Dear ICANN,
Thank you for considering revised proposals for the .pro TLD!
That 3rd-level profession-specific .pro domains require appropriate credentials
or is a restriction that clearly has value, suiting the needs and purposes
of a very important audience. Even increasing the number of 2nd-level
TLAs as professional categories for 3rd-level .pro domains is probably a good idea.
But *please* open up the 2nd-level domains to the public! It is a shame to thwart
such a vast number of potential 2nd-level .pro names and the people they would assist.
2nd-level domains in their limitless naming possibilities cannot, by definition,
have a one-to-one correspondence with ordained or broadly recognized career paths.
Yet it would be helpful for people to be able to self-describe their professional
ambitions, abilities and experiences in creative terms. While at the same time,
it is counterproductive to narrow the .pro extension to the point of actually
strangling it.
Why shouldn't someone be able to register 'codeguru.pro' based on their personal
belief and experience that they are an excellent engineer? Maybe they are!
Since when does a formal title or credentials guarantee professionalism or
the lack thereof contradict it? For example, a few random names: 'artisan.pro',
'punster.pro', 'eclectic.pro', 'results_oriented.pro'... what would be the
point of insisting that registrants of them be formally credentialed in the
fields, when there's no way to get such credentialed but conceivably someone
could actually be a professional in those areas? What does blind censure
prove ultimately?
To require formal certification is to deny legitimate claim to professionalism in
currently unrecognized but otherwise viable and productive trades, which in many cases
do and should command respect and dignity. New trades come along all the time.
Why micromanage and stand judgment of their validity? That does more harm than
good, and it's just about impossible to get right, if fairness and good-will
and, ultimately economy, and reason factor into it.
For example, what about the software profession, where many professionals,
never got a degree, but work their whole careers competently and productively
along side credentialed engineers doing the same work, just as well and in some
cases better? That's just a well-established fact of the industry. It's rather
unfair to such individuals, to insist on their having a specific type credential,
when qualifications are so often a grey area in practice.
Some of the most well-known and respected captains of industry don't have degrees.
Would you deny Steve Jobs a .pro domain name? Mr. Jobs doesn't have a degree and
he even spoke to a graduating Stanford class about that very fact, urging them
toward professional success beyond what having a degree alone confers. Clearly
it could be very helpful to someone's career to be able to have a creative .pro
name to describe self-assertively their skills and career aspirations.
From my perspective, as long as everyone understands the difference between the
3rd-level categorical names and 2nd-level ones, it's a win-win. If anything, opening
up the 2nd-level domains for .pro will be a boon to 3rd-level .pro domains, adding
recognition and stature to 3rd-level names, with the obvious benefit that when people
understand what a 2nd-level .pro domain is through registering one, they'll
invariably discover what distinguishes a 3rd-level domain from a 2nd-level domain.
As opposed to the way things are now, where almost no one, including many web
professionals, knows what a .pro domain is, much less how to acquire one, or,
having glanced at the limited number of .pro registrars and a litany of arcane rules,
wonder whether .pro is worth the time, money and effort. It is obvious most
professionals on the web don't feel .pro is worth it, and it's not hard to
understand why they feel that way. And writing off .pro as another failed
TLD without doing something substantial to fix what is clearly wrong with its
implementation is disingenuous.
The way .pro is set up is now is a lose-lose. The obscurity of .pro and its
faltering and lack of registrants after years of availability speaks for itself.
The current approach isn't working, however noble its original intent and charter.
And it's certainly not because '.pro' isn't highly desirable as an extension!
A more dignified succinct extension would be tough to find. The appeal is
impossible to deny.
There is tangible evidence that the draconian measures taken to protect the
undiluted purity of the .pro domain have failed. So, better than letting the .pro
TLD wither on the vine, would be to court the public and its self-promoting
imagination. Perhaps then .pro will thrive gloriously. Yes, appealing to people's
vanity and sweat-equity is bound to pay off. Besides, what is there to lose that
hasn't been lost already? Making part of the domain space a little less snooty
and exclusive will help those who would benefit directly from having a piece
of that, as well as those who own the justifiably more exclusive 3rd-level
domains.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for considering revised proposals for the .pro TLD!
That 3rd-level profession-specific .pro domains require appropriate credentials
or is a restriction that clearly has value, suiting the needs and purposes
of a very important audience. Even increasing the number of 2nd-level
TLAs as professional categories for 3rd-level .pro domains is probably a good idea.
But *please* open up the 2nd-level domains to the public! It is a shame to thwart
such a vast number of potential 2nd-level .pro names and the people they would assist.
2nd-level domains in their limitless naming possibilities cannot, by definition,
have a one-to-one correspondence with ordained or broadly recognized career paths.
Yet it would be helpful for people to be able to self-describe their professional
ambitions, abilities and experiences in creative terms. While at the same time,
it is counterproductive to narrow the .pro extension to the point of actually
strangling it.
Why shouldn't someone be able to register 'codeguru.pro' based on their personal
belief and experience that they are an excellent engineer? Maybe they are!
Since when does a formal title or credentials guarantee professionalism or
the lack thereof contradict it? For example, a few random names: 'artisan.pro',
'punster.pro', 'eclectic.pro', 'results_oriented.pro'... what would be the
point of insisting that registrants of them be formally credentialed in the
fields, when there's no way to get such credentialed but conceivably someone
could actually be a professional in those areas? What does blind censure
prove ultimately?
To require formal certification is to deny legitimate claim to professionalism in
currently unrecognized but otherwise viable and productive trades, which in many cases
do and should command respect and dignity. New trades come along all the time.
Why micromanage and stand judgment of their validity? That does more harm than
good, and it's just about impossible to get right, if fairness and good-will
and, ultimately economy, and reason factor into it.
For example, what about the software profession, where many professionals,
never got a degree, but work their whole careers competently and productively
along side credentialed engineers doing the same work, just as well and in some
cases better? That's just a well-established fact of the industry. It's rather
unfair to such individuals, to insist on their having a specific type credential,
when qualifications are so often a grey area in practice.
Some of the most well-known and respected captains of industry don't have degrees.
Would you deny Steve Jobs a .pro domain name? Mr. Jobs doesn't have a degree and
he even spoke to a graduating Stanford class about that very fact, urging them
toward professional success beyond what having a degree alone confers. Clearly
it could be very helpful to someone's career to be able to have a creative .pro
name to describe self-assertively their skills and career aspirations.
From my perspective, as long as everyone understands the difference between the
3rd-level categorical names and 2nd-level ones, it's a win-win. If anything, opening
up the 2nd-level domains for .pro will be a boon to 3rd-level .pro domains, adding
recognition and stature to 3rd-level names, with the obvious benefit that when people
understand what a 2nd-level .pro domain is through registering one, they'll
invariably discover what distinguishes a 3rd-level domain from a 2nd-level domain.
As opposed to the way things are now, where almost no one, including many web
professionals, knows what a .pro domain is, much less how to acquire one, or,
having glanced at the limited number of .pro registrars and a litany of arcane rules,
wonder whether .pro is worth the time, money and effort. It is obvious most
professionals on the web don't feel .pro is worth it, and it's not hard to
understand why they feel that way. And writing off .pro as another failed
TLD without doing something substantial to fix what is clearly wrong with its
implementation is disingenuous.
The way .pro is set up is now is a lose-lose. The obscurity of .pro and its
faltering and lack of registrants after years of availability speaks for itself.
The current approach isn't working, however noble its original intent and charter.
And it's certainly not because '.pro' isn't highly desirable as an extension!
A more dignified succinct extension would be tough to find. The appeal is
impossible to deny.
There is tangible evidence that the draconian measures taken to protect the
undiluted purity of the .pro domain have failed. So, better than letting the .pro
TLD wither on the vine, would be to court the public and its self-promoting
imagination. Perhaps then .pro will thrive gloriously. Yes, appealing to people's
vanity and sweat-equity is bound to pay off. Besides, what is there to lose that
hasn't been lost already? Making part of the domain space a little less snooty
and exclusive will help those who would benefit directly from having a piece
of that, as well as those who own the justifiably more exclusive 3rd-level
domains.
Thank you for your time.
