Afilias Proposal to Release Premier "Old Sunrise" Domains That Were Wrongfully Claimed as TM Domains

Propose a website that would enhance public perception of .info and get a domain

[gpmgroup]

Afilias have just submitted an application for a New Registry Service, to be allowed to allocate domains to qualified people who will enhance the .INFO brand.

[icann.org...]

The names have been held by the registry since 2001 when some sunrise applicants applied for names without being able to provide the necessary proof of Trademarks.

[pageoneresults]

Man, there are a bunch of bridges for sale in this topic! :)

Sure, someone may be able to capitalize on a few of those "Old Sunrise" domains. The number one deterrent here are the .com versions of those same registrations. What this looks like to me is another form of revenue for the registrar. Who is the going to be the first to pay the $500? Of course those with brand equity at stake and we know there are a whole bunch of them.

This is just another opportunity to generate income and have one last party before it all comes to an end. That whole .info space is poison. Sure, there are some who have managed to bypass that but for the most part, it was poisoned the minute they started giving it away for free.

And then we had this recent Google hiccup where a good portion of that space was purged from the index. We all know it was a mistake. But I'll bet we won't see that same mistake with .com, .net or any of the other surviving TLDs. :)

[Webwork]

The issue, as I see and wish to frame it, is this: "Can a registry effectively participate in the revitalization of that registry?"

Afilias has participated, damning it's own resource by misguided pricing, NOW - can Afilias do something to reverse that?

I say it has one last good chance and that this re-release of sunrise domains IS IT.

I think Afilias needs to stop pussyfooting around, STOP keeping an eye on the short-term money, AND DO SOMETHING BOLD.

BOLD? Yes, BOLD!

Afilias needs to give something away - in a good and wise and well motivated way, i.e., the premier domains it is re-releasing AND it needs to do that in a very creative and LONGVIEW manner IF Afilias's INTENT is to LEGITIMIZE that which Afilias has greatly participated IN DAMAGING: the credibility and, therefore, utilization of .Info.

There is ONLY ONE WAY for Afilias to handle the re-release of the remaining premium domains and that is to GIVE THEM AWAY IN THE RIGHT WAY, on the right terms and conditions, in a very public and generous way.

IF Afilias sticks to the $500 RFP -> Auction model it is pulling the plug on its long term vitality and credibility. Beyond a reasonable doubt it will blow it's last best opportunity to restore some faith in the gTLD and it's leadership.

OTOH, IF it's leadership shows some compelling community leadership and thoughtfully chooses, instead of profiting, but to engage the larger web development community then there is some reason for hope.

Dear Afilias: How many places are those who you wish to engage - the web developers - are you showing up and engaging THEM, those whom you say you WISH TO ENGAGE, attract, whatever? Well, IF that's REALLY what you are about HERE WE ARE! SHOW UP. ENGAGE.

Or otherwise you will show either that you don't get it or that you really are NOT about engaging the developer community.

For the love of your registry you ought to get out of the office and online, directly interacting WITH the developer community. Sure, you may have to take some heat. That's the price of past actions and deeds. Work through it. Don't push back. Push forward.

Webwork

[Webwork]

.Mobi, by comparison, is doing exactly the wrong thing.

.Mobi evidenced all the signs of a registry that was looking to establish the legitimacy of "its registry" by building upon prices paid for its domains at auctions. In other words, "We must be important because look at the prices people (speculators) are paying!"

Dumb. Dumber, Dumbest.

Again, they had a good chance of legitimizing their domain by, instead of auctioning their domains, launching by giving away a 100 top domains in a design and implementation competition. Show that the gTLD can "do the trick" and THEN move along.

But, no, it's always "get the money". Phhttt! Prices paid at auctions, by speculators who then either park the domain or seek to resell it, does not go a long way towards building a brand, or credibility, or trust.

I smell death, unless Afilias starts to show up, engage the enduser community, build some excitement, support development on it's gTLD and probably do more than that. It's like starting over again. It's likely not going to be immediately profitable, but if they don't move beyond short term gains this time then I am declaring them puny. Not dead. Just destined to barely survive, whereas when they were first lauched there was some sense that - as a development alternative to .Com - they just might make the gTLD space a competition.

[Quadrille]

mobi was real missed opportunity; if they'd handled it right, we'd all believe that you HAD to have .mobi if you wanted to get mobile visitors.

They blew it ... and guess who benefitted?

.info? I think not - .com, as always :)

And how long before you can make up your own, and escape the grip of the would-be tld monopolists?

It'll still be .com, though, you'll see!

[weeks]

For what it's worth, most newspapers would very much like to own "<City>.info" and "<AllOfTheCommunitiesInMyCirculationArea>.info."

The trick here is that newspapers have a means of promoting and marketing a new web brand like this, not just building it and maintaining the service. $500? No problem.

[Quadrille]

Doubtful.

Most would rather have city.[newspapertitle].com

and <AllOfTheCommunitiesInMyCirculationArea>.[newspapertitle].com or even [newspapertitle].com/<AllOfTheCommunitiesInMyCirculationArea>/

I've yet to see evidence that anyone *wants* [anything].info - though some might be persuaded, usually unwisely, if they cannot get [anything].com

I always advise people NEVER to buy a non-.com tld unless they own the .com, else they'll always be at risk of losing out. That advice stands. ('local' being a very occasional exception).

This "offer" changes none of the logic of domain buying, and it won't rehabiliate anything, not even the sponsor's bank balance. If you wouldn't buy one last week, why would gamble on one now? It just does not make a tad of sense to me.

[AhmedF]

Webwork - in general the idea I like is:

$2500 refundable deposit for RFP. $1500 per additional domain. This shows seriousness. Then if you don't get in, you get your $ back - no loss for you except the interest. Afilias this way gets to look at a wide swath of proposals and go with people who can build up their .INFO brand.

People keep talking about how .info is poisoned - in Germany, after .de the biggest extension is .info. The world is not the US.

[Quadrille]

In the English speaking world, .info is not second, or near it. I don't think anythging in this thread should be taken to refer to the non-English speaking world. And I don't think that discovery affects anything anyone has said here.

After all, Orkut trumps facebook and myspace put together in Brazil - and we don't hold it against them, do we ;)

[AhmedF]

Comparing the online market-size of Germany to Brasil is a terrible mis-service.

The point is that .info is a respectable extension in certain countries, and that a premium .info (like USA.info) is easily worth mid 5-digits.

Just to disclose, I don't own a single .info

[jmccormac]

People keep talking about how .info is poisoned - in Germany, after .de the biggest extension is .info.

I do not think that it is. The biggest extension in Germany after .de would be .com. These are the rough stats for identified German hosters as of 01/August/2008.

.com 2497399
.net 729845
.org 418205
.biz 178028
.info 507302
.eu 711798 (based on identified .eu domains)
.co.uk 95990 (based on identified .co.uk domains)
.mobi 68015

All figures are based on zonefile counts except where noted. The figures haven't been checked for distinctiveness but they give a reasonable view of the hierarchy of domains in Germany.

Regards...jmcc

[jmccormac]

I'm still not quite sure that the management of .mobi understand the position of .mobi in the domain hierarchy. Often the typical domainer outlook is global as opposed to being country focused. This approach can lead to people considering a gTLD as a global TLD and missing the local picture. The reality is that each gTLD market is a set of smaller, country level markets.

The .mobi TLD is still continuing to grow. The figures below are zonefile counts from the first day of each month:

¦ Jan2008 ¦ 798375 ¦
¦ Feb2008 ¦ 833042 ¦
¦ Mar2008 ¦ 865623 ¦
¦ Apr2008 ¦ 893934 ¦
¦ May2008 ¦ 896180 ¦
¦ Jun2008 ¦ 912069 ¦
¦ Jul2008 ¦ 925132 ¦
¦ Aug2008 ¦ 940684 ¦
¦ Sep2008 ¦ 949179 ¦

Regards...jmcc

[goodroi]

Afilias had a golden oppportunity to engage their target market by participating in this thread. Appartently .info is doing so well they can afford to ignore this thread of internet developers. Best of luck to Afilias on this latest and probably last chance at grabbing money.

[Quadrille]

Comparing the online market-size of Germany to Brasil is a terrible mis-service.

Huh? I wasn't.

But why might it be a disservice, and to whom?

[if it's off topic, don't worry!]