development UK Nominet in Big Trouble?

[premkumar]

I think many namepros members know that Nominet govern (.uk, co.uk & other uk extensions), yesterday i got mail from them saying "resolution to remove five members of the Nominet Board, including the Chair and the entire executive leadership team."

Literally entire nominet management team may be removed or retained. in case if resolution succeed, they will be removed from their job and i don't know who will govern if that happen and will UK govt take over Nominet administration or remaining members / nominet members elect new chair?


I have few questions:
1. who initiated this resolution? to my knowledge such Extraordinary General Meeting to remove half of board member not done previously.
2. The board promises so many things, if they are retained, some of that they could never listen member request in normal time like:

Freezing .UK prices for at least the next two years
Freezing Board Pay
Investing in .UK infrastructure
Scaling our commitment to Public Benefit
Improving membership engagement
Increasing financial transparency
Launching a Registry Advisory Council (RAC)


Can fellow nominet member in NP, throw some light on what's happening in nominet?


Hey wait i forgot, i got call from nominet today regarding the resolution and asked me to vote, though she said she can't say what to vote but when i said don't worry i will vote No, she laughed more or less it clear they want the resolution to defeated.


I don't know i can share the mail from Nominet, if it can be shared, I will post it .

 

[Mike Goodman]

Actually it turned out to be a coup by some of Nominet members

The entire information can be found in publicbenefit.uk

Look like this coup is supported by nominet founder -Nigel Titley

I just came to know from some other websites, this resolution was initiated by some of big Nominet members ( they need 5% vote for that they got 12%, so resolution is initiated), they were disappointed by UK domain price rise, 70% increase of member salary and reduced donation of public cause and Nominet acquiring a loss making company for $5 million.

They have mentioned about replace them with 2 new members, who will manage the nominet in future.


Look like nominet blatant lie, in their mail, they made it look like nominet in trouble and govt may take control, nothing about who intiated the resolution or reason for the same, just read the below para

"Need to Know: Approval of this resolution would mean serious disruption for our team and endanger the services we provide to you and our other members. It would send a message to government that Nominet is no longer capable of self-governance, and that would put our independence at risk. We need your support to keep Nominet on track. Please vote NO."

The coup initiator not clarifying on few things:

1. Will they reduce the management remuneration, i feel they just maintain the increased compensation.
hope they come clean on it

2. They talk only about 2 member being appointed as replacement chair and Deputy chair, they removing 5 members what about other 3 members? whom they appoint or will they make them also elected member so we can vote and elect them?

3. Main thing they complain is increased domain price and reducing domain price from £3.90 pound but how much will they reduce, will it be back to £2.50 as in 2015 ? Again a silence from them no clarity.

4. since it initiated by top registries, could this be just grabing power from current management team, so they can enjoy power? or will they represent everybody benefit, esp i felt domainers are not represented in nominet decision making.

Last time they released .uk names they gave huge registration connection to nominet server for bigger domain holder like godaddy, so they can register premium names and domainer left with medicore names, i complaint and explained how unfair but they said my complaint is unfounded.

I don't have big vote value but having several thousand names gives me a decent voting right. i plan to get answer from both and vote accordingly. I want them also appoint members from domainers or have a say from us.

There is a lot more to this than meets the eye from reading the two documents you mention. The history goes back some way.

The members have been asking questions about the board's change of direction away from members' interests and into their own ambitions for a very long time. You're damned right director's incomes will be cut. Hard. And the remuneration committee done away with altogether for the time being.

The interim board of two people wil be assisted by members to revise the constitution in a direction taking it back to its original purpose of a public interest, membership owned and run, body and a full examination to find the best management structure to do so. Domain pricing of the *.uk stable is a minor issue. More in question is the board's (failed) opportunism in taking on non-.uk TLDs in order to inflate profits (which has failed), whilst simultaneously slashing the amounts awarded to charitable causes and not underpinning the prices of the .uk stable it is supposed to be managing. That UK stable is now underpinning their very costly mistakes in other TLDs and in takeover activities, plus the inner management group's ever inflating "reward" packages. Hence the *.uk price rises.

The stated intention (which I trust, knowing some at least of the instigators) is to return the newly amended constitution to the membership for full consideration, any proposed further amendments by the wider membership and a full membership vote. Hence the limited, two year tenure, proposed for the new incumbents if the motion is passed.

 

[jmcc]

Tucows just voted yes. That's 2 million votes in favour of the motion. (It is a strange vote counting system.)

Regards...jmcc

 

[Future Sensors]

@premkumar Thanks. Can you post a link the source of the news?

https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/23/nominet_egm_vote/

 

[Mike Goodman]

@premkumar The whole idea is to open the organisation to its membership once again. The current management have been announcing decisions made behind closed doors. The interim leadership, as I stated in an earlier post, will remain for just 2 years. During that time the constitution will be amended such that the membership must be involved in decision making.

The interim leadership will resign after two years. All management positions, which may still be a board of directors, will have been openly elected by the membership to take over from the interim two board members. It should by that time be extremely difficult for any vested interest group to take control.

The spate of promises from the incumbents today are a complete change of heart. What they are now proposing is exactly what they have been asked to do by the membership for years, with a cuople of minor tweaks to water that down. How can you trust them?

 

[carob]

Tucows just voted yes. That's 2 million votes in favour of the motion. (It is a strange vote counting system.)

Regards...jmcc

Support today at 28.6%, Godaddy still sitting on the fence as well as Key Systems who own Moniker and Internetbs.

More coverage this week in The Register too:

https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/16/nominet_government_intervention/

...the PublicBenefit.uk campaign continues to pick up support. As of Monday, it has the public support of 432 members, representing 75 per cent of the organisation’s largest 50 members and 25.1 per cent of all voting rights.

To win, the yes vote needs more than 50 per cent of the total votes cast – something that now looks like a virtual certainty given the fact that only on very rare occasions is member turnout on such votes higher than 10 per cent.

 

[jmcc]

Some of the largest operators in the .UK market are not UK owned companies. Some of these, such as Godaddy, 1&1 and Team Blue, have not voted or may vote at the EGM on Monday. Eitherway, those 2M votes and 29.2% of the membership is impressive. The Register ( https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/18/nominet_voting_fears/ ) and Domainincite ( http://domainincite.com/ ) are covering the story well.

Regards...jmcc

 

[jmcc]

Seems that Russell Haworth is stepping down as CEO and board member.

https://www.nominet.uk/announcement-from-the-board

Regards...jmcc

 

[Mike Goodman]

They lost! This declaration is a very clear signal of that as fact. But does this give them a way out? Do they simply scrap the vote because the motion is no longer completely accurate, with Haworth as the fall guy? I suspect they've ditched him to save their own skins.

This sounds to me like a total and utter scam by the board. If my suspicion is correct the next step has to be a confidence motion, straight and direct at the chairman. He has allowed the situation to endure for 6 years without doing anything about it.

 

[jmcc]

Finally, the results are out (as are the four remaining board members). The motion passed. The vote was close.

https://www.nominet.uk/nominet-egm-result/

https://media.nominet.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Nominet_EGM_ROV.pdf

The board spoke about membership engagement. They got it.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Mike Goodman]

I got the gist re. MD and CFO among those kicked off the board but sacking people doing an actual job of work is a different matter (don't ask my opinion on board members in general, I used to advise boards and met far too many - most are what I would label makeweights at best). If they are such high flyers they may well leave of their own accord before very long.

But I am concerned about the future make up of the board itself. I'd very much like to see the two guys who were proposed as interim in post for two years, to see a constructive format introduced. Where the hell is the integrity if the so-called "leadership" is allowed to play the kind of games this shower did? OK, they lost in the end but they had far too much gaming leeway to play with.

 

[jmcc]

But I am concerned about the future make up of the board itself. I'd very much like to see the two guys who were proposed as interim in post for two years, to see a constructive format introduced. Where the hell is the integrity if the so-called "leadership" is allowed to play the kind of games this shower did? OK, they lost in the end but they had far too much gaming leeway to play with.

The big players generally have lobbying down to a fine art so what often happens with registries is that they see more of the big players than they do of of the smaller registrars. After a while, they begin to identify more with the big players and a kind of regulatory capture happens due to smaller registrars not having quite as much time to spend on the various issues and attending meetings (Zoom or otherwise).

The two guys who were proposed have a lot of expertise. One did a major review of Nominet and the other had run RIPE (the European IP address registry). The choice of Russell Haworth as CEO was a bit odd in that he was an M&A specialist. Nominet is first and foremost a registry but the board, from reading about the campaign and the watching the EGM, seemed to jump between comparing it to "comparable" technology companies and considering it as a registry. It was like they wanted to play at being entrepreneurs but without the risks that entrepreneurs take.

The hard work, for Nominet, starts now. It has to rebuild a lot of the trust that it lost in the campaign and in the way that the board turned off the membership forum. The rot should never have been allowed to get this far. Ironically, Nominet is one of the better run registries. It will probably recover the trust of the membership quickly now that the bloodletting is done.Wellington's quote about Waterloo is quite apt: "The nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life". Had those mergers and acquisitons of registrars not taken place, the Nominet board members would not have lost.

Regards...jmcc

 

[jmcc]

so the biggest soap opera come to an End. End? Lets wait and see.

I have seen board room coups in movies and in news but seeing and experience one first hand gives me feeling that how tricky people act to save themselves and how they use their knowledge and effort to win and not bothering whether is it fair or not. could have been great if they put such effort towards the nominet and its members benefits.

The hard work generally starts afterwards. The vote numbers were close but from the way Mark Wood visibly started to slump at the end of the EGM, I think that the board knew they had lost as the EGM drew to a close.

When this kind of thing happens as the result of action by the membership and registrars rather than from external forces, it makes the TLD and the registry stronger because it amplifies the sense of community and shared ownership of the TLD. While it may be bad for those who lost their positions on the board and personally for Haworth, it can be a good thing for the TLD and the registry in the long run.

The voting rights (number of votes rather than how individual members voted) have been released by Nominet:
https://media.nominet.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Nominet-UK-Voting-Rights-2021.pdf

Regards...jmcc

 

[carob]

Looks like only way to fix this scandal is a second EGM:

https://www.computing.co.uk/news/4029948/campaigners-egm-nominet-board

The Public Benefit campaign, which aims to ensure UK registry operator Nominet is run according to its Articles, has announced that 97 per cent of its supporters want a second extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to remove the remaining members of the Nominet board.

Plus another Register article too:
https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/15/nominet_second_agm/

 

[premkumar]

Actually it turned out to be a coup by some of Nominet members

The entire information can be found in publicbenefit.uk

Look like this coup is supported by nominet founder -Nigel Titley

I just came to know from some other websites, this resolution was initiated by some of big Nominet members ( they need 5% vote for that they got 12%, so resolution is initiated), they were disappointed by UK domain price rise, 70% increase of member salary and reduced donation of public cause and Nominet acquiring a loss making company for $5 million.

They have mentioned about replace them with 2 new members, who will manage the nominet in future.


Look like nominet blatant lie, in their mail, they made it look like nominet in trouble and govt may take control, nothing about who intiated the resolution or reason for the same, just read the below para

"Need to Know: Approval of this resolution would mean serious disruption for our team and endanger the services we provide to you and our other members. It would send a message to government that Nominet is no longer capable of self-governance, and that would put our independence at risk. We need your support to keep Nominet on track. Please vote NO."





The coup initiator not clarifying on few things:

1. Will they reduce the management remuneration, i feel they just maintain the increased compensation.
hope they come clean on it

2. They talk only about 2 member being appointed as replacement chair and Deputy chair, they removing 5 members what about other 3 members? whom they appoint or will they make them also elected member so we can vote and elect them?

3. Main thing they complain is increased domain price and reducing domain price from £3.90 pound but how much will they reduce, will it be back to £2.50 as in 2015 ? Again a silence from them no clarity.

4. since it initiated by top registries, could this be just grabing power from current management team, so they can enjoy power? or will they represent everybody benefit, esp i felt domainers are not represented in nominet decision making.

Last time they released .uk names they gave huge registration connection to nominet server for bigger domain holder like godaddy, so they can register premium names and domainer left with medicore names, i complaint and explained how unfair but they said my complaint is unfounded.

I don't have big vote value but having several thousand names gives me a decent voting right. i plan to get answer from both and vote accordingly. I want them also appoint members from domainers or have a say from us.

 

[Mike Goodman]

It's supported by me, too.

 

[platey]

As i live ib the uk etc

.co.uk

And

.uk

Are the uk cctlds and i used to buy .co.uk and .uk but now i dont bother with either cctld as neither are global

I only buy

Gtld

Or

two keyword .com

There are uk domain name auctions which only list

.co.uk and .uk and org.uk etc

But gtlds and two keyword .com are uk domains if they contain english words etc

And there are uk. Domain name resellers that only list or used to

Just

.co.uk

Or

.uk

Etc

But i am so pleased i stopped buying uk cctlds and bought gtlds instead

 

[premkumar]

wish everything gonna to be ok

sure, but cast your vote

As i live ib the uk etc

.co.uk

And

.uk

Are the uk cctlds and i used to buy .co.uk and .uk but now i dont bother with either cctld as neither are global

I only buy

Gtld

Or

two keyword .com

There are uk domain name auctions which only list

.co.uk and .uk and org.uk etc

But gtlds and two keyword .com are uk domains if they contain english words etc

And there are uk. Domain name resellers that only list or used to

Just

.co.uk

Or

.uk

Etc

But i am so pleased i stopped buying uk cctlds and bought gtlds instead

UK is still a very good market and people sell good number of domains even in 5 figure, you have nominet membership?

My suggestion keep adding uk domains in your portfolio they are good investments but be picky don't buy medicore ones.

 

[Mike Goodman]

I also like the 2 year tenure, so the director are answerable to their action if they decided to stand for reelection

Sorry, I didn't make it quite clear. If the EGM motion is successful, i.e. there are more member votes for it than against, the new interim directors will serve for a period of two years then resign. Full stop. They have already stated they will not stand for re-election.

The structure of the new board or committee of management which will replace them will be designed, with member involvement, over that two year period. It has not yet been decided how long their tenure will be, whether there will a rolling board membership to provide continuity, a whole bunch of questions about how it should be done will be tackled and voted upon, most likely as part of the newly amended constitution.

 

[carob]

More info this week:

https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/02/nominet_board_vote/

re Nominet CEO Russell Haworth that article says that:

An online search will also reveal that Haworth and his executive team have been accused of paying themselves double-digit pay rises while increasing the price of .uk domains, slashing the money that goes to charitable causes, overseeing a drop in operating profit, and embarking on a series of failed commercial efforts in unrelated markets including autonomous vehicles, the internet of things and white space spectrum management.

 

[carob]

Support is now at 24.5% against a target of at least 25%:

https://publicbenefit.uk/#support

Great that in the last week Namecheap came on board, possibly the largest supporter so far, well worth contacting undecided registars to encourage them to support this.

11 of the top 20 registrars are undecided according to publicbenefit.uk, namely these:

#1 GoDaddy.com (123-reg, Heart, TSOHost, Daily, Domain Monster) 3,642,290 207,973
#2 1&1 Ionos (Ionos, Fasthosts) 1,696,701 207,973
#3 Namesco (LCN) 612,238 207,973
#4 TUCOWS (OpenSRS, Enom) 381,468 207,973
#5 PDR (Web.com, Arvixe, HostGator, Bluehost, iPage, A Small Orange, JustHost, Site 5, NetworkSolutions) 333,305 207,973
#6 Corporation Service Company (UK) 243,202 207,973
#8 Iomart Hosting (Easyspace, Bytemark, Memset) 145,213 146,544
#9 Key-Systems (CentralNic, InternetBS) 134,040 135,371
#10 UK2 132,495 133,826
#13 One.com 89,021 90,352
#17 Markmonitor 44,723 46,054

 

[carob]

They increase target. 10 days before the target was 20%, once 20% achieved target moved to 25%. I think this vote is more or less over.

It may be like those petition sites that raise the target every time it is met to keep people coming.

The prob I see is Nominet is in this mess because a few powerful interests have taken control and bend the rules to keep control, so the more support for change there is the better, and the less chance there is of a valid vote for change somehow being ignored or challenged.

It annoys me that Google has abstained - don't they expect Nominet to follow its own rules?

 

[Mike Goodman]

It annoys me that Google has abstained - don't they expect Nominet to follow its own rules?

It neither surprises nor annoys me. G is a huge conglomorate exhibiting monopolistic behaviour. Their reason for abstention is probably nothing more than PR. They don't want to open their hand to show that's what they believe in. I hope GD do the same thing. When did either follow rules when they could smell an advantage from not doing so?

 

[premkumar]

I have casted my vote yesterday. Had a talk with Simon too and shared my views.

 

[jmcc]

Wow it just gets worse:


Why doesn't Blackler just address the whole world on Youtube Live on the day?

He has to cast the proxy votes for all those members who have nominated him as their proxy. Whatever happens, it is going to be an interesting day.

Regards...jmcc