FCFS/Auction Model - Which one is better

[Charley]

I think this auction format by RFP is really bad as it deprives small time investors to get the top/premium domain names. FCFS [First Come First Served] would be better as it invlolves competition among the registrars and if you are lucky you stand to own top names.

Would like your comments on this.

 

[accent]

If you are talking about the process where a newly issued extension reserves thousands of the best domains and then chooses the owners of those domains on the basis of the merit of proposals submitted - I think it is a very good idea.

Firstly, the chances of getting a name of that quality in landrush is near zero - the big boys snap them all up and auction them. That is fair for those with the money to bid thousands of dollars, but the real winners are the auction houses.

If a fair process (big if) is in place to choose the owners of the RFP names then the extension is assured of quality websites on those domains. Domainers create parking pages, I am guilty of this myself. The "user experience" of the extension is improved the more quality pages it has. .Mobi intends, so says their CEO, to distribute their withheld domains when they believe the market has evolved sufficently to attract the best proposals. This is the reason for the perceived delay in their releasing them - the mobile web and the .mobi extension do not yet have sufficent momentum, the MTLD people believe they can get more interest, better proposals later.

So you and I have no chance for those domains regardless of how they are distributed. But if the RFP process is done properly the overall usefulness of the extension improves greatly and whatever domains in that extension we hold will rise with the tide.

 

[Charley]

If you are talking about the process where a newly issued extension reserves thousands of the best domains and then chooses the owners of those domains on the basis of the merit of proposals submitted - I think it is a very good idea.

In this case, the owners of these names will be those big money spenders and people like you and me will not get anything.

But if the RFP process is done properly the overall usefulness of the extension improves greatly and whatever domains in that extension we hold will rise with the tide.

Same comment as above. All will be taken by the big players.

If it were on FCFS, it would be much better as the first person who submits the names automatically get those domains i.e. small/medium/large investors, all compete to get the creamy piece of the cake.

 

[Ronald Regging]

I think you're missing accentnepal's point.. The registry is interested in finding serious developers who are going to actually build quality sites that will help grow the popularity of the extension... Domainers really dont help grow the popularity of an extension. For the most part, we just speculate... buy up tons of good domains and then do nothing but park on them. This wont take the extension anywhere... So while yes, the people who get those domains will need big money... more than likely it wont be domainers at all who will be getting those domains... so it doesnt matter if you have $1 or $1 million... Unless you have a serious strategy for developing a major site, you wont get it... At least if its done right.

 

[accent]

I did not participate in the first portion of the Mobi landrush. But as I heard it all the available best names were caught by Pool and similar auction houses. Domainers with experience had backordered them before release and they ALL were grabbed and auctioned for large amounts of money. If the 5000 or so premium names held by MTLD were released then, they would have been grabbed by Pool and auctioned also.

Unless you had thousands of dollars you did not get the big names. Ordinary people were able to find some mid level names for reg fee - I got some LLL.mobi and I am very happy I did, but there are only so many top names and all the big boys know what they are. So it is either the big boys get them at auction, and park them, or the RFP winners get them and develop - Development is part of the contract of RFP names. And development helps all owners of the extension.

 

[Charley]

How would the registry know that these guys are really gonna develop them. Is there a document that requires to be signed before purchase ?

or the RFP winners get them and develop - Development is part of the contract of RFP names. And development helps all owners of the extension.

Which are the others, excluding SnapNames and Pool ?

similar auction houses

This is new stuff for me. Glad you'll are assisting.

I think you're missing accentnepal's point..

 

[scandiman]

Unless you had thousands of dollars you did not get the big names. Ordinary people were able to find some mid level names for reg fee - I got some LLL.mobi and I am very happy I did, but there are only so many top names and all the big boys know what they are. So it is either the big boys get them at auction, and park them, or the RFP winners get them and develop - Development is part of the contract of RFP names. And development helps all owners of the extension.

Yes, development is a requirement of the .mobi RFP, and we all eagerly await the results of the first RFP release. It will be interesting to see if the proverbial little guy has a shot at being awarded an RFP in .mobi. I have my eyes on several Premium names myself that I think could be compelling sites of interest to me. But if I have to compete against Disney, I will loose.

But in regards to the initial investment, I got quite a few great names in the landrush for the $60 reg fee and never participated in the pool auctions.

 

[-REECE-]

Yes, development is a requirement of the .mobi RFP, and we all eagerly await the results of the first RFP release. It will be interesting to see if the proverbial little guy has a shot at being awarded an RFP in .mobi. I have my eyes on several Premium names myself that I think could be compelling sites of interest to me. But if I have to compete against Disney, I will loose.

But in regards to the initial investment, I got quite a few great names in the landrush for the $60 reg fee and never participated in the pool auctions.

What's sad is that it seems mtld is distributing the names in a "whoever is willing to pay the most will be the most likely to develop it properly fashion".
Take health.mobi as an example -- that's arguably the best name in the health/nutrition field and it resolves to? Surely mtld let this "weak trademark" suffice because of the corporation which applied for it -- this name would have been happily developed by me, a smaller health/nutrition company, a supplement company,... And yet all we have to show for this great name is a blank page. I really don't see the RFP being any different -- and I think they'll have a great deal of difficulty enforcing contracts based on the RFP.

 

[Ronald Regging]

-- and I think they'll have a great deal of difficulty enforcing contracts based on the RFP.

This is a good point. I don't understand the contracts that are written up by ICANN and the various registries. Take the RegFly incident for example.. RegFly clearly violated the contract, yet ICANN, at first, claimed they couldn't do anything because of the way the contract was written.

Here's an idea.. Write the contract so that if someone violates it, the registry has the right to terminate the domain, instantly... If the registrant wants to bring up a claim against the registry afterwards, that's their prerogative... But registries are not helping their image or authority by agreeing to contracts that cripple their ability to enforce their own rules.

Maybe I'm missing something here?

 

[-REECE-]

This is a good point. I don't understand the contracts that are written up by ICANN and the various registries. Take the RegFly incident for example.. RegFly clearly violated the contract, yet ICANN, at first, claimed they couldn't do anything because of the way the contract was written.

Here's an idea.. Write the contract so that if someone violates it, the registry has the right to terminate the domain, instantly... If the registrant wants to bring up a claim against the registry afterwards, that's their prerogative... But registries are not helping their image or authority by agreeing to contracts that cripple their ability to enforce their own rules.

Maybe I'm missing something here?

Agreed 100%. The only question is whether corporations would like to invest in such an extension if they feel like they're being babysat by mtld on what they can and cannot do -- and the obvious challenge mtld will face of monitoring all the RFP's, assuming that they continue to use RFP's as an approach.

 

[scandiman]

What's sad is that it seems mtld is distributing the names in a "whoever is willing to pay the most will be the most likely to develop it properly fashion"

I'd say it is too early to call that race. Can't opine about what I haven't seen.

... and I think they'll have a great deal of difficulty enforcing contracts based on the RFP.

Same comment for this point also. If in the course of future RFP's I see that a little guy like me has a shot at being awarded a name, I would very much like to try out for a few. But having some knowledge of the terms of ownership would be nice to have before spending the application fee.

 

[-REECE-]

I'd say it is too early to call that race. Can't opine about what I haven't seen.

Same comment for this point also. If in the course of future RFP's I see that a little guy like me has a shot at being awarded a name, I would very much like to try out for a few. But having some knowledge of the terms of ownership would be nice to have before spending the application fee.

Yes, I really can't afford to spend that kind of money without being certain of what I'm getting into and knowing that I at least have a fair chance of winning it. I'd love to develop melatonin.mobi. I'm making it my goal to own every single antioxidant with known benefits within the next year -- provided sellers are reasonable . If I manage to get around to developing them all, I'd sure hope that would show "good faith". Doesn't really make sense to give the name to some large company, just because they're a large company, rather than someone who already owns 150+ antioxidant related .mobis and has developed them.