[comments-deletes] So who is harmed by WLS? Here's who!

[Loren Stocker <loren@800.net>]

Dear All,

I want to highlight WHO is being harmed by these WLS Options, as it may help
clear things up a bit. I+IBk-ve noted a chorus of well-wishers to the WLS option
holders, apparently under the misconception there will be many happy end
users. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the opposite is true.
For every one WLS holder, there may be dozens of end users with terminal
discontent+ICY and least for the foreseeable future!

For those of you who don't know who we are, Vanity International holds about
1,500 domains for various clients and business ventures. You can see our
professional site at www.800.net. Our view on this "wait list" fantasy is at
www.evil.biz. An End User, for sure, but one with serious deletion acquisition
experience since 1996. I've been in the trenches with the speculators and have
bruises to prove it!

So, who+IBk-s harmed by WLS?

REGISTRANTS

CURRENT REGISTRANTS
This is obvious. Registrants are being pressured to pay for "protection,"
either by buying the WLS option on our own domains or by buying extended years
as deterrent. Once lost, the WLS option itself becomes a real, ever-present
danger to Registrants -- and must be disclosed to shareholders.

WLS OPTION HOLDERS
There will be some success stories, but don+IBk-t count on any domain of
substance being transferred by a WLS action. Some of these WLS options will
turn out to be pure scams. First, the domain holder may have already pre-paid
beyond the option period. Na+AO8-ve buyers will feel they+IBk-ve "been had" once
the time-frame is discovered. The savvy WLS option buyer, however, may realize
this yet still buy the option to get the renewal privileges the following
year! The first ones in (high intensity speculators) can renew these options
as long as they exist.

Secondly, savvy professionals will use agency to invalidate the wait list
altogether. Others will resort to fraud and theft. Once locked out by a WLS
option, interested parties will do everything in their power to avert a WLS
drop. Well, in fact, nothing could be easier. Through agency a domain can be
legally bought, taken over, transferred, and resold -- without ever being
deleted or "Wait Listed!" This "sneak back" process will be formalized at the
Registrar level and Duh!! Nothing of value will ever drop;) WLS Option holders
will helplessly watch as "their" domains are reassigned to others.

WLS OPTIONS DENIED!
The public will be the real victim here. For WLS to be something of value it
must "foreclose other's rights." These are Verisign's words, not mine. WLS
options "forecloses" public access to a whole class of domains: the good ones!
For every WLS sold, there may be dozens of wait-list-wanna-bes

Most of us can accept the fact that we didn't think of registering domains 5
years ago on a first come, first serve (FC/FS) basis. And we can accept the
fact that those who did have a right of continued use. In contrast, the WLS
option is a sale of our FUTURE rights to participate in a next, and perhaps
only, FC/FS assignment. Those barred from domains by WLS Options will have had
their rights foreclosed -- without their knowledge or consent. 

The fact that the WLS options themselves are sold FC/FS cannot justify the
DISCRIMINATION that results. Where VSRG makes money, they foreclose rights.
Where that can+IBk-t make money, they don't. This practice creates two classes
of domains; the popular ones and the rest. With WLS options, the public is
denied access to a class of popular domains where they should have equal
access to them all -- in real time. That's discrimination, is it not??!! The
public can't go back and buy an WLS option for a yet-to-happen event. What
right does ANYONE have +IBM much less a public trustee like Verisign -- to
withhold a class of popular domains from FC/FS reassignment? Is is not clear
that it is the PUBLIC being exploited here?

REGISTRARS
Clearly, Registrars will be out of the domain grabbing business for anything
more than a small fee. There will be no auction sites. Anything over $25 will
be trumped by a WLS Option. 

Registrars can assert Anti-Trust issues all they want, but it doesn't matter.
They took a risk when they got into the biz! What they don't seem to realize
is that they there is NO DIFFERENTIATION. With only one WLS option per domain,
there is nothing to sell! It's the same here, there, everywhere. Just buy it
cheap. Buy once. It's over. Oh, maybe someone will throw in a free toaster!

Again, it is the public that loses here. Once the WLS option has been sold,
there is no obvious way for John Q Public to be involved at all. There will be
no namewinner, Snapnames, and others for them to turn to.
It's hopeless for them, and that's the real tragedy. 

REGISTRY
Clearly WLS is a cash grab at the Registry level. The Registry is the
harmer, should WLS be implemented. Where they were supposed to be the public
trustee, they are are now peddling influence. They call this WLS "innovation."
It's an obvious scam; technically naive to call this "innovation." And they
think they don't need permission??!! They may be soon be asking the DOJ for
forgiveness.

The harm at the REGISTRY level is that trusted Registry -- who has proven to
be fair and impartial over the years -- may so erode the public confidence
that VSRG self-destructs.

Verisign doesn't need anyone to implement such a service. George Kirikos has
shown it's only four lines of code. If robust, it may be 100 lines. It's
absurb, in either case, to have Snapnames involved at all. Except, of course,
that Snapnames may be the driving force here.

The Registry, ICANN, and the public are being sold a dream. It's like Lotto.
Everyone dreams, only one player wins. WLS is only a good thing for the
winner. Everyone else pays for the game with the foreclosure of their rights!

The system we have today is far better. In fact, losing domains is the best
indication of the market at work! Deal with it. We're not supposed to win
every domain we go after! That's life. Let's make the best of what we have
today! Let's make what we have work.

Best Regards,

Loren Stocker
Vanity International
www.evil.biz