there are two things in the thread that I would like to respond to. I will leave the details of the exact dates when things move from each period to craig (who is hopefully enjoying the canadian long weekend today). those two things are "how would I change my rap if the name has already gone into RGP-land" and dave's call for shame below.
my comments make one simple assumption. that there is a near-1:1 correlation between names that end up in the tucows-parked account and names that you will have incoming customer calls about. these names are the ones with latent value and inbound traffic. if the name has already hit RGP-land I would then add the following: - that the name has had the DNS changed for over 30 days (craig to confirm exact!); - more detail about all the notices that had been sent out and how the change in status (right down to the names of the nameservers) is intended to do everything possible to ensure that you don't lose your valuable names; - I would ask to have them help you understand how they missed all this (not in a blame way at all but with an eye towards helping you understand how you can better reach other customers in the future); - I would explain the grace process in PLAIN english (maybe we should put out a script now that I think about it) and help them understand i) why it costs more and ii) you would prefer never to have names enter this period and it is most decidedly NOT a way for you (or us) to make money; - depending upon the sophistication of the customer I would add a bit about the drop and about how their name has been saved from being swallowed up by the pros and would be SURE to point out that if they had been using any other registrar (I will leave it to you to figure out how to explain the reseller-registrar thing but you guys are used to that) their name would have a much greater chance of now have a parked page on it AND being unrecoverable (one of the things we should probably also do (but will take some time) is share the timelines of others in relation to ours). now for dave's call for shame. the first, and most important point is that the previous process was flawed for users and for the distribution channel (you and us). it benefited a small group of professional domainers that had evolved over the years from a smart group of hobbyists to a well-heeled group of professionals that now includes public companies, venture-backed companies, hedge funds and private equity funds as well as the companies that supplied them. there are a number of ex-bankers now in the space. when a name with ANY value drops it ends up in those hands and the customer is screwed and you and us see NO benefit. we can lament that reality. we can call it unfair and we can shake our fists at ICANN and the sky, but the facts are as they are. I do not begrudge those people anything. they are smart and took advantage of a system and a process (and definitely of some regulatory inefficiencies). for me, anybody who believes names should be dropped for any other reason than they are taking advantage of the names themselves (which we always respect and facilitate) is simply wishful thinking. this means anyone who opts-out. it is a harkening back to some idyllic "way things were" or "way I think they should be" to the detriment of the customer and themselves. so dave, I start from the place where I believe (strongly) that customers and resellers are MUCH better off with the system we have created. customers are better off because they have a much greater chance of having their important names protected and resellers are better off because they benefit financially which transfers dollars directly from pool/enom/etc and domainers to the reseller. now one of the things we have learned in painful detail over the years is that in any situation where people have to make a choice by far the first choice is DO NOTHING. the power of the default is well known and understood in usability circles and you should be thinking about it throughout your business. so we have to make a choice in that context as to whether we opt-out or opt-in. in this case, after a LOT of internal discussion (cause we don't take this stuff lightly and know that some of you will feel like you do) we are all very comfortable that opt-in is to the benefit of customers, resellers and us. we also are very clear that the only losers here are domainers and their suppliers (by the way also our customers in many circumstances so believe me we have > 0 incentive to leave status quo). that leads to opt-in. and dave, while I understand your position, I am not ashamed of what we have done. I am proud. I am proud that we have the only system that benefits customers. I am proud that we have the only system that is created to benefit resellers. I am proud that in rolling out this system it is working to the benefit of those it was intended to benefit. one other thought. take a look at the marketplace. look at what other registrars are doing with all of these items. I will make a prediction for you as markets are incredibly darwinian. the high ground that we are taking will drive the market. we will force other registrars to make their processes more registrant-friendly and more reseller-friendly. and that will be the greatest confirmation of all. of course as always, comments welcome and encouraged. Regards On Aug 7, 2006, at 12:27 AM, Dave Warren wrote: > In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > "Bill Gerrard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> It was a real message from a customer. So you think it's okay to tell >> them the Tucows hijacked their domain name? We did not want to >> participate in this parked pages program. > > Did you opt out (and once again, shame on Tucows for automatically > opting us in without also indemnifying the RSPs from legal action, > should any occur) > -- > Dave Warren, > MSN Instant Messenger: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Phone: (204) 480-8407 Toll free: (888) 371-3470 > Fax: (204) 283-6028 > _______________________________________________ > domains-gen mailing list > [email protected] > http://discuss.tucows.com/mailman/listinfo/domains-gen _______________________________________________ domains-gen mailing list [email protected] http://discuss.tucows.com/mailman/listinfo/domains-gen
