.UK Consultation meeting

[Lovekraft]

Well they have had plenty time to announce if it was going to be a no.. they wouldn't require this amount of time to prepare a paragraph stating that they decided not to go ahead since the decision was made.

So, it can only mean it's goer or another consultation is ahead with yet another revised proposal.

Am I right?

 

[Jamie101]

Well they have had plenty time to announce if it was going to be a no.. they wouldn't require this amount of time to prepare a paragraph stating that they decided not to go ahead since the decision was made.

So, it can only mean it's goer or another consultation is ahead with yet another revised proposal.

Am I right?

I'd tend to agree with that, especially since they said that a decision will be published at the start of the month.

In a way I hope they do go ahead with it rather than have another proposal because the longer this goes on the more damage is being done to the UK market.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Edwin]

There will be damage either way. But not going ahead will create less damage than going ahead.

I presume that - for the self-preservation of their executive/board if nothing else - Nominet will want to make a very strong, unambigous declaration against proceeding if that's the way the decision went, so that they're not faced with the same battle just a few years down the road.

(Nobody can predict what will happen long-term, but if the new GTLD are given the time to flame out and flop as many expect them to, then the main driver of the push towards .uk goes away - so Nominet would have no cause to try for .uk a third time after defeats in 2004 and 2013)

 

[Edwin]

Incidentally, the tech world is changing so fast that even if we only end up with a similar gap to last time (2004 to 2012 i.e. 8 years) that's pretty much a "no uncertainty" scenario if nothing were to change in the UK namespace until beyond 2020.

 

[Retired_Member38]

There will be damage either way. But not going ahead will create less damage than going ahead.

I am still convinced the opposite of that is true. No matter what Nominet come out with as a reason for cancelling, there is always going to be that lingering thought that a cash grab .uk launch will rear its ugly head at some point in the future. I feel that its simply too much money to resist dipping into, even if they don't do it just this minute.


Is everyone assuming we're getting an announcement on Monday now?

 

[Edwin]

Is everyone assuming we're getting an announcement on Monday now?

Not me. I'm assuming we're going to get it on (a) Friday - just depends which one. I know if I were trying to bury bad news, that's when I'd want to do it.

 

[Retired_Member38]

I know other people have said otherwise in this thread but I'm really not expecting them to do that - its going to be obvious why they've done it, which in itself might lead to more difficult questions. And the issue is big enough that its not going to go away... delaying dealing with it for a couple of days won't help much.

A friday afternoon announcement would be good though... everyone can hit the pub to celebrate/drown their sorrows

 

[Edwin]

I am still convinced the opposite of that is true. No matter what Nominet come out with as a reason for cancelling, there is always going to be that lingering thought that a cash grab .uk launch will rear its ugly head at some point in the future. I feel that its simply too much money to resist dipping into, even if they don't do it just this minute.

But as has been debated to death and beyond by now, the average "person in the street" hasn't heard of direct.uk and therefore is also unaware of this potential for uncertainty. Even if it's postponed rather than completely stone dead, Nominet are not going to be able to have another crack at it for a good many years.

And during all that time, more and more businesses will establish themselves on .co.uk, the number of domains in the existing namespace will rise, .co.uk will become even more entrenched in the minds of consumers - all of which makes a third attempt at .uk even less likely to succeed.

After all, Nominet fluffed their best opportunity already - they could have gone ahead in 2004 with a small fraction of the disturbance that a change now would bring, since the number of domains on the registry was much, much smaller and people's familiarity with the web - and with .co.uk - was much, much less.

And their second best opportunity is right now. Every day that passes makes it harder for them to justify .uk, since that's one more day of registering and branding .co.uk.

 

[Edwin]

I know other people have said otherwise in this thread but I'm really not expecting them to do that - its going to be obvious why they've done it, which in itself might lead to more difficult questions. And the issue is big enough that its not going to go away... delaying dealing with it for a couple of days won't help much.

I think you're dramatically overstating the extent of external interest in what Nominet have to say. As the (almost total lack of) media coverage of direct.uk has shown, none of this causes so much as a ripple in the mainstream media. So all they really have to duck is the tech bloggers and places like The Register and eConsultancy - and their chance of minimising the chatter there increases dramatically by putting something out late on a Friday and then keeping their fingers firmly crossed that enough "real news" comes in over the weekend that nobody cares by Monday.

That's doubly true if it's a "no we're not proceeding" - Acorn will light up like a fireworks display, but it's just not something that's going to get widespread media interest/attention.

Can you imagine the coverage? "Nominet's now not going to do something that very few people know about or indeed understand, and that the very news outlet you're reading never told you about in the first place."

 

[Stephen]

What happened November went so quick!

Not me. I'm assuming we're going to get it on (a) Friday - just depends which one. I know if I were trying to bury bad news, that's when I'd want to do it.

Late Friday 15th November announce .uk decision.

Saturday 16th plane to Argentina for 3rd overseas ICANN conference this year. 17th - 21st November,

Monday 25th November business as usual.

But still don't know which way it will go but I think it is version 3 .uk consultation,
as unless the published feedback supported their .uk action,
Nominet will be open to a lot of problems from many directions.

 

[Retired_Member38]

But as has been debated to death and beyond by now, the average "person in the street" hasn't heard of direct.uk and therefore is also unaware of this potential for uncertainty. Even if it's postponed rather than completely stone dead, Nominet are not going to be able to have another crack at it for a good many years.

The average person in the street is irrelevant though surely?

If they don't buy, sell, own or develop domain names then I'm not sure I even care what they think. They have no effect on the prices domains change hands for.

 

[Edwin]

Incidentally, if the decision does turn out to be a "no" then the best thing we can do for the industry is let all the bitterness, mistrust etc. leading up to that decision slide. Doesn't mean it's forgotten - we will be better prepared for next time (whatever the issue turns out to be). But it will hurt the domain industry as much or more than it will hurt Nominet if a lot of energy is expended in rubbing their noses in the foolishness of the whole consultation process.

 

[Sam]

The average person in the street is irrelevant though surely?

Yes the average person on the street doesn't have a clue about domain extensions....

 

[Stephen]

not just the money

I am still convinced the opposite of that is true. No matter what Nominet come out with as a reason for cancelling, there is always going to be that lingering thought that a cash grab .uk launch will rear its ugly head at some point in the future. I feel that its simply too much money to resist dipping into, even if they don't do it just this minute.

Is everyone assuming we're getting an announcement on Monday now?

It is always easy for Nominet to justify an increase in registration fees on .co.uk to £5 for a year to bring it inline with .com and still be cheaper than the new GTLD's, if money was the only driver in the situation.

Also if they didn't go ahead they will have several million pounds on balance sheet they would have to write off in 2013, at September 2012 the amount is £327,000 on Nominet balance sheet as recoverable from new tld's.
A lot considering they didn't do anything until after 2012 year end.
That money will have to be recovered from somewhere, it could be done from reserves but more likely used as a excuse to increase renewal rates.

 

[Edwin]

The overall registration numbers make even a small increase in registration fees compelling.

For example, 50p per name per year extra is another £5,000,000 into Nominet's coffers (with zero increase in costs, so virtually all of that could be passed on to Nominet Trust, nearly doubling NT's annual grant)

Personally, I'd see that sort of price increase as an acceptable fall-back position if .uk doesn't go ahead.

 

[Retired_Member38]

I'd like to see them increase reg fees to at least £50 per year... surely this would be a great way to encourage growth in the .uk namespace. It would force domains to be put into use, or dropped and made available for someone else.

I know someone will be along in a minute to say 'parking or holding them for sale is using them', I don't disagree with that. But what I mean is that it would be good for more domains to end up in a real use, that was of benefit to the general public.

 

[Edwin]

Not sure why you're hanging out on a domainer forum when you're so "anti" our industry - what do you get out of it? Or do you just enjoy stirring things up?

 

[Retired_Member38]

I'm not anti domains at all - I make my living from buying and using them.

Its a valid opinion - in fact I think its one that most of the general public would agree with if explained to them that some people were hoarding thousands of domains.

 

[AssetDomains]

I'd like to see them increase reg fees to at least £50 per year... surely this would be a great way to encourage growth in the .uk namespace. It would force domains to be put into use, or dropped and made available for someone else.

I know someone will be along in a minute to say 'parking or holding them for sale is using them', I don't disagree with that. But what I mean is that it would be good for more domains to end up in a real use, that was of benefit to the general public.

This would only work if prices of everything else rose. Think about your a business coming to build your first website you can reg your business name in .co.uk for £50 or .com/net etc for £5 what's the average company going to do.
This would damage the namespace top domains would be renewed lots of other stuff would drop and never be renewed the registry would like shrink considerably

 

[Retired_Member38]

This would damage the namespace top domains would be renewed lots of other stuff would drop and never be renewed the registry would like shrink considerably

If domains would be dropped and never renewed because of a £50 reg fee, then arguably they should never have been registered in the first place anyway?