.uk How can you argue for it

[websaway]

How can you argue for .uk when......

What will happen is, all holders of co.uk names who are eligible
will register the .uk version of their domain name.
All new registrants will register the co.uk and the .uk version of their name.

It will simply be a duplication of current and future registrations.


Co.uk & .uk would never in any large numbers be used or traded separately.

 

[scooter]

I agree. It is just a revenue generator for Nominet and commercial blackmail for business.

There is no commercial benefit to UK business.




.

 

[Stephen]

no money in it for Nominet

.uk is a more desirable extension than .co.uk for business in my opinion.

.uk is more desirable for many .co.uk owners
but I do not know if that number is 20% or 80% of existing UK registrants?

If Nominet would gift for free to all .co.uk owners the equivalent string .uk
and the ownership of both is linked forever, so not introducing any security problems.

They would automatically redirect (website and email) from .uk to .co.uk, so no pressure to change over to .uk.

But if .uk was used the .co.uk would redirect to the .uk.

I have been told by many people the reason for not doing this is, there is no money in it for Nominet, even after what I have through lately I'm still an optimist and believe Nominet can be persuaded to see that this solution is best for the UK namespace.

I believe a independent study should be undertaken on this counter proposal
and a widespread debate and consultation to a genuine broad range of stakeholders before such a plan be put into action, if it is accepted by the existing stakeholders as the way forward.

 

[Edwin]

They would automatically redirect (website and email) from .uk to .co.uk, so no pressure to change over to .uk.

That would potentially involve Nominet forwarding tens of billions of emails a month (imagine the bandwidth bills and the infrastructure requirements). The technicalities of what you're suggesting are extremely complex - plus there are liability issues (what happens if a vital email doesn't get redirected?) It's a far from clear-cut solution.

As far as I can see, you're in a very small minority to think that .uk is inherently a good thing. When you look at the articles on http://www.mydomainnames.co.uk/articles.html I'd estimate that 85-90% of those that express any opinion (some just regurgitate press releases with no analysis) are against .uk to a greater or lesser degree.

 

[Stephen]

I stand by my minority view

That would potentially involve Nominet forwarding tens of billions of emails a month (imagine the bandwidth bills and the infrastructure requirements). The technicalities of what you're suggesting are extremely complex - plus there are liability issues (what happens if a vital email doesn't get redirected?) It's a far from clear-cut solution.

As far as I can see, you're in a very small minority to think that .uk is inherently a good thing. When you look at the articles on http://www.mydomainnames.co.uk/articles.html I'd estimate that 85-90% of those that express any opinion (some just regurgitate press releases with no analysis) are against .uk to a greater or lesser degree.

On the emails and website redirects it would be a more simple registry code to translate string and .uk to .co.uk or vice versa, so would not involve any bandwidth or big infrastructure.

I agree about being in a minority, although a few people have expressed a view if .uk is desirable and it should be for .co.uk + business the way I have set it out would be a good way forward, if you get Nominet to accept there is no money in it for them.

I stand by my view but as always accept that, if it was ever considered seriously as an option, it should have a proper debate, research and wide consultation.

Thank you for keeping the media links up to date, I have read them all and I seem to be a lone voice in wanting .uk and have not yet seen any article (not from Nominet) that is in favour of .uk as presented by Nominet.

As I put in my feedback, I believe due to the poor way Nominet have handled the .uk consultation and their vested interest in the outcome, it may be possible to have a judicial review, if Nominet wanted to force .uk through.

 

[scooter]

What is the commercial benefit for UK business?



.

 

[Stephen]

Evolution

What is the commercial benefit for UK business?

.

Evolution.

Companies change their logos over time as trends change and as web addresses have moved from:

.http:// www.myonlinebusiness.co.uk/ content/ product/myproduct66.html.
to
myonlinebusiness.co.uk/66​

maybe its time to drop the .co?

In my own existing business employed 100 people, with 10 main domains, it is very unlikely we will move from .co.uk in the next 2 years if .uk was released due to rebranding costs, but I would ensure that I acquired the equivalent .uk domain for potential future use and certainly as protection.

However if we set up another business, given the choice I would use .uk rather than .co.uk.

There are small amount of companies that deal with customers and business outside the UK which are used to dealing with second level domains and there may be a small commercial advantage to those companies.

But as many people have stated (many times) I agree it should be Nominet putting forward the business case and undertaking independent research on the subject.

Also I would caution that research be done to test consumers reaction and to determine what pressure business would face to rebrand.

In my opinion it would only work if .uk and .co.uk were one and the same in the mind of the consumer, hence I advocate joint ownership of the two domains and why I'm so against the current proposed release mechanism.
Although 90% will go to .co.uk owners or domain investors some will not and that will change what .uk will become.

 

[monaghan]

If there was no risk of someone else getting your name and no pressure to migrate, then I'd be in favor of some form of opening of the .uk, however, I just can't see how it is practical to flatten out something that has been designed form the start to be multiple levels. Why shouldn't a .plc.uk or an ac.uk or a .sch.uk have rights to the .uk?

My real concerns are that there are many other options available for .uk, we have schools, universities, government, police and so on all having their "section" of the .uk namespace (and the overall .uk namespace is managed by several bodies). For example who would have the right to london.uk - Boris Johnson, the City of London corporation, the London tourist board, one of the universities, a London based business (if so which one), one of the hospitals. There's just too many options to produce a fair distribution of the names.

 

[Stephen]

seen as redundant?

If there was no risk of someone else getting your name and no pressure to migrate, then I'd be in favor of some form of opening of the .uk, however, I just can't see how it is practical to flatten out something that has been designed form the start to be multiple levels. Why shouldn't a .plc.uk or an ac.uk or a .sch.uk have rights to the .uk?

My real concerns are that there are many other options available for .uk, we have schools, universities, government, police and so on all having their "section" of the .uk namespace (and the overall .uk namespace is managed by several bodies). For example who would have the right to london.uk - Boris Johnson, the City of London corporation, the London tourist board, one of the universities, a London based business (if so which one), one of the hospitals. There's just too many options to produce a fair distribution of the names.

.co.uk for me is the prime tld in the UK namespace.

If .uk and .co.uk are interchangeable then the other 3rd level tld's .sch.uk .ac.uk .org.uk will go as they do now, with a distinct and known purpose.

The problem would be if .uk was seen as open to everyone, then the third level domains could become seen as redundant.

Remember at the 10th July meeting Nominet itself said it was likely to move from .org.uk to .uk, how many other organizations would see that as a sign to also move from .org.uk and maybe even other UK extensions?

In the limited research I was able to do without the numbers from Nominet
over 30% of the .org.uk owned the equivalent .co.uk.
It would be helpful if Nominet would provide some numbers to see the effect of alternative proposals.

For London.uk it would go to the owners of London.co.uk but under the rules of ownership they would not be able to sell sub domains on .uk.

There will always be some losers in any release mechanism of .uk in V1 it was many millions now in V2 I think it is a million or so, I believe we can have a much fairer system that will produce very little collateral damage and avoid the security problems from different ownership.

 

[AssetDomains]

That would potentially involve Nominet forwarding tens of billions of emails a month (imagine the bandwidth bills and the infrastructure requirements). The technicalities of what you're suggesting are extremely complex - plus there are liability issues (what happens if a vital email doesn't get redirected?) It's a far from clear-cut solution.

Edwin this is maybe the only potential downside I see to what in my opinion would be by far the best way to release .uk if it has to happen.
Can anyone here point me to any technical information which confirms what the case would be.
If I can redirect all my non www. To the www. Or one whole domain to another domain with a couple of lines of code. Why would things be be so different co.uk to .uk
Again with email I can setup catch all which automatically redirects anything@my domain to whatever email I want. surely this widely be used system could be simply adapted to work with direct.uk without massive problems. Just be a simple regular expression ruleset wouldn't it.
I know this solution would not make nominet tons of cash but they could do that by opening up .net.uk or releasing .gb everybody wins

 

[Edwin]

As far as I can see, you're in a very small minority to think that .uk is inherently a good thing. When you look at the articles on http://www.mydomainnames.co.uk/articles.html I'd estimate that 85-90% of those that express any opinion (some just regurgitate press releases with no analysis) are against .uk to a greater or lesser degree.

Wow, that was a pretty good guess! I just completed a sentiment analysis on all the articles I collected about .uk, and 90.5% of articles that expressed any kind of opinion were against .uk to a greater or lesser extent. See http://www.webmastering.co.uk/domain-names/media-sentiment-analysis-for-the-concept-of-uk-domains/