.name grandfathered
185 points by classichasclass
185 points by classichasclass
Super exciting. I was stressed out on behalf of the folks with .name.
I wish that domain names weren't run exclusively by central organizations and that people who own them made the decisions about them. That would probably help limit spam and prevent unnecessary breakage. Unfortunately the resources necessary to make a new TLD with the current system tends to centralize that power into the companies that can afford it.
It'd be interesting to set up a TLD that's organized like Codeberg, where anyone who has a domain with that TLD could become a voting member. The registration fee (which could be higher than average) would be the "dues" for the organization.
It'd be interesting to set up a TLD that's organized like Codeberg, where anyone who has a domain with that TLD could become a voting member. The registration fee (which could be higher than average) would be the "dues" for the organization.
Hi @liberty would you kindly share more about this? I'm familiar enough with domain names and TLDs, but am not familiar with how Codeberg handles things. I'm just curious :-)
Codeberg allows people who uses the website to become a member of the legal organization behind it and vote to influence its direction. That way users aren't subject to the whims of a single person or small group. Codeberg has some documentation and related links for more information.
Oh wow, I had not known about that! I guess its very much one of those, i forget what they're called, maybe coop or collective, etc. That's really awesome and while I do have an account, sort of entices me to dive more into participation there. Thanks so much for sharing this info!!!
It'd be interesting to set up a TLD that's organized like Codeberg, where anyone who has a domain with that TLD could become a voting member. The registration fee (which could be higher than average) would be the "dues" for the organization.
That would be cool, but I'm not sure what you'd do as a member. Compared to a code forge, a TLD doesn't do a whole lot besides exchange money for domains. The dues would go towards paying the ICANN fee, then maybe employing one person to do TLD administrivia, then... what? Turn the surplus into rebates? Vote on your favorite charity?
If it needs to make decisions involving modifying the policy (like in this situation), it'd go to the members. That's widely applicable since many domain names have different policies. It also means that some company couldn't take over the TLD and screw over everyone who has the domain.
This story still leaves me uncomfortable imagining having a .name 3rd level domain. I am curious of some of you have tips on how to gauge the risk of loosing a domain like this? My primary domain is .xyz but maybe I should switch to a venerable .org or .com?
I would look at the structure and history of the managing registry. Some are membership organisations, charities, etc. and so aren't entirely profit focused. That might increase your confidence in them not fucking you over.
Some are membership organisations, charities, etc. and so aren't entirely profit focused.
Do you have an example of that? Ever since the Internet Society wanting to sell PIR who manages .org to Ethos Capital I am not sure what TLD to use. Not exactly confidence inducing when the state of California needs to jump in to prevent two non-profits (ICANN and ISOC) from being for profit.
Off the top of my head, Nominet (.uk, .wales, .cymru), DENIC (.de), AFNIC (.fr and friends), and EURid (.eu).
I'm not aware of any gTLD registries matching the brief, although I haven't looked.
EURid (.eu)
The one that took away British people's domains and sold them to other people when Brexit happened? You should never trust them with a domain after this.
(In general, aren't the rules governing ccTLDs much weaker than the rules governing gTLDs? It's been a few years since I looked into this, but I remember coming to the conclusion that you're best off with a popular gTLD.)
I wouldn't blame EURid for Brexit. But I take your point that domains with registration restrictions are risky. You may one day find yourself disqualified through no fault or action of your own.
My understanding is that ccTLD registries have much greater autonomy, yes. For good and ill. For myself, I think I trust a well intentioned ccTLD registry more than any of the gTLD registries, but that's going to be extremely case-by-case and vibes based.
I'm not blaming them for Brexit, I'm blaming them for how they handled Brexit.
They could've grandfathered old registrations in. This isn't a free, tax-funded service - you have to pay for domains, and even despite .eu's low cost I bet it could cover all the administrative costs. Even if it somehow wouldn't, you could bump up the cost for grandfathered British citizens or something.
But let's say you absolutely do not want the British to have .eu domains. You could at least reserve the domains they used to own, instead of selling them to other people. Keep in mind that, for example, there isn't a standard way to revoke an email address. If you lose your domain, I can buy it and receive all the email that was meant for you. Are you sure that you updated it everywhere?
Allowing this to happen is unacceptable behavior from a registrar.
Besides, let's step back for a moment. What, exactly, is the point of preventing British people from having .eu domains? Is it a disgrace to the TLD? Do you not want them to potentially misrepresent themselves as affiliated with the EU? Well, resellers such as njal.la still offer .eu domains, and I assume you could buy one just fine even if you're British.
I don't think that's a great option for regular people (I'd rather actually own my domain), but if you want to do... whatever this was meant to prevent - you probably don't mind.
There's even precedent for letting non-EU citizens buy .eu domains officially - Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway got into the list because they're part of the EEA. They could've just put Britain on that list too.
I dunno man, reading the Wikipedia section you posted seems to imply it was the British government that dropped the ball, not the EU. But I guess .eu domains were pretty far down on the list of stuff the UK was prepared to negotiate on.
I don't think it was a good idea to do third-level registration in the first place, but once they did do it, they shouldn't have taken it away, at least not without a long transition period.
If anyone else is interested, I was able to register a domain at 007names.com
Huh? Register what?
A 3rd-level registration, firstname.lastname.name domain. Post says they are shutting it down, but they are currently still available.