There are a number of issues that I have with the latest AusRegistry 
campaign, I am yet to be convinced about the webname terminology, but 
one point needs to be clarified.

AusRegistry is responsible for marketing the .au domain space, this is 
quite clearly about increasing the number of domains.

Educating the public about the .au namespace, is what auDA is supposed 
to be doing.

Bennett.



David Keegel wrote:
> I don't often send "me too"s, but I agree with Kim Davies:
> 
> ] But that said, if the aim of the marketing campaign is educating the
> ] consumer - I don't see why they are not educated properly with the
> ] correct term rather than pseudo-nonsense. This sounds like the kind of
> ] education where someone trying to teach people how a car works, starts
> ] calling the motor engine the "vroom-machine".
>  
> I would like to see education based around ideas like:
> * licensing a domain name is a pre-requisite for having your own web address
> * an example domain name: mycompany.com.au
> * an example web address: www.mycompany.com.au
> * domain names can also be used for other services, like email, eg:
> 	fred§mycompany.com.au
> 
> Some other things Kim wrote that I strongly agree with:
> 
> ] For me, the success of .au is not strongly linked to the number of
> ] domain names sold. For AusRegistry it is - they are there to make as
> ] much money as they can over the next 3 years, and ultimately to try and
> ] get in a position to secure the best possible advantage in a rebid for
> ] the registry. That is a fact of life. For registrars it is all about
> ] the money too - and thus number of registrations. For some that may be
> ] directly through volume of registrations, for others it may not be at
> ] all. It might just be a small but essential component of a much more
> ] profitable part of their business.
> ] 
> ] But for everyone else, domain growth is not substantially important.
> ] As a consumer, encouraging everyone to register as many domain names
> ] as they can at this juncture in time actually harms others down the
> ] track. It ultimately limits choice in a finite pool, by exhausting the
> ] name supply. If in the year 2003, everyone is encouraged to register
> ] variants, generics etc., what happens to all the new businesses in 2013?
> ] This will always be a problem but that doesn't mean conservation efforts
> ] are futile.
> ] 
> ] There are of course benefits to owning domain names, and educating the
> ] public on those is extremely helpful, and I would like to see everyone
> ] who would like to have one - have one. I would like to see ".au" to be
> ] the viable choice for all Australians, and chosen in preference to other
> ] TLDs.
> ] 
> ] I think we should be careful about using the number of domain
> ] registrations and domain growth as the benchmark for success. It may be
> ] for the shareholders of registries and registrars, but I am not sure who
> ] else.
> ] 
> ] I am not saying domain growth is a bad thing - it reflects positively
> ] on work auDA has done to improve domain policy, on market deregulation,
> ] in general Internet growth, and possibly even education improvements. I
> ] also obviously acknowledge there are some consumer benefits through cost
> ] reductions on a per-domain basis.
> 
> ] if it had been
> ] thought through from the beginning it should have cost no more to do it
> ] in a way that works reasonably well on other browsers.
> 
> I think web authors should strive to only use portable/standards compliant
> HTML that should work reasonably well on all browsers, regardless of screen
> resolution.
> 
> ___________________________________________________________________________
>  David Keegel <djk&#167;cybersource.com.au>  http://www.cyber.com.au/users/djk/
>  Cybersource P/L: Linux/Unix Systems Administration Consulting/Contracting
> 
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