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poll Will you now join the ICA with the lower membership price?

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Will you now join the ICA with the lower membership price?

  • 1st

    No still too expensive

    13 
    votes
    44.8%
  • 2nd

    No it's not about money but an organization I don't want to support

    10 
    votes
    34.5%
  • 3rd

    Yes

    votes
    20.7%

  • 29 votes
  • Ended 4 years ago
  • Final results

equity78

Top Member
TheDomains Staff
TLDInvestors.com
Impact
28,336
Now that the ICA has a lower membership fee will you join? Not sure why they have two distinctions for individual, I guess they want people who will pay $600 to keep paying $600. The directory just looks odd in my opinion, with the members right under individual made to look like second class citizens. But too each their own.

Annual Membership
Platinum Membership $25,000 USD and above
Gold Membership $10,000 – $24,999 USD
Silver Membership $5,000 – $9,999 USD
Bronze Membership $1,000 – $4,999 USD
Individual Membership $600 USD or $50 per month
Member $300 USD or $25 per month
Screenshot_2020-05-20 Member Directory - InternetCommerce org.jpg
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I support the ICA because I want to protect the living that I make from the domain industry, and that's what the ICA does. The ICA protects my business, and it helps ensure that we can all continue to have a business buying and selling domain names.

Why does the domain business need protecting? Because domain names are not like gold or cars, they are intangible assets defined by a set of rules and those rules keep changing.

I recently tweeted about the crew.com UDRP decision where 20 years ago J. Crew used the UDRP to take my crew.com domain name, which I considered to be my business asset that I was entitled to register and to own. But a UDRP panel decided otherwise. The majority said that it violated the rules governing domain names to trade in a domain name that was similar to an existing trademark. Well nearly all common words and acronyms are trademarked. The interpretation of the UDRP by the majority of the panel in the crew.com dispute, if it had become widespread, would have wiped out much of the domain investing industry.

More recently some UDRP panelists pushed an interpretation of the UDRP called the "Retroactive Bad Faith" theory. This theory said that if you use a domain name in bad faith to target a trademark, even a trademark that came after your domain registration, that it demonstrated that your original registration of the domain name was made in bad faith. Some panelists interpreted bad faith targeting quite broadly - PPC ads that were for products or services similar to those offered by the company with the trademark, or publicly offering a domain name for sale. If Retroactive Bad Faith had become the consensus interpretation of the UDRP, then that could have wiped out much of the domain investment industry.

Even more recently, a three-member UDRP panel ordered the transfer of the domain name ADO.com, which was owned by a well-known domain investor. The panel said that the asking price was too high and that meant the domain investor had bought the domain name to target the "well known" trademark holder - a Mexican bus company. If this interpretation of the UDRP - that setting a high asking price would be considered bad faith and result in the loss of your domain name - then that could have a damaging effect on the domain industry.

The UDRP is just one set of the rules that we are at the mercy of - and the UDRP is just one set of policies that come out of ICANN. Much of our fate is determined by what happens at ICANN. Most people in the domain industry don't know much about what goes on at ICANN. We're too busy running our businesses. But what happens at ICANN can affect whether we can continue running our businesses.

ICANN doesn't have a great track record. Many of their decisions make it appear that they are under the thumb of the big registries like Verisign and the Public Interest Registry (PIR) that runs .org. As many of you know, ICANN recently told PIR that it was lifting all price caps on .org and PIR can set whatever price it wants for .org registrations and renewals. Verisign saw what happened with .org and likely wants the same ability that PIR got to set whatever price it wishes on registrations and renewals, and to be able to premium price deleting domains and keep all the upside for itself. If Verisign succeeds and sharply increases the renewal prices, it could destroy the business models of many domain investors.

The people shown above who are members of the ICA aren't idiots. They don't throw their money away for no good reason. Instead, they run successful businesses. They want to protect those business. ICA members recognize that there are endless policy battles that must be fought to keep the domain industry thriving.

The ICA fights those battles on behalf of the domain industry. The people who have joined the ICA are doing so to join together with other members of the industry to protect the future of the domain name industry for everyone involved - those who contribute to the effort and those who don't. We'll gladly recognize those who are contributing to the common good. We'll provide a little more recognition to those who contribute more.

ICA members receive little tangible in the way of direct benefits. Yet it is a great community to be a part of. We recognize that it is a situation of united we stand, divided we fall, and we have chosen to unite together for the better of the domain industry.
 
19
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I support the ICA because I want to protect the living that I make from the domain industry, and that's what the ICA does. The ICA protects my business, and it helps ensure that we can all continue to have a business buying and selling domain names.

Why does the domain business need protecting? Because domain names are not like gold or cars, they are intangible assets defined by a set of rules and those rules keep changing.

I recently tweeted about the crew.com UDRP decision where 20 years ago J. Crew used the UDRP to take my crew.com domain name, which I considered to be my business asset that I was entitled to register and to own. But a UDRP panel decided otherwise. The majority said that it violated the rules governing domain names to trade in a domain name that was similar to an existing trademark. Well nearly all common words and acronyms are trademarked. The interpretation of the UDRP by the majority of the panel in the crew.com dispute, if it had become widespread, would have wiped out much of the domain investing industry.

More recently some UDRP panelists pushed an interpretation of the UDRP called the "Retroactive Bad Faith" theory. This theory said that if you use a domain name in bad faith to target a trademark, even a trademark that came after your domain registration, that it demonstrated that your original registration of the domain name was made in bad faith. Some panelists interpreted bad faith targeting quite broadly - PPC ads that were for products or services similar to those offered by the company with the trademark, or publicly offering a domain name for sale. If Retroactive Bad Faith had become the consensus interpretation of the UDRP, then that could have wiped out much of the domain investment industry.

Even more recently, a three-member UDRP panel ordered the transfer of the domain name ADO.com, which was owned by a well-known domain investor. The panel said that the asking price was too high and that meant the domain investor had bought the domain name to target the "well known" trademark holder - a Mexican bus company. If this interpretation of the UDRP - that setting a high asking price would be considered bad faith and result in the loss of your domain name - then that could have a damaging effect on the domain industry.

The UDRP is just one set of the rules that we are at the mercy of - and the UDRP is just one set of policies that come out of ICANN. Much of our fate is determined by what happens at ICANN. Most people in the domain industry don't know much about what goes on at ICANN. We're too busy running our businesses. But what happens at ICANN can affect whether we can continue running our businesses.

ICANN doesn't have a great track record. Many of their decisions make it appear that they are under the thumb of the big registries like Verisign and the Public Interest Registry (PIR) that runs .org. As many of you know, ICANN recently told PIR that it was lifting all price caps on .org and PIR can set whatever price it wants for .org registrations and renewals. Verisign saw what happened with .org and likely wants the same ability that PIR got to set whatever price it wishes on registrations and renewals, and to be able to premium price deleting domains and keep all the upside for itself. If Verisign succeeds and sharply increases the renewal prices, it could destroy the business models of many domain investors.

The people shown above who are members of the ICA aren't idiots. They don't throw their money away for no good reason. Instead, they run successful businesses. They want to protect those business. ICA members recognize that there are endless policy battles that must be fought to keep the domain industry thriving.

The ICA fights those battles on behalf of the domain industry. The people who have joined the ICA are doing so to join together with other members of the industry to protect the future of the domain name industry for everyone involved - those who contribute to the effort and those who don't. We'll gladly recognize those who are contributing to the common good. We'll provide a little more recognition to those who contribute more.

ICA members receive little tangible in the way of direct benefits. Yet it is a great community to be a part of. We recognize that it is a situation of united we stand, divided we fall, and we have chosen to unite together for the better of the domain industry.
so the UDRP to domainers is equivalent to the FCC for radio
just gave me a reason to join in the future Thank you
 
Last edited:
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Although I think I look better than all other members combined, I can assure you that no-one joins the ICA to have their photo displayed in a member directory.

I am not surprised many people are voting NO because $300 might still be a lot of money for most people, especially if you're not profitable on your domain name investments yet. That's okay because you do not need to pay and be a member to benefit from what the organization is trying to achieve because the ICA is working on trying to protect the business of EVERYONE who's buying and selling domains for a living, not just it's members. Personally I feel, if you make a nice profit from investing in domains, you should consider joining. For me, having easy access to high-profile investors and industry professionals such as lawyers and marketplace operators already pays for it multiple times over.
 
5
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Although I think I look better than all other members combined, I can assure you that no-one joins the ICA to have their photo displayed in a member directory.

I am not surprised many people are voting NO because $300 might still be a lot of money for most people, especially if you're not profitable on your domain name investments yet. That's okay because you do not need to pay and be a member to benefit from what the organization is trying to achieve because the ICA is working on trying to protect the business of EVERYONE who's buying and selling domains for a living, not just it's members. Personally I feel, if you make a nice profit from investing in domains, you should consider joining. For me, having easy access to high-profile investors and industry professionals such as lawyers and marketplace operators already pays for it multiple times over.
I believe it is not just about the money but rather almost everyone not convinced that they are doing something. I , thank God, can pay the 300 for per year or even 600, however, I think it doesnt worth at the moment. You said they are working for everyone right? So why have these high fees and in result exclude many many people? Believe it or not, I see 50 to be perfect and nothing will change at all as they will get more members and become big and powerful. But as it stands now, I see the prices are structured for some and not for all.
 
0
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Although I think I look better than all other members combined, I can assure you that no-one joins the ICA to have their photo displayed in a member directory.

I am not surprised many people are voting NO because $300 might still be a lot of money for most people, especially if you're not profitable on your domain name investments yet. That's okay because you do not need to pay and be a member to benefit from what the organization is trying to achieve because the ICA is working on trying to protect the business of EVERYONE who's buying and selling domains for a living, not just it's members. Personally I feel, if you make a nice profit from investing in domains, you should consider joining. For me, having easy access to high-profile investors and industry professionals such as lawyers and marketplace operators already pays for it multiple times over.

More are voting no because
No it's not about money but an organization I don't want to support

Seems to be the same sentiment at thedomains.
 
0
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What are their main USES?
 
0
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I support the ICA because I want to protect the living that I make from the domain industry, and that's what the ICA does. The ICA protects my business, and it helps ensure that we can all continue to have a business buying and selling domain names.

Why does the domain business need protecting? Because domain names are not like gold or cars, they are intangible assets defined by a set of rules and those rules keep changing.

I certainly agree that domain owners need protecting.


This site is full of reported risks to domain owners, as well as really interesting discussions of domain insurance possibilities. Few end users realise the risks domains can run.

Let's say domain ownerships belong to three classes, and a domain could move between those classes as things change, for example the owner or the use of the domain:


1) Owned for resale

2) Owned for active current use as site address, email, or forwarding.

3) Owned for potential use - some people collect domains they might like to use for a project later, or just because they like them, or might give them to someone later.


So I am glad there is an ICA to try to take this on, but is it just focused on domains owned for resale, and expensive ones at that? What has it achieved? What accountability and participation structures does ICA have? If it has a clear remit and structures, having disreputable members would not matter much, and most organisations have clauses letting them remove members who bring the organisation into disrepute.
 
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No, still too expensive.
 
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