.wales .cmyru

[Stephen]

Earlier this year Nominet held a consultation on .wales and there was an Acorn thread on the subject.

http://www.acorndomains.co.uk/nominet-general-information/111815-wales-please-fill-nominet-consultation.html

The Nominet consultation made a business case for .wales and asked for feedback on certain options they were proposing.

I did complete the .wales consultation, stating it should not go ahead, and I'm surprised to find that I cannot find any results of that feedback published by Nominet ?

Nominet seem to be ploughing on with .wales without publishing the consultation feedback/results?

How can this be transparent and is it how we want Nominet to act?

Now .wales, next .com.uk if they are not held to account.

 

[super-whois]

.wales .cymru

I assume you mean .cymru!

I've heard that similar views are expressed within Wales that Nominet should not be in control of these domains.

 

[monaghan]

I thought that Nominet were only accountable to the top 20 registrars who control the board

 

[Stephen]

will have a .wales / .cymru

A reply from Nominet clarifies the situation.

So it looks like we will have a .wales / .cymru

Thank you for your email to the Cymru/Wales team. We have not yet published a summary of the consultation response but will do so in the coming months, although I’m afraid I can’t give you a precise date at the moment. You might be aware that there are a number of discussions and developments going on at the ICANN level around the gTLD programme that have the potential to affect the timing and details of our proposals. Although we think any policy impact is unlikely, I’m sure you’ll understand that we want to have the final ICANN positions confirmed before we make further announcements about the policies we will adopt.


I note that in your response to the consultation you expressed your disagreement with the creation of these new TLDs. One or two other respondents also expressed this view but the vast majority of responses were in favour of the new TLDs so I can confirm that the consultation has not changed our thinking on that front and we continue to work towards a launch in 2014.

I only wish I could get answers with this amount of detail from Nominet about .uk and within a few days as well.

 

[RobM]

They keep quoting 'vast majority of responses' yet are strangely unable to provide one. Face it - they are all con merchants.

 

[Paullas]

They keep quoting 'vast majority of responses' yet are strangely unable to provide one. Face it - they are all con merchants.

I think they mean the top 7 registras that control the board

 

[Stephen]

disaster?

I hope they do publish the breakdown of respondents as it would be interesting to see if those that were going to sell the domains were the driving force in responses rather those that want to use them.

I predicate the new gtld .wales and .cymru will be a failure, however nobody has a target number from Nominet that what would constituent a success.

Also the cross subsidy at Nominet from uk domain it will be impossible to judge the financial success of .wales.

 

[Edwin]

I'm baffled by this thread.

.wales is going ahead. That's 100% clear. Nominet has spent US$185,000 per extension just on the ICANN evaluation fee, plus whatever else they've spent getting the two extensions ready for launch. They HAD to do that to ICANN's timeframe because that was the ONLY way that there was even a possibility of seeing a .wales domain name. In the new GTLD race, whatever ICANN says goes.

.wales has been allocated a prioritization number of 807 in the ICANN draw. That means it will be the 807th new GTLD launched. See https://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/applicationdetails/1419

.cymru fared rather better in the same draw, and was allocated prioritization number 244. https://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/applicationdetails/1420

That means that in theory .cymru could launch well before .wales, though I suspect either:
A) Nominet will hold back until the release process gets to the 807th slot and they can offer both names
B) Nominet will petition ICANN to link the two releases (presumably gunning for an earlier slot)

Either way, it's a done deal. The only thing that was ever really on the table during the now-ended consultation (barring a massive public outpouring of feeling against the whole principle, which we all know didn't happen and realistically was never going to happen) was the exact mechanism for releasing the domains to the general public.

Remember too that .wales actually has both a third party economic case study and the backing of members of the Welsh government. It's a totally different beast from .uk in that respect.

As such, better to focus on fights that are still being fought, surely?

 

[monaghan]

Also the cross subsidy at Nominet from uk domain it will be impossible to judge the financial success of .wales.

I don't have an issue in principle with cross funding .wales if it was clearly seen that it was in the public interest and everything was transparent, better to use the spare cash for the benefit of the Internet rather than hand it over to the trust and it's weird & wonderful projects. Whether .wales is right or not, I guess they'll never tell us.

 

[RobM]

My issue is with nominet's throwaway responses that are never backed up with any data. We really just have to take 'their word' for everything.

 

[Lucien Taylor]

Either way, it's a done deal. The only thing that was ever really on the table during the now-ended consultation (barring a massive public outpouring of feeling against the whole principle, which we all know didn't happen and realistically was never going to happen) was the exact mechanism for releasing the domains to the general public.

Remember too that .wales actually has both a third party economic case study and the backing of members of the Welsh government. It's a totally different beast from .uk in that respect.

As such, better to focus on fights that are still being fought, surely?

I agree that it is a done deal, and I agree that it is better to focus on fights that are still being fought, but it is interesting to compare and contrast the two approaches to consultation, and the economic business case.

 

[Edwin]

I agree that it is a done deal, and I agree that it is better to focus on fights that are still being fought, but it is interesting to compare and contrast the two approaches to consultation, and the economic business case.

Way ahead of you there

http://www.webmastering.co.uk/domain-names/nominet-consultations-uk-and-wales/

 

[Lucien Taylor]

Way ahead of you there

http://www.webmastering.co.uk/domain-names/nominet-consultations-uk-and-wales/

I missed that, very helpful thank you Edwin. I am intrigued by the CEO's statement that the 'consultation is not a vehicle for us to put forward a business case'. No matter how different ways I read that I cannot make it make sense.

It's their proposal, so they must think it is a good idea. Usually the consultation follows the business case!

I will certainly put in a response by the deadline.