Stephane Van Gelder - Registries

Can auctions be a good thing sometimes?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:08:57 +0100

As I've stated before, I don't like registry-run auctions. To me, there's something simply not kosher about the guys that have a monopoly over a given resource, be it domain names or anything else, getting prospective buyers to bid instead of making sure everyone has equal access at equal pricing.

It's a little like the water company basing its prices on people's needs: the thirstier you are, the more you pay…

But as usual, I'm ready to be proved wrong. And I wonder if Edmon, Leona and the rest of the guys at .ASIA haven't just done that by showing there's at least one case where registry-run auctions make sense.

That thought entered my mind while reading through their latest press release, celebrating the "historical smooth completion" (sic) of the first of the .ASIA Sunrise auctions. The release gives some indication of how the auctions went : "The average winning price for the first batch of contended auctions netted over US$1500.00 per domain, with high bids for domain names reaching beyond a few ten-thousand dollars."

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No Front Running at .AERO either...

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:38:56 +0100

Well that's a relief! SITA, the sponsor for .AERO, have publicly stated that they've never sold any search data and do not support Front Running.

SITA's announcement closely resembles the one put out by Afilias a few days ago and there's a perfectly good reason for that: Afilias is the registry operator for .AERO.

Still, reading SITA's announcement, I couldn't help but think: "who cares?". I mean who would even want to Front Run on an extension that's as specific as .AERO? That's one of the strength of sponsored domains like .AERO: they focus on one community, sector or culture (in .AERO's case, the aviation industry), and have little impact outside that.

And although that means such domains tend to remain small in terms of overall volume. They also tend to be abuse-free.

"Greed is good." Really?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:24:35 +0100

Michael Douglas coined the motto "greed is good" as financier Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's 1987 film "Wall Street".

Those of you who have been following the .MOBI launch know that as part of that process, a number of "premium" names were put on auction rather than simply released by the registry like all the other names.

What are premium names? "dotMobi premium names are a set of more than 5,000 commonly used words that dotMobi set aside during its formation," is your answer, straight from the registry's mouth.

Three auctions have been held, each one organised in conjunction with Sedo, the second-hand domain specialists. And according to mTLD (dotMobi's official name), the first two raised more than USD 1.6 million in revenue.

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Afilias: We don't, and we never have!

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:07:18 +0100

.INFO registry Afilias published an interesting media advisory yesterday which I thought I'd share with you.

It's about the subject of the month: Front Running. "

"This action keeps domains out of the hands of those who were originally interested, and is enabled by the Add Grace Period. The Add Grace Period allows registrars to delete a name within 5 days of its initial registration without financial impact, and was originally intended to correct errors or problems in the initial registration process."

Recent industry discussions have centered on a new phenomenon termed Domain Name Front Running. This occurs when someone conducts a search for a domain name and, shortly thereafter, someone else using some form of insider information preemptively registers the name."
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