Re: [wg-c] Pre-sold TLDs

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

> > That said, I do not support registrars "pre-registering" names for a fee
> > because there is no guarentee that the person "pre-registering" the
> > name will actually get (register) the name.  Registrants should only
> > be charged if the registrar actually registeres the name at the registry.
> 
> Then your argument is with the individual registrars. CORE registrars
> have done this for TLDs that their registry is hoping to get into the
> root. IOD has done this for a single TLD that it hopes to get into the
> root.
> --
> Christopher Ambler
> chris@the.web

Ah!!! *THIS* actually seems very positive if I read it right.
(I'm not trying to be cynical, obtuse, funny or twisted here)
Chris, are you trying to tell us that IOD has finally thought that it would
be a good idea to accept a situation where ".web" gets inserted in the
legacy roots even if it doesn't belong to IOD, have it setup in a shared
registrar fashion, be ONE of those registrars and at day0 have something
along the lines of a round-robin system, and have all of it's existing
customers go through this process?
I would *GUESS* that a VERY large % of IOD's existing customers would
actually get their domain (practically all of those that have non-generic
words as domains, as there wouldn't be a rush of day0 for them), and it
would certainly look as the best business model for IOD, which incidently
would mean a load of cash for YOU.
You can certainly publicize the fact that you have been registering in
".web" for ages (forget about mentioning the detail that it wasn't the same
".web"), and I would think that you would be the No.1 registrar for ".web"
domains for quite a while. If you give a good service, the price is right,
etc... then you have a starting position which is better than any other
registrar.
Yes, it *does* mean conceding somewhat in the fight to claim exclusive
ownership of ".web", but it is for you to decide if what you want is to make
money or not. (and personally I've always thought that the quest to claim
".web" was about being able to make money).

Yours, John Broomfield.