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 .

 

[MadAboutDomains]

I voted.

 

[carob]

Been bad for years
https://www.theregister.com/2016/09/26/great_british_domain_name_ripoff/

UK domain name holders are being overcharged while the company behind it wins contracts by undercutting the market in what may be illegal market abuse.

In recent months, Nominet has signed a number of back-end contracts with commercial operators of dozens of internet extensions ranging from .boston to .vodka. More deals are in the offing with large corporations like Comcast, and form part of an explicit push by the company's new CEO to take the non-profit organization in a more commercial direction.

However, industry experts are warning that those deals were likely won by Nominet offering below-market rates, effectively using the company's vast profits from the .uk registry to cross-subsidise its commercial ambitions.

 

[carob]

We can all ask .co.uk/.uk registrars to support the changes, which include lower domain renewal prices.

The list of registrars is here: https://registrars.nominet.uk/uk-namespace/registrar-agreement/list-of-registrars/

Is this supported by @GoDaddy @Paul Nicks @Joe Styler ?

And Uniregistry are on that members list, so are @namesilo @Dynadot @namecheap @Internet.bs - do they support the changes too?

 

[MadAboutDomains]

We can all ask .co.uk/.uk registrars to support the changes, which include lower domain renewal prices.

The list of registrars is here: https://registrars.nominet.uk/uk-namespace/registrar-agreement/list-of-registrars/

Is this supported by @GoDaddy @Paul Nicks @Joe Styler ?

And Uniregistry are on that members list, so are @namesilo @Dynadot @namecheap @Internet.bs - do they support the changes too?

I take it that you voted yes then?

Check https://publicbenefit.uk for a pretty decent list of supporters.

 

[carob]

I take it that you voted yes then?

Check https://publicbenefit.uk for a pretty decent list of supporters.

https://publicbenefit.uk/#support


Hi thanks, we need to lobby the undecided companies on that list - Godaddy, Namecheap, 1&1/Ionos, TuCows, Key-Systems, Markmonitor...

13 of Top 20 Undecided

Rank Name Domains Votes
#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
#7
Namecheap 201,355 202,686
#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
#19
OVH 35,352 36,683

Not a member so can't vote, only ask registrars to vote.

 

[premkumar]

Support now up to 24.7%

https://publicbenefit.uk/#support

I have contacted several registrars as a customer. Haven't contacted Godaddy yet. Key-Systems/Internebs/CentralNIC are surprisingly undecided still.

Note: weird voting system - you do not need 50% to win - 25% is an excellent target.

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.

 

[MadAboutDomains]

I think this vote is more or less over.

Going in which way? That site is just for people that want to put their support out in the public sphere.

 

[premkumar]

Going in which way? That site is just for people that want to put their support out in the public sphere.

you know which way. last time resolution is passed, the entire turnout is just 9%. I sure this time the turnout will be higher given how big change this resolution going to bring to nominet but still i don't expect more than 60 % infact i feel it will be less than 50% vote value will be casted.


To be frank, I am wary of both sides. Will the new team bring changes that's only positive or they bring trouble to us domainers?

I like Nominet its one of few independent and open registry organization that allow individuals across the world participate unlike counterpart like canada and europe where its open only to its citizen and worst part (i read somewhere) after Brexit they said UK citizen can no more hold the .eu domain ownership.

hope who ever taken over this organization/ current team run it in future, i expect they be one who always open to business to everyone registry not closed ones.

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?

yep, their in this mess mainly because they formed little empowered group for their own material benefit both the management and few registrar are part of it. to my knowledge the one registrar with Name and other one daddy registrar benefited from it and apart from the management team cutting cheque for themself and also going for shopping spears of questionable multi million pound purchases.

And all the suggestion and complaints of other members fall on deaf ears.

 

[carob]

Support keeps going up - now at 29.2%

Another supporter declares as of yesterday: https://www.linx.net/contact/linx-news/statement-concerning-the-forthcoming-nominet-egm/

And Nominet are so desperate they are using Google Ads. Wonder what the cost per click is.

 

[jmcc]

Anybody know the link to see the EGM meeting online? they will live telecast it right ?

If you are a member, you should have got a voting e-mail with the link to the EGM at the end of it. It was easy to miss. (Registration link sent via PM)

Regards...jmcc

 

[Future Sensors]

Nominet names new chair, slashes exec pay, promises reforms and more boardroom exits

Kevin Murphy, July 26, 2021, 13:47:51 (UTC)

Nominet has named its new chair as former BT Openworld CEO Andy Green, who has already laid out a suite of measures — including more blood on the boardroom floor — to address the barrage of criticisms from members who ousted his predecessor earlier this year.

Read more:

http://domainincite.com/26880-nomin...pay-promises-reforms-and-more-boardroom-exits

 

[DuDD]

wish everything gonna to be ok

 

[carob]

Have not received email. Can I vote via my Nominet account?

A cleanup at Nominet is long overdue.

It costs over £400 to become a Nominet member, but looks like anyone can join:
https://www.nominet.uk/corporate-governance/members/

Ready to apply?
If you’d like to join Nominet, simply complete our application form and pay a one-off joining fee of £400 (plus VAT). There’s also an annual subscription charge of £100 (plus VAT) if you’d like to continue your membership.

The membership year runs from 1st August to 31st July. If you join after 1st February, your first year’s subscription charge will be reduced to £50 (plus VAT).

 

[premkumar]

I think Godaddy undecided. I don't know why namecheap not decided yet, UK is their main market, hope they make a decision soon.

if 13 of top 20 (not decided yet) decide to vote No, then its approx 29% vote, on the other hand the publicbenefit.uk gather 20.8% till today. Its going to be interesting to see how many of this will be successfully persuade by current Nominet team. So still, it just handful of registrar going to decide the fate of this resolution?

Also publicbenefit may not have all the members who decided to vote YES but not given their name in publicbenefit.uk, so the YES vote may have higher percentage than those 20.8%.

Its important Godaddy, Namecheap, Namesilo, dynadot registrars should clear their stand on resolution before voting complete, so we domainer know whether our domains are in rightful hands.

 

[carob]

The Register ( https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/18/nominet_voting_fears/ ) and Domainincite ( http://domainincite.com/ ) are covering the story well.

Wow it just gets worse:

The upshot of that approach, however, was that Blackler was told he would not be able to appear live during the EGM itself. When Blackler made it clear that he wanted to deliver his arguments and potentially answer member questions live, we understand Kelly told him Nominet may not be able to do so because of technical limitations.
Not only that, Nominet also intends to limit the amount of time available to members to ask questions...
[

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

 

[premkumar]

Anybody know the link to see the EGM meeting online? they will live telecast it right ?

 

[premkumar]

A short time ago, we announced that Chief Executive, Russell Haworth, is stepping down. Russell has been an outstanding leader for Nominet. The entire Board is grateful for all that he has done for the company and that he has recognised that a new direction of travel will require new leadership.

All the best to Russell Haworth.

 

[carob]

The list of Nominet members is here: https://registrars.nominet.uk/uk-namespace/registrar-agreement/list-of-members/

Interesting to see that includes some universities and even UK local governments.

 

[premkumar]

Just got a mail from simon with subject "11th Hour Manoeuvres"

Is ex-CEO going to get Golden Parachute? since he resigned he gets severance package?

Lets hope EGM voting take place and this issue put to rest once for all.

 

[Mike Goodman]

So do we know, or when will we know, who the board is or will be from now going forward to the next AGM? Will the membership get a say in who is on the board at the next AGM (depending when it is I'm hoping to be a member by then)?

 

[Mike Goodman]

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).

That's it in a nutshell. Nominet was initiated with a better structure than most. What follows is my assumptions rather than any hard facts. I have not had the benefit of being there or actually seeing the evidence but it must be in there. It is impossible to rewrite the rulebook without recording anything.

It has taken a lot of changes to the original constitution behind closed doors over a very lengthy period to allow the board to behave as it has done. It must have been done a small tweak at a time or the membership would have realised what was going on and nipped it in the bud.

By the time Haworth took office the way was clear to plunder the coffers and begin the process of privatising the organisation. That is what this EGM has now prevented and we should all be grateful to Simon Blackley and his closer allies for their action.

Far fetched? Look at what happened to the building society movement when Thatcher began "rewriting" the regulations. i.e. burning the rulebook.

 

[Mike Goodman]

Which to me is a very clear indication of just how it sees its role, both in its own dealings and as supposedly representing the interests of the membership - that is the role of a board member, not merely to represent the interests of the organisation which employs it - of Nominet.

Because of its poor, barely usable to a Tux user, customer interface, appalling customer service and repeated stories of it fleecing its own customers and denying them access to their own domains, I have been trying very hard not to use GD at all for some time. This really nails that policy as the only correct one to follow.

I just wish more people would attempt to understand that, unless you yourself are a plutocrat, following the mainstream for mainstream's sake, or price for price's sake, without acting on, not just acknowledging but doing something, other indicators is not always the wisest move.

 

[premkumar]

so Sir Michael Lyons and Axel Pawlik have no role to play. so his this Andy Green a neutral guy?