The .TEL Discussion Thread

[brendan52190]

Hi

For this, let's assume that .tel will not be a total flop.

What type of keywords will be most valuable for this extension? Will it be geographical keywords, like newyork.tel, losangeles.tel, etc, or what else?

 

[Sam]

Does anyone have pointers to the ICANN proceedings regarding the approval of .tel ? When .xxx gets turned down and a white page TLD gets approved, something's going on.

Its the good old puritanical USA.

 

[Acroplex]

lexis - how does Telnic plan to prevent data harvesting? And does Telnic assume that everyone who puts all their contact info on a .tel page wants it harvested and used for whatever purpose?

.tel makes it so easy for spam to proliferate, I won't even get into the details. I feel sorry for whoever sees this as yet another TLD to get onto the "keyword" bandwagon.

A TLD that offers no true control of the content - you're controlling data from a database, whether this is done at DNS level or from a SQL server it doesn't matter. The end result, is a single page with links.

I can do that with MySpace and have music playing in the background.

Its the good old puritanical USA.

ICANN is a business organization. I am interested in their process and arguments.

 

[lexisdomains]

Data Privacy

lexis - how does Telnic plan to prevent data harvesting? And does Telnic assume that everyone who puts all their contact info on a .tel page wants it harvested and used for whatever purpose?

.tel makes it so easy for spam to proliferate, I won't even get into the details.

Your Answer:

With respect, when you publish any information publicly it can be scraped, either manually or automatically. That is why we have enabled privacy and sharing using 1024 bit encryption and a separate Public Private Key (PPK) authentication system. Please see http://dev.telnic.org/pages/security.html for more information.

The only reason why all of my contact information is public at the moment is because a) the friending system is not live yet and b) in order to show what kinds of contact information can be put in there.

Thanks

Justin Hayward
Telnic Limited
justin.tel

Basically, I would structure my .Tel domain just like a yellow page listing with only revealing the following: Company Name, Company URL, & Company Telephone number.

 

[onlinelife]

Seems like 1 more person added to naysayer.tel directory!
Argument not going to end anytime soon, It will be interesting to see how people outside domaining going to adopt .tel 24march afterwards…

 

[Acroplex]

Basically, I would structure my .Tel domain just like a yellow page listing with only revealing the following: Company Name, Company URL, & Company Telephone number.

So you're pretty much saying that a) Telnic promotes .tel as a yellow page entry for "all your contact info" but when it comes to spam control b) you need to remove that info.

That's a hilarious contradiction. And they want $125 per year for that?

 

[chader144]

I ask how do they stop data harvesting on regular Domain names? on the whois etc.

 

[Acroplex]

I ask how do they stop data harvesting on regular Domain names? on the whois etc.

I understand the pain of having paid for "premium" .tel domains at $125 x 3, without being able to change the DNS to point to a real web site. Were you aware of that or were you duped?

The practice of data harvesting at the WHOIS level a) is unlawful per the Registry and b) can be stopped by the use of masked WHOIS.

But tell me, on a .tel page that contains not only your full name, company, address, map geolocation, phone number(s), fax, email, hobbies etc - how can you compare all this concentrated info with what appears in a regular TLD's WHOIS?

I am surprised the .tel is a British project; I would think that the European Union laws that protect the privacy of individuals are stricter than in the US.

PS Did I mention MySpace is free?

 

[phase111]

Does anyone have pointers to the ICANN proceedings regarding the approval of .tel ? When .xxx gets turned down and a white page TLD gets approved, something's going on.

I guess .tel is going to get flak from some because of its revolutionary nature, would be strange if it didnt really. It seems clear that it will be a very useful contacts domain now and into the future and that it will evolve. Telnic seem very receptive to public suggestions for improvement which is great. There is no way anyone can possibly say it wont work out, because it hasnt even gone to market yet..what has happened is that almost all half decent domains have gone at $300+ a pop, so there seems to be a good many people who disagree with what your trying to say...why dont you pass judgement in the future instead of the present... history is a good predictor of future failures, problem is that there is no history for .tel yet or anything similar, so many of your statements seem foolish at best. Why dont you come back in 10 years time and have a retrospective article about .tel then? It does seem that the most unassuming ideas seem to take off big time and I wouldnt be surprised if .tel was one of those. Look at how texting and bottled water have swept the world...these are just two examples, but the most subtle of ideas can really become a dramatic success..personally I think .tel in all its boring glory, is one of these world changing concepts.

 

[MicroGuy]

I wonder if Telnic informed its customers (before they paid $300+ a pop) that their domains would resolve to http://a0.webproxy.nic.tel/lookup/name.tel and contain two Telnic advertising footers that can't be removed?

(Eg. ALT.TEL resolves to http://a0.webproxy.nic.tel/lookup/alt.tel)

 

[Acroplex]

As a web developer and a domainer that enjoys a certain status, I think that it's my duty to inform those that are lesser informed about what .tel is and what it isn't. If you knowingly register .tel domains to get pages looking like this one then I won't feel sorry for you. But to promote .tel as the next best thing since sliced bread is akin to criminal. Some people haven't learned from the examples of .mobi and .asia, I guess three times is a charm.

 

[steveteva]

I definitively agree with you, I hope they will solve that webproxy thing.
If not, dot tel value will plunge and domainers won't invest on anymore.
Also telnic signature is a real problem. Hope there will be a removal option.

I can't display on my iphone the mobile version, it's desktop so dot tel is not useful in this situation, because it is webproxy. Check http://largeco.tel and it displays correctly on a iphone because it's url is not webproxy and is the demo of telnic. If I don't get the URL and iphone display like they advertise on telnic.org I will ask refund for false advertising, I can see people taking legal action now.

I wonder if Telnic informed it's customers (before they paid $300+ a pop) that their domains would resolve to http://a0.webproxy.nic.tel/lookup/name.tel and contain two Telnic advertising footers that can't be removed?

(Eg. ALT.TEL resolves to http://a0.webproxy.nic.tel/lookup/alt.tel)

 

[chader144]

@Acroplex,

I was aware that you are not able to change dns... and that is good when you are looking for stds. When creating applications it becomes difficult when you have different information stds on every different website.

Am I concerned about Spam... Yes, but it is at the Internet level. Just about every domain and website that I would open to the public I assume is going to get a certain level of spam. (and put my spam trapping software to good use).

It is kind of like asking why do people put their phone numbers in the phone book when they know that telemarketers are going to use it.

But with many things you take the good with the bad.

As for myspace. Like that place isnt a mess... (its getting better) but everybody has things different and there are some people on there who should not be allowed to own a semi-website area due to their designs and layout.

I am looking at it from a device perspective not so much web.

 

[MicroGuy]

I definitively agree with you, I hope they will solve that webproxy thing.
If not, dot tel value will plunge and domainers won't invest on anymore.
Also telnic signature is a real problem. Hope there will be a removal option.

I can't display on my iphone the mobile version, it's desktop so dot tel is not useful in this situation, because it is webproxy. Check http://largeco.tel and it displays correctly on a iphone because it's url is not webproxy and is the demo of telnic. If I don't get the URL and iphone display like they advertise on telnic.org I will ask refund for false advertising, I can see people taking legal action now.

It's strange how the .TEL simulator mentions nothing of a proxy and does not show these advertising links in the footer. Only after you actually pay $300 do you discover them. I think refunds should be in order based on the magnitude of these and other misrepresentations. http://www.telnic.com/individual-simulator.html

 

[tech4]

Not to break away from Dot Tel here, just on the side. What examples of .asia are you talking about?

I can see you comparing the use of Dot Mobi to Dot Tel but how can you relate that to .asia.

As a web developer and a domainer that enjoys a certain status, I think that it's my duty to inform those that are lesser informed about what .tel is and what it isn't. If you knowingly register .tel domains to get pages looking like this one then I won't feel sorry for you. But to promote .tel as the next best thing since sliced bread is akin to criminal. Some people haven't learned from the examples of .mobi and .asia, I guess three times is a charm.

I see that pills.tel according to you is pitiful but its actually nice. The owner could make a yellow page out of it and sell ads to companies and websites.

 

[MicroGuy]

I see that pills.tel according to you is pitiful but its actually nice. The owner could make a yellow page out of it and sell ads to companies and websites.

To me it looks identical to every other .TEL webpage. Exactly how is it any different?

 

[lexisdomains]

You missed the point.

So you're pretty much saying that a) Telnic promotes .tel as a yellow page entry for "all your contact info" but when it comes to spam control b) you need to remove that info.

That's a hilarious contradiction. And they want $125 per year for that?

Please do not misconstrue my words with Telnic's marketing plan.

Telnic.org states that ".tel is a service that allows individuals and businesses alike to store and manage all their contact information and keywords directly in the DNS without the need to build, host or manage a website." http://www.telnic.org

However, the point that I substantiated is that YellowPage directories have been publishing both online and offline privacy data (telephone numbers, business names, business address, etc) for decades without a failure of its revenue base model. In fact, this directory model has yielded 'billions of dollars"

And if history is indicative of future results, .Tel and directional advertising is in great shape!

The Outlook for Directional Advertising
The Kelsey Group forecasts directional advertising, which comprises local search, print Yellow Pages and Internet Yellow Pages (IYP), will grow from US$33.3 billion in 2007 to US$41.4 billion globally in 2012 (4.5 percent CAGR). The global outlook for each of the three key segments of the directional media market during the forecast period (2007-2012) is as follows:

* Local search revenues will grow from US$2.1 billion to US$6.6 billion (25.5 percent CAGR).

* Print Yellow Pages revenues will decline from US$27.5 billion to US$25.6 billion (-1.4 percent CAGR).
* IYP revenues will grow from US$3.7 billion to US$9.2 billion (20.1 percent CAGR).

Now that's not hillarious.... That's real money being made by a proven business model, irrespective of the critics.

 

[chader144]

@MicroGuy

It is a little bit of a surprise about the proxy. But this is still landrush time.. I expect there to be some more issues to work out. Just hopefully they are done before the 24th.
Just like there are some registrars who arent going live until the 24th which to me sounds crazy.

And as it has been mentioned many times before by many members... When new domains come out only buy what you can afford to lose.
(hmm think the stocks hit the bottom and on their way up)

 

[WordWalker]

.tel:Fool's Gold in 4 parts.

Happy reading.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Don’t Underestimate Innovation:

When a .tel server detects communication from a non-mobile device, it could provide the domain owner with the ability to "toggle-on" functionality that would automatically launch a companion pop-under website (a second URL) that would appear below the standard .tel contact page.

This would provide domain owners with all the existing benefits of .tel in combination with the traditional functionality we have come to expect from standard websites. By way of analogy, I do believe the Yellow Pages has had some measure of success with larger, accompanying page ads that display additional merchant content.

:hehe:

 

[MicroGuy]

It is a little bit of a surprise about the proxy. But this is still landrush time.. I expect there to be some more issues to work out. Just hopefully they are done before the 24th.

It has already been stated by Telnic officials that they never perceived the proxy resolution as an issue and that it was originally intended to operate in this manner.

We are still receiving and updating the proxy pages for both web and mobile access, so you will see some periods of downtime and some times a lag in access.

All of this work is to drive a standard level of access as much as possible for every .tel domain, whether it is accessed over a browser using a proxy page on the web, or bypassing the web using some of the applications we've developed or that other registrars and VoIP companies (Kiax and VOIPgate to name but two) have developed where you don't even need to go on to the web to access .tel domain information.

 

[lexisdomains]

Very good point!!!

By way of analogy, I do believe the Yellow Pages has had some measure of success with larger, accompanying page ads that display additional merchant content.

:hehe:

Very good point. Online Yellow Page diretories offer a sort of mini landing page which displays additional company info along with a branded logo.

.Tel will probably eventually have this functionality with the advent of new .Tel development. But for now, providing a web link to a strategic landing page should be just as effective. But again, the preferred advantage will be the telephone ping or "click to call" functionality.