Nominet announces programme for evolving the .uk domain name space

[Jump]

Funny for who?

I thought about ltd and plc. What I also remembered is that for a while Nominet allowed company names with symbols in to acquire the matching domain name without the symbol. Should they be allowed to grab the direct.uk on that basis?
Untrue example: "@money plc" could have been allowed to register money.plc.uk and that registration might predate all other variants. Given the direct.uk?
(from iPhone)

Funny for me, to see. If a business with a problematic tld all-of-asudden has a windfall, it will be a dramatic event that will be amusing - to me: almost *all* humour is based on someone else's pain. I hope if the above happens it will not be too painful for the looser applicant, for example I hope someone does not miss out on a trademark or strategic domain. But the winner applicant would no doubt fall of their chair with their good fortune. There will be very few such events and if I witness one I will find it amusing.

Clear?

 

[Stephen]

Less choice not more....

...
It's why I'm so surprised they're trying again at it.

People are only talking about .co.uk/org.uk/me.uk in this thread, but think about all the confusion when you have .uk, then the following:

.co.uk
.gov.uk
.ac.uk
.org.uk
.me.uk

Opening the 2nd level is messy. All 5 of those other domain extensions will lose a large degree of autonomy for their respective purpose.

For instance, why should a university operate on .ac.uk when they could get .uk? Why should a charity operate on .org.uk when they could have .uk? Why should a government site operate on .gov.uk when they could have .uk (e.g. tfl.uk).

Before people say, well there was no confusion between .co.uk and .gov.uk websites, that's apples and oranges. Once you open the 2nd level, it does create confusion.

As .uk will be the UK namespace of choice for all, there will be LESS choice as there will be more groups trying to secure the .uk domain they want at the start and in the future.

After time the 3rd level UK domains could look so antiquated and go the way of VHS tapes!

 

[Retired_member41]

Anyone fed up getting this email from Nominet?

Dear Registrants name

We think that .uk is A Great Place To Be and we hope you've experienced that
with your domain name

domainname.co.uk.

You may not have realised, but your domain name registration is about to
expire and you need to renew it in order to keep it active.

Don't worry though, because it's nice and simple for you to renew and secure
your domain name for anything up to 10 more years. Your first port of call
is to contact your Domain Name Provider (the people who sold you your domain
name, sometimes called a registrar) and let them know that you want to renew.
If you've forgotten who they are, don't worry, their details are below:

Domain Name Provider: DOMIANTAG



There are over 10 million different .uk domain names currently registered and
research has shown(*) that 4 out of 5 people in the UK prefer to click through
to a .co.uk website when they're searching for something on-line. We think
that shows that .uk is A Great Place To Be and we hope you agree and
renew your registration.

However, if you aren't sure if you want to keep your .uk domain name, or if
you have any questions about the renewal process, then please come and have
a look at our website, www.agreatplacetobe.co.uk/keepyourdomainsafe where
you'll find the answers to all your questions.


Best regards

.UK Team
Nominet Customer Services

Email: [email protected]

(*) Compared with .com.
Source: DNIR Quantitative Research by Insight Engineers, July 2012


They say compared to a .com, I bet its 49 out of 50 compared to a .org.uk or me.uk

 

[Blossom]

People are only talking about .co.uk/org.uk/me.uk in this thread, but think about all the confusion when you have .uk, then the following:

.co.uk
.gov.uk
.ac.uk
.org.uk
.me.uk

Opening the 2nd level is messy. All 5 of those other domain extensions will lose a large degree of autonomy for their respective purpose.

Or the opposite could happen, and people with a lot of generic .uks could create their own level and rent/sell subdomains like computer.shop.uk or beautysalon.leeds.uk?

 

[websaway]

There are over 10 million different .uk domain names currently registered and
research has shown(*) that 4 out of 5 people in the UK prefer to click through
to a .co.uk website when they're searching for something on-line. We think
that shows that .uk is A Great Place To Be and we hope you agree and
renew your registration.


from nominets email above.

Do they mean that people prefer to click through to a co.uk domain rather than other uk extensions ?

 

[Retired_Member38]

Or the opposite could happen, and people with a lot of generic .uks could create their own level and rent/sell subdomains like computer.shop.uk or beautysalon.leeds.uk?

You really would need to be an idiot to build a business on something like that. There would be no safeguards in place at all. The person who owned leeds.uk could go bankrupt and lose the domain - you just lost your business overnight as leeds.uk would be sold on and the new owner would owe you nothing.

 

[Edwin]

You really would need to be an idiot to build a business on something like that. There would be no safeguards in place at all. The person who owned leeds.uk could go bankrupt and lose the domain - you just lost your business overnight as leeds.uk would be sold on and the new owner would owe you nothing.

However a lot of people register Centralnic subdomains (*.uk.com etc) which are exactly the same, so there's no guarantee they won't go for them...

 

[Retired_Member38]

Yup, I paid £5k for a .uk.com but it was purely a short term seo play so none of the long term business risks anyone else would be taking on there. Google don't even treat them as real domains, so its hard to see why anyone else would or should.

 

[websaway]

You really would need to be an idiot to build a business on something like that. There would be no safeguards in place at all. The person who owned leeds.uk could go bankrupt and lose the domain - you just lost your business overnight as leeds.uk would be sold on and the new owner would owe you nothing.

I'm tempted to bite regarding building businesses on inept domains, but I'm not going to.

 

[Retired_Member38]

Very good. You're right though - I must be a massive idiot, developing .org.uk and making millions in the process. Silly me.

 

[websaway]

Very good. You're right though - I must be a massive idiot, developing .org.uk and making millions in the process. Silly me.

Brilliant..
It's good to see success, so why the negative attitude ?

 

[Stephen]

new gTLD's idiots?

You really would need to be an idiot to build a business on something like that. There would be no safeguards in place at all. The person who owned leeds.uk could go bankrupt and lose the domain - you just lost your business overnight as leeds.uk would be sold on and the new owner would owe you nothing.

I do realize some of the new 1,000 GTLD's are for defensive and Brand usage.

So are the rest of 1,000 new gTLD owners idiots, as some will be using that very business model to create an income stream, will they not?
OR will it just be their new registrants that will be idiot's?

I do not believe they all the new gTLD's will survive by the way!

All this will eventually strengthen the UK namespace, if Nominet do not mess it up!

 

[Retired_Member38]

So are the rest of 1,000 new gTLD owners idiots, as some will be using that very business model to create an income stream, will they not?
OR will it just be their new registrants that will be idiot's?

The massive difference being the new gTLD's will be REAL domains. something.uk.com is a subdomain, wholly reliant on the .uk.com owner not sleeping with his secretary, his wife divorcing him and www.uk.com being sold during the divorce proceedings

 

[websaway]

The massive difference being the new gTLD's will be REAL domains. something.uk.com is a subdomain, wholly reliant on the .uk.com owner not sleeping with his secretary, his wife divorcing him and www.uk.com being sold during the divorce proceedings

A question for you:

Do you think that co.uk owners over recent years should have also registered the org.uk to protect their commercial position ?

 

[Retired_Member38]

Is this a trick question where if I say yes, you have a go at me for not doing the same with Monkey

Depends on the circumstances I suppose. If you are worried about being outranked for your brand name then yes I would buy all of the extensions that are available - including org, net, com etc.

edit - obviously right now with .uk on the horizon it would make more sense to buy all the .uk extensions available, until we're clear how its going to proceed.

 

[Stephen]

defensive registrations

...Do you think that co.uk owners over recent years should have also registered the org.uk to protect their commercial position ?

I think that defensive registration in that direction are very rare
and not needed if you look at the intended use of a .org.uk.

However on my continued look into .org.uk's there are many .org.uk's
that have defensively registered the equivalent .co.uk
including of course Nominet itself.

 

[Retired_Member38]

I think that defensive registration in that direction are very rare
and not needed if you look at the intended use of a .org.uk.

Its nothing to do with intended use though. Nobody is accidentally going to type Gap.org.uk in their browser when they meant Gap.co.uk. If you're not going to lose any type ins and you're not going to be outranked for your brand name then you don't need the .org.uk. Which is why Gap haven't made an offer they can't refuse for Gap.org.uk.

However on my continued look into .org.uk's there are many .org.uk's
that have defensively registered the equivalent .co.uk
including of course Nominet itself.

With type in errors far more likely to go wrong in this direction, if you chose to build a .org.uk and the .co.uk was FTR, it would be rather silly not to snap it up.

 

[websaway]

Is this a trick question where if I say yes, you have a go at me for not doing the same with Monkey

Depends on the circumstances I suppose. If you are worried about being outranked for your brand name then yes I would buy all of the extensions that are available - including org, net, com etc.

edit - obviously right now with .uk on the horizon it would make more sense to buy all the .uk extensions available, until we're clear how its going to proceed.

And what would your strategy be in the event that .uk was introduced, regardless of how it was introduced ?

 

[Retired_Member38]

And what would your strategy be in the event that .uk was introduced, regardless of how it was introduced ?

Thats an impossible question to answer. My strategy is going to be directly affected by how it was introduced. You tell me how it will be introduced (multiple options if you like) and I'll tell you what my strategy would be.

 

[websaway]

Thats an impossible question to answer. My strategy is going to be directly affected by how it was introduced. You tell me how it will be introduced (multiple options if you like) and I'll tell you what my strategy would be.

So let's say as Nominet have recently outlined.