[nc-transfer] Standardized definitions

["Ross Wm. Rader" <ross@tucows.com>]

In the past, I have found that DNSO discussions of policy often get bogged
down by discussions of definition. Unfortunately, there really is no lingua
franca that bridges the gap between the colloquial terms that we all use,
the contractual terms employed by the staff and the technical terms in use
by the engineers. For instance, I've noticed that the people that register
domain names are interchangeably referred to as SLD Holders, Registrants,
Users, Members, Subscribers and Customers.

This dynamic often leads to a lack of understanding that slows down the
interchange of ideas and occasionally has completely derailed discussions on
important issues. Early last year, this became apparent to me so I undertook
the creation of a document that spelled out what the definition of these
various terms are. In the intervening period, I have found this document to
be useful in a number of forums as a basis for establishing a common
understanding that we could base our discussions on.

This document, entitled "Domain Name and Related Definitions" may at some
point be submitted to the IETF for inclusion in their RFC archive. While it
has received substantial peer review and has been modified several times, I
don't believe that it is quite firm enough to become an official IETF
document. Definitions occasionally carry unintended political statements
that I would like to ensure don't exist in this document before I submit it.

Anyways, this entire ramble is a roundabout way of saying that I believe
that this document will be useful for our purposes here. We have several
groups in this task force, each with their own evolved language, that needs
to be brought together for a common purpose. Hopefully this document will
assist in bringing us together.

The abstract for this draft is:

   A number of policy and technical development efforts related to the
   DNS are underway, both within the engineering community, ICANN-
   circles and elsewhere in light of the current and evolving scope and
   utility of DNS, domain name registries and related entities. In
   order for this work to be truly effective and broadly applicable, it
   is important that accepted definitions act as the foundation. This
   document is an attempt to create a starting point for the requisite
   dialogue that will ultimately foster the determination and
   acceptance of these new protocols. This document obsoletes <draft-
   rader-dnwhois-defn-00.txt> and <draft-ietf-provreg-dn-defn-01.txt..

The entire document can be found online at
http://www.byte.org/drafts/draft-rader-dn-defn-00.txt

Please let me know if you see any areas where this document can be improved.

Thanks,

-rwr