[ga] new WG on chartered/sponsored TLDs

[Joe Kelsey <joe@zircon.seattle.wa.us>]

Kent,

I like your idea of going back to "first principles" in order to try to
resolve some of the deep-seated conflicts that have plagued the entire
DNS debate on all lists that it has ever been discussed.

I too, feel that there is too much "talking past" each other.  If, after
how many years, we cannot even get people to agree on the basic
definition of terms like "registry", "registrar", etc., then I fear that
the debate will never get resolved.

The recently held discussion over rules of civil behavior and fairness
point out just how difficult it is to agree on terms like "freedom" and
"censorship".

I am at a loss exactly how to resolve the disputes, since I mostly agree
with the current definitions used by the new registry (nsi-registry) and
the new registrars.  I get the feeling that you believe that Christopher
Ambler continues to have an alternate definition for these terms, but
they seem so basic that I cannot imagine a different definition.

However, as to "chartered" and "sponsored" TLD, I remain skeptical about
their ultimate usefulness.  I know that the ccTLD's occupy this niche,
but I really fail to see that any specialty TLD can have any sort of
lasting value absent a wealthy monopoly to back it up.  Otherwise, you
will have an ultimately unmanageable orphan domain problem.

On the other hand, the advocates of unlimited gTLD creation may prove
that no one wants to have such chaos in the world.  Or, the spread of
such a vast number of TLD's will force us to use directories,
effectively squashing the market for "designer" TLD's and bankrupting
most private registries.

In the end, directories make all "designer" TLD's unnecessary.  This
includes both sponsored, chartered and cc TLD's.  However, the advent of
a real directory system is still seemingly far off.  I can almost see
the point of approving private TLD's if it wasn't for the long-term
support issues.

/Joe
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