[registrars] Re: Ballot to determine whether ICANN Registrars favor or oppose Domain Tasting.

[Ross Rader]

On 18-Jan-08, at 4:16 PM, Russ Goodwin wrote:

> I don't feel there are technical grounds for addressing "tasting"  
> nor for eliminating the AGP, therefore I view any action by ICANN on  
> the matter (including initiation of a PDP) as an attempt to regulate  
> the market.


You've missed my point. ICANN doesn't initiate PDPs. We do. ICANN is  
not "regulating" anything. ICANN is simply a framework in which the  
community makes and enforces decisions (at least when its working well  
anyways).

This is what you signed up for when you became accredited.

If the community doesn't believe that the "tasting" is a net positive  
benefit to the DNS and registration system, then its perfectly  
suitable for the community to change its mind about the rules that  
were put in place in the first place. The AGP is a great example of  
this. While it wasn't a policy in the first place, it was implemented  
and institutionalized based on community feedback - we needed to be  
able to correct mistakes made during the registration process at low  
or no cost. The AGP is what came back. Some have taken this to mean  
"unlimited correction" and implemented their "tasting" programs. Parts  
of the community have taken the view that this is an inappropriate use  
of the AGP and are now seeking to implement new policy to prevent it.

In many ways, this is far preferable to regulation. At least with  
ICANN you might get a say in what the end result looks like.

Ross Rader
Director, Retail Services
t. 416.538.5492
c. 416.828.8783
http://www.domaindirect.com

"To solve the problems of today, we must focus on tomorrow."
- Erik Nupponen