Nominet announces programme for evolving the .uk domain name space

[Retired_Member38]

Do you not think of the 10,000,000 UK domains there will not be more than 1 parked .org.uk (accepted it is within the rules I have many) getting a .uk over an established .co.uk commercial brand?

Absolutely this will happen, but its also relatively easy for the two parties to solve. Nobody holds .org.uk's parked as some longterm investment master plan - they're all for sale at the right price. All you need to happen is for both sides to be semi reasonable for the brand to end up owning .uk/.co.uk

I would predict that if .uk went ahead as is,
depending on the exact mechanisms Nominet intend to inform current registrants about .uk,
there will be 100,000 plus .co.uk large/medium sized established businesses
that will not claim the .uk as the oldest registrant but within 1 hour of the free for all,
all those equivalent FTR .uk will be registered to other parties. (nothing to do with .org.uk)

Nominet are now saying they're going to email everyone. Previously the complaint was they couldn't, and some domain owners would miss out. So if Nominet are going to email people, and they have 6 months to claim it, I'm sort of at the point where its hard to feel sorry for anyone who doesn't bother, and then gets their chosen name taken by a random party in the public launch.

 

[Edwin]

Nominet are now saying they're going to email everyone. Previously the complaint was they couldn't, and some domain owners would miss out. So if Nominet are going to email people, and they have 6 months to claim it, I'm sort of at the point where its hard to feel sorry for anyone who doesn't bother, and then gets their chosen name taken by a random party in the public launch.

If they really email all 10,000,000 registrants, it's very hard to imagine that people won't hear about it, either directly (their email address is SUPPOSED to work, after all) or from friends, colleagues, etc. Six months is a long time for word to get around if over 1/10th of the entire population know about something from day 1.

Personally, I can see why they might legitimately make a distinction between emailing 10,000,000 people over the consultation and emailing them about the .uk domain they're entitled to claim - very different animals indeed.

 

[murph]

If they really email all 10,000,000 registrants, it's very hard to imagine that people won't hear about it, either directly (their email address is SUPPOSED to work, after all) or from friends, colleagues, etc. Six months is a long time for word to get around if over 1/10th of the entire population know about something from day 1.

Personally, I can see why they might legitimately make a distinction between emailing 10,000,000 people over the consultation and emailing them about the .uk domain they're entitled to claim - very different animals indeed.

Might these emails end up in spam folders and never be seen? Especially if they're sending 10 million identical emails. I know quite a few legit emails end up there these days, especially in yahoo and gmail.

 

[jonbyrne]

allsaints.org.uk is a site for a church in Warrington and pre-dates the .co.uk fashion brand by a month. However they do redirect you to the .com if you land on the .co.uk so they may not be too bothered.

 

[Stephen]

contacting registrants

If they really email all 10,000,000 registrants, it's very hard to imagine that people won't hear about it, either directly (their email address is SUPPOSED to work, after all) or from friends, colleagues, etc. Six months is a long time for word to get around if over 1/10th of the entire population know about something from day 1.

Not like you to misuse figures, 10,000,000 domains does not nornally equal 10,000,000 unique registrants.

Personally, I can see why they might legitimately make a distinction between emailing 10,000,000 people over the consultation and emailing them about the .uk domain they're entitled to claim - very different animals indeed.

Can you please expand on what is the legitamate reason not to contact the registrants before to get their views on the proposal,
rather than just after it, when it is too late to change things?

 

[Edwin]

Might these emails end up in spam folders and never be seen? Especially if they're sending 10 million identical emails. I know quite a few legit emails end up there these days, especially in yahoo and gmail.

It's about due process. Of course what you just described will happen to some people - when you're talking about 10,000,000 of anything there will always be edge cases - but Nominet can still claim (genuinely) to have made a real effort to notify all relevant parties.

 

[Edwin]

Can you please expand on what is the legitamate reason not to contact the registrants before to get their views on the proposal,
rather than just after it, when it is too late to change things?

No, sorry. I'm not here to fight Nominet's corner. Already from a lot of the questions/comments I've seen recently, some people are clearly under the mistaken impression that I am.

 

[Stephen]

email everyone!

Nominet are now saying they're going to email everyone. Previously the complaint was they couldn't, and some domain owners would miss out. So if Nominet are going to email people, and they have 6 months to claim it, I'm sort of at the point where its hard to feel sorry for anyone who doesn't bother, and then gets their chosen name taken by a random party in the public launch.

Thanks, can you please point me to the exact statement in the Nominet release that elaborates on the method and detail of the communication to registrants about .uk.

 

[Retired_Member38]

Thanks, can you please point me to the exact statement in the Nominet release that elaborates on the method and detail of the communication to registrants about .uk.

http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/pres...-new-policy-second-level-domain-registrations

If a decision to go ahead is taken, Nominet would notify existing registrants by email, and would run an awareness campaign to ensure that existing registrants have every opportunity to exercise their right of first refusal. Nominet would also offer existing .co.uk, .me.uk and .gov.uk registrants the opportunity to validate and verify their data for a nominal fee. However, this would not be mandatory.

 

[murph]

It's about due process. Of course what you just described will happen to some people - when you're talking about 10,000,000 of anything there will always be edge cases - but Nominet can still claim (genuinely) to have made a real effort to notify all relevant parties.

Agreed, but this is a massive problem for those that get affected. If you were a company that missed the opportunity to stop someone building on your brand (in potentially the more common uk extension in years to come) or cyber squatting on the .uk... Because the email went astray... That's very harsh IMO.

 

[Stephen]

good distinction ?

No, sorry. I'm not here to fight Nominet's corner. Already from a lot of the questions/comments I've seen recently, some people are clearly under the mistaken impression that I am.

I agree you are not here to explain or defend Nominet's actions.

I was simply requesting expansion of your quote earlier:

Personally, I can see why they might legitimately make a distinction between emailing 10,000,000 people over the consultation and emailing them about the .uk domain they're entitled to claim - very different animals indeed.

As I cannot find a good distinction not to do it and in fact it would act as a good try run to test that Nominet could email out emails to the registrants of the 10m domains, out properly.

So, I'm simply requesting you expand what you can "see" what I cannot.

 

[Retired_Member38]

Agreed, but this is a massive problem for those that get affected. If you were a company that missed the opportunity to stop someone building on your brand (in potentially the more common uk extension in years to come) or cyber squatting on the .uk... Because the email went astray... That's very harsh IMO.

But its not a simple case of not seeing one email and you lose out. No doubt every domain registrar you've ever bought anything from will be emailing you too. And Nominet are running an 'awareness campaign', whatever that is.

Plus you'll get all of these business owners talking to each other - they'll be mentioning this, and if someone didn't know already, they do now. They have a full 6 months to find out about it.

 

[Retired_Member42]

I'm wondering how many .co.uk have been purchased on behalf of clients by web design agencies etc and how many of those agencies will either disregard the "warning" or simply take the domain for themselves in an attempt to hold the client ransom? Relationships with webmasters tend to go sour more often that not so I imagine there will be a lot of these instances.

 

[Stephen]

how do I get mine?

http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/pres...-new-policy-second-level-domain-registrations

If a decision to go ahead is taken, Nominet would notify existing registrants by email, and would run an awareness campaign to ensure that existing registrants have every opportunity to exercise their right of first refusal. Nominet would also offer existing .co.uk, .me.uk and .gov.uk registrants the opportunity to validate and verify their data for a nominal fee. However, this would not be mandatory.

Thank you.

Just a point againist my own stance of Nominet not doing enough to inform UK registrants if it went ahead.

As you can excerise the right to the .uk if you are the oldest registrant from the list of tld's stated
and show you have a valid UK address, you can take ownership of your bright new equivalent .uk straight away (not wait for the 6 months).

So from day 1, .uk will start appearing and so the profile of the new extension will be seen in real life and will therefore generate some questions of how do I get my .uk domain?

 

[Retired_Member42]

The above could lead to an influx in .co.uk sales also. If people are seeing the .uk in use, it might encourage them to find out how to get it and buy the .co.uk version in order to do so. There are going to be people who want a .uk domain and will take the .co.uk to make use of it before the 6 month window lapses. Assuming .uk is going to be perceived as somewhat more attractive, it could be a trigger for people considering purchasing the .co.uk prior to finally make the leap and do it.

 

[retired_member29]

I've said this before - better to take .UK now and put it to bed, than wait for it to rear it's head in a few years time.

Let's look at it another way - if Nominet announced they were going to shelve .UK for the moment and carry on as normal, would that really help the market?


I'll stick my neck out and say it - let's strip away the 'who gets what' scenario for the moment: the current extension .co.uk to me, is now becoming an antiquated, clunky piece of shite - .UK is cleaner, shorter, snappier - it's just better - it's the future - to deny it to the new generations would be wrong.

I know people are upset, I understand why - what is the answer...

If im being honest i agree with this. Much better to get .uk done and dusted when it seems probable its going ahead at some point in time. It sure is a headache though and my investment in domains is pennies.

 

[markb]

I was just wondering with nominets decision to reserve certain .uk domains for government use, how they can decide to only reserve certain .uk domains for governmental use and not other .uk domains. It doesn't really seem fair that they can say the oldest registrant gets first chance to register their .uk domain, but then they decide to change this rule for certain domain names.

What's to stop them changing their mind and broadening their reserve name policy in the future. Or even taking .uk domains off people in the future if the governments digital transformation programme changes and more domains have to migrate off the .gov.uk domain space.

Maybe nominet should reserve all generic .uk domains so that no-one can register them.

 

[foz]

They've dropped the "direct" bullshit title.

 

[Retired_Member38]

What's to stop them changing their mind and broadening their reserve name policy in the future. Or even taking .uk domains off people in the future if the governments digital transformation programme changes and more domains have to migrate off the .gov.uk domain space.

Its bizarre to go from someone not being given a .uk domain in the first place, to the idea that they might give out .uk domains to people and then steal them off them in the future.

Its ridiculous to even suggest it... never in a million years is that going to happen.

 

[Stephen]

Cut off?

The above could lead to an influx in .co.uk sales also. If people are seeing the .uk in use, it might encourage them to find out how to get it and buy the .co.uk version in order to do so. There are going to be people who want a .uk domain and will take the .co.uk to make use of it before the 6 month window lapses. Assuming .uk is going to be perceived as somewhat more attractive, it could be a trigger for people considering purchasing the .co.uk prior to finally make the leap and do it.

Along as they check which tld is oldest.

Surprised nobody has set up a website to do who gets .uk check?

If Nominet had thought this through they would have added a new
feature "who gets .uk" you enter your domain string and it lists registration date and shows list of all eligible UK tld's and their registration dates and expiry dates.
It would also have note when all FTR, that if .co.uk registered now, it would be entitled to the equivalent .uk if it went ahead.

So pleased they did not add the date cut off as that would have created another 6 months of paralysis in the UK namespace, and lets hope they don't bring it back on the table.