Re: [wg-c] Re: nine principles for domain names v5

[John Charles Broomfield <jbroom@manta.outremer.com>]

Hi all,
	I have difficult in understanding what are seemingly contradictory
principles (to an extent):

> 3. Differentiation – a gTLD should differentiate from all other gTLDs so as
> not to confuse net users.
> 4. Competition – new gTLDs should foster competition in the domain name
> space.

If the competition you mention in "4" refers to competition between gTLDs,
then I find this seems to contradict with "3".

If we have (for example) two gTLDs like ".sport" and ".auto" then this would
certainly be fine with principle "3" (differentiation), however there would
not be REAL competition between them. Which would Adidas register under?
Which would Renault register under? And those high tech companies that
actually race cars would probably register under both (Ferrari, McLaren,
Williams...).

If we have two descriptors that are competitive between them like ".shop" and
".store", then we certainly don't have much differentiation there, and I
would argue that there is clear confusion.

Just as a side note, I'd like to point out that if the gTLDs we have are
clear unequivocal differentiators, then they are also monopolies to
themselves (example: "Oh I make tennis rackets but I don't like the way the
guys run things at '.sports', so I'll go and register under '.auto' instead
because I like their policies" just doesn't make sense).

Yours, John Broomfield.