Would it be too much to ask Nominet ?

[TinkyWinky]

Jesus wept... am having a bad day :

<rant>

i. Any chance you can save credit card details like most other retailers/professional bodies. Given I have been forced to use 2FA it's poretty much secure to be honest...

ii. Are you taking the mickey :

Note: We reserve the right to charge a 3% fee on any account paying more than £20,000 in a calendar month by credit card.

iii. With such a big surplus and more automation than ever - why are we still paying £100 membership - what does that cover?



I wouldn't mind so much but :

i. you unilaterally upped registrations by 50% last year

ii. You have a monumental amount of cash in the bank

iii. You seem to be wanting to be anything but just the "manager" of the UK domain space.

</rant>

The sooner I get out of domains the better...

TW

 

[Edwin]

For the credit card details, a password manager such as RoboForm is your friend. One click and everything's filled in.

(It's probably a good idea to use a password manager anyway, because it lets you set ridiculously complicated passwords like "d2@Q9$7^4jiKnCvVCBdx" that are genuinely unbreakable with current technology.

 

[ian]

Except when the password manager gets hacked like so many do.

 

[Edwin]

As long as generated passwords don't exceed the password security criteria defined by the website you are trying to set the password on.

If it does, you probably shouldn't create an account on that website anyway, as they seemingly don't take security seriously.

Most are ok these days, but you're right, there are a few laggards who are behind the curve and demand ridiculously trivial passwords (e.g. "8 characters or less"). In which case, there's almost always another fish in the sea that can have my business instead.

 

[[email protected]]

Hi TinkyWinky

Sorry to hear you were having a bad day yesterday, fingers crossed for a better day today. Thanks for your feedback regarding the credit details and fee, I'll pass this on to my colleagues in the Customer Support Department. This may be something we could look at in the future (or may well be already looking at).

In terms of the £100 annual subscription fee (which I don't recall ever changing in the 17 years I've worked here) and membership benefits the most obvious one is the discounted registration rate, but others of note are access to the .UK zone file, UK Domain Categorisation and turingEssentials - plus nominating/electing in NED elections and the AGM.

You are also able to attend any of the events in the engagement programme including the member Lunch and Learns and the webinars. The next Lunch and Learn is in London on the 12th September with another in Edinburgh on the 28th September. These are free for members to attend but you must register.

If any members are interested in attending please email me at [email protected] and I'll send you the registration form. Also, please do send me your suggestions for other worthwhile benefits you think would add value to your membership.

Best wishes
Leanne

Membership Engagement Lead
[email protected]
01865 332202

 

[martin-s]

discounted registration rate

Please stop flogging this dead horse. You cannot compare a £3.75 per year rate to the rate you would pay Nominet directly if you were not a member. Unless you are a high volume, fully automated, commercial registrar, it's only relevant when compared to a rate you could get commercially elsewhere.

 

[[email protected]]

I wasn't comparing prices or registration methods, just trying to answer TinkyWinky's question.

On a positive note, my colleagues have confirmed that saving credit card details is in the pipeline, I don't have a definite date yet of when this will be released but it is on its way.

Best wishes
Leanne

 

[anthony]

The £400+VAT joining fee also needs to be scaled back!

 

[Systreg]

In terms of the £100 annual subscription fee (which I don't recall ever changing in the 17 years I've worked here) and membership benefits the most obvious one is the discounted registration rate, but others of note are access to the .UK zone file, UK Domain Categorisation and turingEssentials - plus nominating/electing in NED elections and the AGM.

You are also able to attend any of the events in the engagement programme including the member Lunch and Learns and the webinars...

Maybe Nominet should have different membership levels, if you want to avail yourself of the "benefits" listed above, you pay the £100, if you have no need of any of those things, you pay on a sliding scale down to £0

Personally, I don't see any benefits for me amongst those you listed:

discounted registration rate (personally, I don't mind paying what I pay for domain registrations, but there are cheaper alternatives out there which are discounted)

.UK zone file (I wouldn't know what to do with a zone file, of no use to me)

UK Domain Categorisation (I've never heard of this, Googled it now and it's for registrars who want to list their registrants domains in to categories. I don't have customers/registrants. Of no use to me)

turingEssentials (Something for Nominet to run on my DNS server, I don't have DNS servers. Of no use to me)

nominating/electing in NED elections and the AGM. (I think I've voted twice since 2009 but wont be voting again)

Lunches/webinars/meeting etc (I have no interest in ever attending any such events, of no use to me)

So, in a nutshell, I'm paying £100 for supposed benefits that in pretty much all instances, I'd never use at any point, ever

 

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the feedback, different membership levels is an interesting suggestion.

 

[TinkyWinky]

Hi Leanne

No beef with you - but can I address a couple of points.

"In terms of the £100 annual subscription fee (which I don't recall ever changing in the 17 years I've worked here) "

Ok from a personal point of view - I don't agree with any argument that says because it's been in place for 17 years that justifies anything. Memberships are surely there to benefit members - not just as a great way to bank more money.

In terms of benefiting members - not sure I have seen that much tangible benefit really. Automation has been great from a domain management angle, but now that is mostly in place - presumably will not warrant huge investments to develop much further (especially as you are focussing on lots of other things).

"Membership benefits the most obvious one is the discounted registration rate, but others of note are access to the .UK zone file, UK Domain Categorisation and turingEssentials - plus nominating/electing in NED elections and the AGM.

I, like many others, make a choice not to take part in "nominating/electing in NED elections and the AGM" as thanks to the way the membership works - I don't believe I have very much say or influence on policy, future developments, price hikes or anything else that really matters (like salaries for the board with pay rises wayyyy above inflation). Not sure I would ever deliberately choose to pay for this privilege to be honest.

I am happy to opt out of this part for a £85 reduction on the membership fee though.

I'll admit I do use the domain manager - which is useful.

The point I am trying to make is I would fully understand keeping the £100 a year fee if Nominet needed the money for day to day activities that support the UK domain space. You don't though as you generate enormous amounts of money from a monopolistic registration fee system.

So I simply don't see why it's still £100.

As for the cheap discount registration rate - well it's not really very cheap now is it - as a huge increase in fees went through which a lot of your members fundamentally disagreed with. See my para above about the way membership really seems to work against smaller members!

All in all I just resent the fact Nominet sits on £millions in the bank - most of which will not benefit UK domain owners in anyway thanks to the new projects you are branching out to which I presume will use that money? Either that or bonuses will continue ad infinitum.

Friday - beer time...

TW.

 

[jasman]

Yes the main issue is still why the reg fees were hiked up 50% when Nominet, which purports to be a non-profit, had revenues vastly in excess of its costs even before the price hike.