Hi Don,

<snip>
>coolahddg.com.au ... I hope this means a lot to everyone, because it is the
>only combination that would be accepted for .au registration... Our business
>name is the Coolah District Development Group Incorporated 
</snip>

You say that coolahddg.com.au is the only domain they would let you have.
Well I would disagree with that comment.
Your business name (as given above) would allow you quite a range of domains. 

For example:
coolahgroup.com.au
coolahdistrict.com.au
coolahdevelopment.com.au
coolahinc.com.au
cddg.com.au

These are all possible and available, there are others that would be as
good but are already taken. Only one possibility is banned by the .com.au
policy and that is coolah.com.au. Coolah of course is a place name.

As the main contact at Commerce Australia for DNS related matters I deal
with INA/INWW on a daily basis. I have no problems with the .com.au policy.
I believe the policy protects the name space from the wastage and
opportunism the .com space has seen in the last couple of years.

People have been complaining about the time delay it takes to register and
to re-delegate .com.au domains. I would like to know why they absolutely
have to have a domain up and running in less than 48 hours. Once the
application is in no one can steal the domain from you. Although after
saying that the domain registrations/re-delegations I have submitted are
usually completed in less than 12 hours.

The only problem I have with the .com.au name space is the price. Over $100
for a .com.au for two years and under $40 for a .com for two years. That is
over double the price and as far as I am concerned INA is overcharging. 

While competition has brought down the price for .com domains it has made
the re-delegation and management of .com's a lot harder. If anyone who
deals with .com registrations and delegations daily would like to volunteer
a company that will transfer domains from other registrars for free and has
a better interface than INWW please speak up as I would like to know of them.

Lee Sanders
Network Engineer
Commerce Australia







>The point being, tens-of-thousands of Australian organisations do not
>manufacture or sell products. We have nothing to trademark (we are not a
>manufacturer or retailer), and our business name reflects our
>organisation... however is it proper that our Internet address should also
>reflect our business name? (coolahddg)... This domain name is absurd, yet it
>is all we were allowed to have... within Australia... and yes, we have
>registered a far more appropriate domain name under .com... because under
>Australian naming "rules" we were refused an appropriate name (once again
>bye bye Aussie - except for diehard supporters of .au like me who hang on to
>this ridiculous coolahddg.com.au domain in my e-mails).
>
>Cheers, Don
>
>
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