Is there any chance we are tending towards "healthy, constructive debate"
on these issues?

I'd like to echo a few points, and contribute a few - all in the spirit
of constructive debate:

* IMHO, it it the licensee's responsibility to renew their domain.

* But, other stakeholders (e.g. reseller, registrar, registry operator)
  may find it in their interest to assist and/or encourage the renewal.

* If a licensee doesn't know what their doing, they should make some
  attempt to inform/educate themself and/or get a comptent
  manager/adviser for the task[1].

* The *desirable* responsibilities of the registry operator are
  debatable, but IMHO this debate should be limited to if/when they
  contact (a) the contacts in the domain registration details (b) the
  email address in the zone SOA.

* It follows from the preceding point, that issues of a domain being
  "obviously in use" and any extraneous contact information, say on a
  webpage, are of no concern to a registry operator.

* A registry fee for "late renewal" may well be justified (but let's
  not make it too large, lest it become attractive to refrain from
  encouraging timely renewals ;-).  Alternatively, a "small discount for
  early renewal" may make more sense (especially in the absence of an
  initial premium for registration of a new domain).

* There is an opportunity for registrars and resellers to differentiate
  themselves here, with differing service levels and the concept that
  premium service comes at a price premium.  IMHO, this kind of
  differentiation in service and pricing is a key indicator of "success"
  of any "competitive" regime[2].

* When a domain is undelegated or redelegated it would, IMHO, be a Very
  Good Thing for the registry to send an email (i.e. an automated email)
  to the email address in the SOA record.

Regards,
Neale.

[1] FWIW, the recent threads here have caused to start re-thinking my
views as to the viability of domain management as a "cottage industry".

[2] A counter-example is my skeptisism as to the "success" of
competition in aviation.