.UK Announced

[miked]

Suspect one of the main problems with any campaign to try to stop or change this is that this is quite a technical area, and that those not directly involved in domains may not realise the full ramifications of the proposed changes. Just had a reply from my MP that was mildly sympathetic, but reading between the lines he seemed to be wondering what the fuss was about when it's proposed .uks could be bought like other domains.

Given this, perhaps some form of summary of the technical issues combined with the reasons why we think this is important could be drawn up? It might help to make things clear to those not quite as familiar with the issues as some here are, and could be circulated to the appropriate people.

 

[Sound]

"Parked pages account for 29% (22% of total). In 2008 this was 28% (21% of total)" (click on the purple "Domain Name Usage" title for more detail in a popup window, including this piece of data and additional explanation http://db.nominet.org.uk/page/domain-name-usage/ )

Thank you for the stats Edwin.

Am I the only member who thinks that the above numbers are high and maybe why Nominet would see this as a good reason for change?

How many phone calls a day do you think Nominet gets from disgruntled businesses owners complaining about domineers holding them to ransom for domains they would love to use.



There would be an uproar if it was the housing market with over 20% of houses left unoccupied and owned by so few.

I believe the success of Domainers in the past has led to this proposed change.

I also think it was a mistake of Nominet's to allow Dropcatching to ever take place the percentage of domains held by so few would have been less if they had held public auctions this would also have added greatly to Nominet's profits.

 

[Bailey]

Your points are spot-on Sound but Nominet in its policies and procedures are the ones that created that imbalance. (to raise more finance)

They could have and still can tweak the system to start to address those imbalances. But, NO. Instead lets throw those low paying passengers overboard - and take on a new load that will spend more.

If our Government was encouraging (indeed offering incentives to create a 20% short-fall in the housing market) I know where the stick would be falling and it wouldn't be one with an OBE on the end.

 

[cav]

I envisage the future public perception to be:

.uk - large corporations
.co.uk - small commercial businesses
.org.uk - charities and organisations

 

[mojoco]

Thanks for the stats info link Edwin.

Ignoring investors, speculators, unresolved pages etc.

There are approximately 4 million live business websites.

4 million business's that potentially need to acquire the .uk variant of their existing domain.

4 Million business's that should be contacted by Nominet and advised and informed of the implications of not acquiring the .uk domain.

4 million business's that need to have the technical knowledge to understand the importance of owning the new extension.

4 million business's that potentially need to re-brand their stationary and marketing material.

4 million business's that run the risk of losing typo business to a competitor.

4 million business's that run the risk of losing sensitive email's sent to the wrong email address.

4 million business's that may be at risk from phishing attacks and other fraudulent activity.

4 million business's that are now being lead to believe that their current domain is potentially unsafe untrustworthy or unsecure.

The list goes on.........

And Nominet are doing this for the public good ??

 

[Sound]

Your points are spot-on Sound but Nominet in its policies and procedures are the ones that created that imbalance. (to raise more finance)

They could have and still can tweak the system to start to address those imbalances. But, NO. Instead lets throw those low paying passengers overboard - and take on a new load that will spend more

They would have created much larger revenue stream if they had never allowed Dropcatching and just held auctions for the thousands of generic names that expired letting them go to the few for Reg fee was a big mistake that has dragged on for years.

 

[Bailey]

I would like to add- I feel very sorry for all the Office staff at Nominet who are a great bunch - always helpful and willing to give their time to sort out problems or advise

 

[Edwin]

BTW, it really is too late to seek to pillory domain speculators/investors this late in the game. That's like suddenly changing the rules of football so that you have to score goals with your hands not your feet, then saying :"Hey, that means all previous football results - apart from THAT world cup game - should now be invalidated because they didn't conform to rules that weren't even dreamed up at the time the games were played, the bunch of cheaters!"

 

[websaway]

Thank you for the stats Edwin.

Am I the only member who thinks that the above numbers are high and maybe why Nominet would see this as a good reason for change?

How many phone calls a day do you think Nominet gets from disgruntled businesses owners complaining about domineers holding them to ransom for domains they would love to use.



There would be an uproar if it was the housing market with over 20% of houses left unoccupied and owned by so few.

I believe the success of Domainers in the past has led to this proposed change.



I also think it was a mistake of Nominet's to allow Dropcatching to ever take place the percentage of domains held by so few would have been less if they had held public auctions this would also have added greatly to Nominet's profits.

I would say a large proportion of those unused domains would not have been registered at all if not for the people who were prepared to register, hold and promote them, providing Nominet with valuable ongoing income that it would otherwise not have had.

 

[Bailey]

They would have created much larger revenue stream if they had never allowed Dropcatching and just held auctions for the thousands of generic names that expired letting them go to the few for Reg fee was a big mistake that has dragged on for years.

YES, Yes and Yes Again. And it's not as if they didn't have a decent working model to go on in the GTLDs.

But No lets 'Milk-This' as we know by the two letter release and the 10 year options. It's like the Ticket-Collector on the london-to Edinburgh line getting to Mug all the Passengers as part of his daily work-load, shared with the operator of course - then the train Operator blaming all the fare paying passengers for having anything worth stealing

 

[domainseller200]

Looks like Sedo might be preparing for the proposed .uk domains in a different way - seems they are now offering diet pills on Twitter

 

[websaway]

Thanks for the stats info link Edwin.

Ignoring investors, speculators, unresolved pages etc.

There are approximately 4 million live business websites.

4 million business's that potentially need to acquire the .uk variant of their existing domain.

4 Million business's that should be contacted by Nominet and advised and informed of the implications of not acquiring the .uk domain.

4 million business's that need to have the technical knowledge to understand the importance of owning the new extension.

4 million business's that potentially need to re-brand their stationary and marketing material.

4 million business's that run the risk of losing typo business to a competitor.

4 million business's that run the risk of losing sensitive email's sent to the wrong email address.

4 million business's that may be at risk from phishing attacks and other fraudulent activity.

4 million business's that are now being lead to believe that their current domain is potentially unsafe untrustworthy or unsecure.

The list goes on.........

And Nominet are doing this for the public good ??

congratulations, that's an excellent post.

 

[addz123]

Dibs building a porn site on f.uk

 

[anthony]

I've started to think about things differently. The current proposal for direct.uk, if implemented, favours registered TM holders first. Therefore it surely follows that those that will gain the most from the current proposal will be holders of registered TMs corresponding to the top one hundred generic terms (think finance). If you happened to own a boat load of trademarks on those kind of terms, for unrelated things such as scented candles or whatever, wouldn't you be rubbing your hands with glee at all the "first in the queue tickets to a fortune" you woke up with under your pillow one morning? That's ultimately where the big money will be for a few lucky "ticket holders". Who are those "ticket holders" likely to be and who ultimately is involved with them? How many brown paper envelopes will be floating around? If this proposal happens in this way I see a huge pay off for some like this.

Look at it another way, if you'd had the foresight to know this proposal was on the cards a year or more ago wouldn't YOU have gone and registered as many TMs on valuable generic words in order to potentially be first in the queue for some of the best .uk domain names? I would have, obviously from behind my watertight Cayman Island IBC, then I'd have hired a PR company to cheerlead the proposal all the way through under the guise of "more security for UK ecommerce" or whatever.

Blimey Invincible, you starting to come over the line, I'm agog! Glad you're all finally seeing Nominet in a new light though!

Don't knock brown envelopes by the way, they are also the food of the disenchanted!

 

[websaway]

I wonder, if this proposal to introduce the .uk failed, what damage would have been done to nominet and the UK domain industry.
Hundreds of thousands of domains will now drop that are not worth catching.

 

[Sound]

BTW, it really is too late to seek to pillory domain speculators/investors this late in the game. That's like suddenly changing the rules of football so that you have to score goals with your hands not your feet, then saying :"Hey, that means all previous football results - apart from THAT world cup game - should now be invalidated because they didn't conform to rules that weren't even dreamed up at the time the games were played, the bunch of cheaters!"

Edwin I agree with you the blame is all Nominet's they are the ones who are now changing the rules of the game because they created a monster.

But you will not get the businesses community on your side presenting your fight for justice the way you do, who is going to feel sorry for the poor domain speculators who can not have grandfather rights on some new domain extension maybe a few Estate Agents.

 

[simondooner]

New Internet Tax Levied on UK Business

Originally posted by Edwin
I assume they're doing it for the extra £80,000,000 a year revenue stream those 4 million businesses would represent if they each get the matching .uk to their .co.uk.

An additional “Internet Tax” of £80,000,000 levied by Nominet on UK business each and every year is a very frightening thought and could potentially have catastrophic consequences for the wider UK economy, job creation and any future prospects of growth for a long time to come. Especially so in these troubled times.

Unfortunately this figure is just the tip of the ice berg. Add additional administration time, registrars fees, stationery costs, updated marketing materials, new signage, website configuration fees, email changes, massive public confusion, lost sales, reduced consumer confidence, lawyers fees… more lawyers fees, more brand protection, brand dilution, wayward emails, fraud… the list goes on and on… and the real costs involved suddenly become colossal.

There is nothing wrong with the current “.co.uk” solution… and certainly no need whatsoever for a cripplingly expensive, time consuming replica of something that already works well.

The Government should intervene now to nip this scandalous “profiteering” scheme in the bud!

 

[cav]

Error for "nominet.uk".

This domain cannot be registered because it contravenes the Nominet UK
naming rules.

If only...........

 

[Bailey]

There is never going to be a sympathy vote for domainers or even those with muti-developments but fortunately there is the factor of

1. The Nominet Membership and its influence

2. the question whether Nominet is a suitable organisation to run the UK name space

3. The possible legal challenges.

4. The real danger that the UK internet economy flounders due to this "Stupid approach" to corrections in the name space - What do the powers that be think the intelligence level of your average technology savvy professional to be - far higher then that of most ministers of that you can be sure

I would add from a personal view *I have very little invested in the UK name space It wouldn't really bother me to lose what I have tomorrow (touch my .coms and your dead) But I enjoy the Crac here at Acorn and I don't like to see the powers that be get away with what seems to me to be a blatant Con on the current co.uk holders.

*What I do hold works very well at the .com level - my mistake was duplicating my investments at .co.uk. (Or as Invincible kindly pointed out one evening - Left" holding a bucket of Crap" )

But hey cards on the table

 

[sdsinc]

Just in recent years many countries have opened up second level registrations. Not all third level domain holders take advantage of their preemptive rights to register their names at the second level (rights which they have most of the time). So when they don't, it opens opportunities for others