted or there unavailability was another driving force to the brand route…

Co.uk does have a good head start in a PR battle There’s an opportunity for co.uk to actually develop there names and take the advantage If you don’t and uk owners do then you only have yourself to blame.

In the words of Duncan Macleod “THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE “

 

[foz]

Grandfather rights are not an issue you should be arguing for, all it does is uphold a greedy self interest which will play right into Nominet's hands. Kill any idea of looking after No.1 in any way, it'll dilute every other valid arguement you put forward, and will be used against you for sure!

+1

I don't want to be faced with double registration renewals every month (.co.uk and .uk).

 

[arkvard]

So there is now more than 10 million .co.uk already registered.

Does anyone now the actual % that are owned by legit businesses?

There must be a huge % of the 10 million that are either being used by internet marketers to promote affiliates, adsense etc or being parked by domainers for profit.

Just been reading this article back in March 2012 about how business owners are frustrated about cyber squatters posing a risk to their brand. Probably one of the many reasons the .uk is being released

Looks like now with the new .uk almost certain to be released many business owners will now get the chance to pick up a domain for just £20 a year instead of the £1000s some are being offered to them.

 

[foz]

So there is now more than 10 million .co.uk already registered.

Does anyone now the actual % that are owned by legit businesses?

There must be a huge % of the 10 million that are either being used by internet marketers to promote affiliates, adsense etc or being parked by domainers for profit.

Just been reading this article back in March 2012 about how business owners are frustrated about cyber squatters posing a risk to their brand. Probably one of the many reasons the .uk is being released

Looks like now with the new .uk almost certain to be released many business owners will now get the chance to pick up a domain for just £20 a year instead of the £1000s some are being offered to them.

What would be non legit business?

.uk will suffer from Cybersquatting and please don't confuse entities owning many domains with that terminology. Trading is domains for profit is acceptable according to Nominet and it is written into their DRS policy.

Nominet auctions will ensure most businesses will have to pay £1K+ anyway. e.g short domain auctions http://exacts.co.uk/nominet-short-domain-auctions-who-got-what/

 

[websaway]

So there is now more than 10 million .co.uk already registered.

Does anyone now the actual % that are owned by legit businesses?

There must be a huge % of the 10 million that are either being used by internet marketers to promote affiliates, adsense etc or being parked by domainers for profit.

Just been reading this article back in March 2012 about how business owners are frustrated about cyber squatters posing a risk to their brand. Probably one of the many reasons the .uk is being released

Looks like now with the new .uk almost certain to be released many business owners will now get the chance to pick up a domain for just £20 a year instead of the £1000s some are being offered to them.

So looking at it from a practical point of view.
A business will have the chance to register the UK ( if he's lucky ) of the co.uk he's desperately wanted but was probably too late to register or was not prepared to invest in to acquire.
He has a choice now to build his business around the .uk.
The question is, will he, while the more highly branded co.uk is owned by someone else ?

 

[arkvard]

So looking at it from a practical point of view.
A business will have the chance to register the UK ( if he's lucky ) of the co.uk he's desperately wanted but was probably too late to register or was not prepared to invest in to acquire.
He has a choice now to build his business around the .uk.
The question is, will he, while the more highly branded co.uk is owned by someone else ?

How long though before the .uk pushes aside the .co.uk and becomes the no.1?

At the end of the day would it not be about how the search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo feel about the new .uk? As they are the ones that put a site in a postion in the Serp.

 

[foz]

How long though before the .uk pushes aside the .co.uk and becomes the no.1?

5-10 years in registration volume.