.co.uk domain owners stand to lose out under Nominet's proposal

EdwinH

Nominet (the organisation in charge of managing all domain registrations in the UK) is proposing to introduce registrations directly under .uk for the first time, meaning that domains such as example.uk will be available. You can read their proposal here:
http://www.nominet.org.uk/how-participate/policy-development/current-policy-discussions-and-consultations/consultation-new-uk

They are introducing this as a new and better extension, and are planning to give trademark holders first pick of the domains ahead of existing .co.uk registrants. They also seem to be intent on engineering as many auctions as possible (TM holder vs TM holder, then domain owner vs domain owner, then a landrush auction for all interested parties) so as to maximise their profit from the exercise.

Basically, they're ignoring the fact that there are already 10,000,000+ UK domains registered (93% of which are .co.uk) and pretending that ".uk" is a "new" extension, somehow divorced from .co.uk.

Oh, and the new domains will cost 8x what it costs to register .co.uk domains.

If you own a .co.uk domain name, or you know someone who does, you need to take the time to read this document and find out exactly how you might be affected: http://www.mydomainnames.co.uk/

If you're wondering "Hey, I have a .co.uk domain name and I've never heard about this" well that's because Nominet seem to have explicitly decided that it would be too much of a chore to contact domain registrants individually, so while "everyone" is entitled to have their say during Nominet's consultation period, in practice the only people who will even have heard of the issue are those already inside the issue (i.e. domain registrars, web hosting companies, and the like)

That's why it's down to small business owners like me to TRY and spread the word somehow, before it's too late to do anything about it...

EdwinH

BTW, I almost forgot to mention... they're promoting .uk as being safer, more trustworthy and more secure than .co.uk - and that therefore implies that if their proposal goes ahead, people will start to trust .co.uk less and less.

After all, when you see an ad for a washing powder that "washes whiter" than the old formula did, you suddenly lose all interest in the old version.

And that will hurt EVERYONE doing business on .co.uk!

paddedjohn

Cant see the problem, 'example.co.uk' is different to 'example.uk' just like 'Main street' is different to 'Main Road' when talking about physical address's.

williham

I wouldn't worry too much, the reason people use .co.uk is because they cost £2 a year, charge extra and you won't get as many people using them... They won't catch on.

keyser666

paddedjohn wrote: »

Cant see the problem, 'example.co.uk' is different to 'example.uk' just like 'Main street' is different to 'Main Road' when talking about physical address's.

I think you miss the point. .co.uk defines a UK address and as it stood would be the only domain extension for the UK. This now appears not so.

On top of that the way they are looking to generate money out of this is not acceptable and even more ludicrous that they are stating that they are safer than a .co.uk.

I think it is poor

tomwakefield

williham wrote: »

I wouldn't worry too much, the reason people use .co.uk is because they cost £2 a year, charge extra and you won't get as many people using them... They won't catch on.

Businesses may feel they have to, if only to prevent cyber squatters and the like trying to take advantage of the reputation they have built up using a very similar domain.

prowla

".co.uk" is for UK companies.
If they want to introduce other things under ".uk", then so what?

EdwinH

prowla wrote: »

".co.uk" is for UK companies.
If they want to introduce other things under ".uk", then so what?

Ah, but Nominet are saying that .uk "[is] specifically designed for businesses that are or want to get online"

In other words, the same as .co.uk's target! Hence the prospect of massive confusion.

paddedjohn

keyser666 wrote: »

I think you miss the point. .co.uk defines a UK address and as it stood would be the only domain extension for the UK. This now appears not so.

On top of that the way they are looking to generate money out of this is not acceptable and even more ludicrous that they are stating that they are safer than a .co.uk.

I think it is poor

Im sorry but im not missing the point, instead of just .co.uk, .uk.org and me.uk there will now be a fourth option of .uk.

As far as being a safer option well thats upto them to justify but as with any product, the proof is in the pudding.

EdwinH

There's a really lucid summary of why the issue will impact businesses at http://www.splashweb.co.uk/directuk/ - well worth a read if you've yet to make up your mind.

prowla

The .uk domain is not exclusively designated for businesses - there is .ac.uk, and others.