[comments-gtlds] FORK IN THE ROAD

[frank schilling <schilling7@home.com>]

A new Top level domain has just been made available. WorldSite.ws bills
itself as the new global alternative to .com

The .nu and .md appear to be doing brisk business.  .cc and .co.uk are
gowing larger and millions of .net names are still available, but
everyone wants to live in the .com neighborhood. This is not going to
change regardless of the number of new TLDs or GTLDs that get
introduced. As a captain of industry, how well will you sleep at night
owning Loans.biz or Loans.net or Loans.web knowing that 99% of
your prospective customers will visit Loans.com just to see what is
there? With every passing day .com becomes more powerful.  I don't see
this changing for our current generation... perhaps the next generation
will find .com too old fashioned for them.

Today ICANN has encountered a fork in the road. Either fork will lead to
upheaval of some sort. The options that seem to make sense no matter how
radical they sound are:

1. Adopt a system whereby any GTLD could be made available and added to
the root servers. A system where purchasing your own GTLD is as easy as
purchasing your own domain name. In essence every registrar could sell
GTLDs and then add them to the root servers. Logistically, this is
possible, albeit a departure from the current tack. 

2. Very cautiously add 1-4 new GTLDs that are globally recognizable. And
"fairly" launched at the same time through all ICANN approved
registrars. 

When I make a toll free call, I use an 800, 877 or 888 prefix (or a few
others that are even lesser known) There is no talk now of adding
hundreds of toll free prefixes...and not everyone will be fortunate
enough to own 800 FLOWERS. But the system works. The system works
because it was collectively adopted and implemented. For the sake of the
future and to avoid panic as the internet grows, ICANN must adopt clear
policies and actively pursue their implementation. This includes making
the public aware of what ICANN is doing in plain language.