[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Lowering .org to the same status as .singles and other garbage gTLDs is a historically bad step

[Thomas Hruska]

The .com, .net, .org, and .gov gTLDs are the four oldest gTLDs 
underpinning the Internet.  The proposed change in Section 2.10 of the 
.org renewal agreement to eliminate pricing limits for .org domains runs 
directly counter to how the Internet should and currently operates.


According to Wikipedia.org:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.org

"The [.org] domain is commonly used by schools, open-source projects, 
and communities, but also by some for-profit entities."


The .org gTLD is managed by the Public Interest Registry (PIR) and 
supported by Afilias, Inc.  Overall, PIR looks to be a reasonably and 
fiscally responsible 501(c)(3) organization:

https://pir.org/about-us/

https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.profile&ein=331025119

In general, I'm seeing a lot of overblown concerns that PIR will 
dramatically raise rates for all .org registrations.  Doing that is not 
in PIR's continued best interest if they want to keep .org as a viable 
platform for the types of entities that utilize it.  Their .ngo and .ong 
domains are not astronomically priced at the registrar level, so .org 
pricing will probably not experience the overdramatic changes cited by 
various registrars that I'm seeing.


However, this proposed change is easily perceived by myself and many 
others as testing the waters for similarly transitioning .net and then 
.com to the base pricing model.  The Registry for .com and .net is 
Verisign, Inc., which is a publicly traded company on NASDAQ (VRSN). 
That alone is what makes this proposal for changing the pricing model 
for .org a very slippery slope that should not be pursued.

Finally, in my opinion, the three main gTLDs should remain untouched. 
Instead, if a specific gTLD attains a certain level of status (longevity 
+ general reputation + # of domains), its renewal model should 
transition away from the newer unlimited gTLD base pricing model to the 
traditional pricing model to allow the gTLD to continue to grow and 
flourish and reduce the overall risks involved.  Most gTLDs will then 
continue to naturally fall by the wayside due to the costs involved in 
running a gTLD while a few will attain sufficient stature over a long 
period of time to become fixtures.

-- 
Thomas Hruska
CubicleSoft President

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