Re: [ga] WLS Questions

[Ellen Rony <ellen@rony.com>]

At 9:30 AM -0400 6/14/02, James Love wrote:
>What would fix the WLS issue would be to have a period after a domain
>expired, where anyone who wanted it could express intereset, and there would
>be a fair lottery to see who got it.     And, at any point before the
>lottery, the old domain holder should be able to get it back.
>
>Jamie

I like the idea of a 30-to-60-day grace period.  It's a common business
practice among insurance companies and providers of cable, telephone and
other services. People miss payment deadlines due to oversight, travel, and
mundane distractions.  Given what is at risk, a post-expiry date grace
period makes sense.

But why a post-grace period lottery?  Who would administer it?  What
mechanisms would assure its accountability, fairness and timeliness?  Who
would  be the registrant of record after the epiry date, if the registrant
chooses not to renew? Who would get to claim the fees involved?  How would
they be determined?  How would all registrars be assured equal access to
WLS?  Would the process run in tandem with the registration procedure--a
shared registry system for WLS requests.  Who would determine the rules
that apply?

Demand for domain names has slowed, and resale prices have softened.  More
than 1 million domain names are available at auction.  Millions sit in
virtual inventories of companies, organizations and individuals, unusued.

IMHO, WLS adds an unnecessary layer of expense and complication atop the
FCFS race and provides opportunity for internal abuse.  Nothing prevents a
party from approaching the current registrant and expressing direct
interest in acquiring the domain name.  Will that make the price go up?
Maybe so, but surely no less than the registrant knowing that someone has
paid for the privilege of waiting in line for it on the oft-remote chance
the domain name becomes available.

What is the problem the WLS proposes to solve?  Is it that cybersquatters
and speculators currently have some technical advantage not available to
ordinary folk, such as bots that scoop up expired names instantly?  Can
such bots be prohibited?   Is it that people with genuine interest in a
specific name want to be spared the time and expense of monitoring its
availability?   Can this be accomplished without imposing additional
expenses on those who are willing to do such monitoring on their own?




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ellen Rony, Co-author         )/_    http://www.domainhandbook.com
Domain Name Handbook  	     <" \      http://www.domainsleuth.biz
                             /)  )                  ellen@rony.com
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       The more people I meet, the more I like my cockatiel.
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