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 .

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[carob]

Found the EGM has been uploaded to Youtube for all to see:

 

[carob]

Article and analysis in Register today

https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/24/nominet_board_plan/

 

[carob]

Article and analysis in Register today

https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/24/nominet_board_plan/

Found in that article:

GoDaddy is Nominet’s largest member and it voted against the EGM

 

[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.

 

[carob]

Fresh article in Register today - Nominet still resisting change and ignoring members even after EGM:

https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/01/nominet_future_plans/

 

[premkumar]

Read the PDF unbelievable

1. Members fired Eleanor Bradley, now she came back as CEO wow wow a promotion
2. Nobody member / public benefit said about huge reserve, but they came up with plan to empty the cookie worth 20 million pound.
3. Appointed new board member from their own staff and now board is back to their control
4. no word about reducing their pay
5. no appointment of Sir Michael Lyons and Axel Pawlik rather they search a new person and it take 6 month
6. Considering what “membership” means - are they plan to reduce our power or increase the power their beneficator likes of Daddy

 

[Mike Goodman]

All of the above.

6. Considering what “membership” means - are they plan to reduce our power or increase the power their beneficator likes of Daddy

Very much the latter, I fear. And GD voted with the board at the EGM. I'm now out of GD altogether, including their raft of subsidiaries, which includes Afternic.

I suggest we all ask our contacts to do the same, at least as a temporary measure, and tell the GD reps why we're doing it, show them who really pays their wages and rub in the fact that they can't keep taking the piss for ever and expect nobody to respond

Once the bottom line is affected I'm reasonably confident the GD shareholders will butt in on our side. Subscribers are already bailing out due to the Brent Oxley affair. It won't take much more to have an impact.

 

[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/

 

[Mike Goodman]

Simon Blackler was making the same point on LinkedIn yesterday. It appears to be shaping up as an inevitability.

 

[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

 

[premkumar]

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