auDA Statement re Michaella Richards

[findtim]

exclusive negotiation with aUSregistry

i've said it before and i am really tied of saying it, i am comfortable with my decision on this and nobody could have predicted what came afterwards which has been stated MANY times, as a director you make decisions based on the information provided to you and research you do. we are now in an rtp so this is old news and we went into an rtp pre s249d

the strategy of flogging .au to international buyers

you state it as its already happened? we are still going through a process of .au so that statement is totally unfounded. the names panel and the implementation panel are 2 completely different subjects.

the name change to auHQ

i don't know where to start on this one ! it was presented as a name, not a new constitutional change, did anyone complain in victoria when overnight safeway disappeared and it only became woolworths? no
--------story------
i was a manager of woolworths in qld in 1985 when we took over safeway, i was on the team in qld that converted ALL safeway stores to woolworths brand, we worked 24/7 for months up and down qld moving from store to store stripping them to the core and rebuilding them to the woolworths mentality, in victoria woolworths converted to safeway as it was a more powerful brand, although woolworths took over safeway in actual fact imo safeway took over woolworths as far as governance, we saw MAJOR changes within 1 year, the leaders changed and the systems changed, many people lost their jobs, many people left, sales went up and down as consumers liked or disliked what we were doing.
then woolworths started " the fresh food people", in reality it was a safeway driven intuitive using woolworths money and we ruled the grocery market for the next 15 years, i left after 5 years and travelled the world but the thats where i see auda now, about to make a significant break through.
----------------
auHQ in concept is a good idea, WHY ? simply because no body knows who the F auda is, do they !!!
i spoke to a guy on wednesday, webdesigner, internet marketer yadda yadda he was trying to impress me so i'd authorise my clients ad $ going to him........... so i asked " so you know auda" ? he said "what" i said " A ...U...D....A " and he said " whats that stand for?"

seriously, nobody currently cares or knows, we all know this, i also don't think in canada where membership to cira is free once you register a domain name anyone knows what cira is? i know this because i have 2 canadian friends i communicate with, one is an environmental activist and is full on with online propaganda via her organisations website, the other is a university lecturer in womens rights who uses the internet to lobby the government and has created a good ground swell of support via the internet. neither of them know what cira is !
i asked them both a few weeks ago.

we have a real problem of the public being not interested. australians and canadians have as much interest in auda and cira as they do in what toothpaste they use ! don't say "colgate" try to name WHICH one you use without going to check, i bet you can't ( sensodyne uses excluded)

but we need to try, and i am going to try

tim

 

[findtim]

just a note: i can't see myself being available till tuesday now, so i'm not ignoring the thread which really is now off track
tim

 

[DomainNames]

Tim,
While we are off track on Board activity and how great you all think you have done in your decisions ...what's the outcome of the auDA and Ausregistry public 2009 statements which promised further .au wholesale price drops as registrations increased?

https://www.ausregistry.com.au/auda-extends-ausregistrys-au-registry-term-to-2014/

"The major points of the renegotiated Licence Agreement include:

• new pricing that sees a drop in AusRegistry’s wholesale price to $14 (for a 2 year licence) for .com.au and .net.au domains and further drops as volumes increase."

I smell a cover up for profits and so do a lot of other people?

I smell a Class Action brewing if auDA does not tell the truth and make it happen ASAP!

Might be time to invest in www.litigationlending.com.au in case they take it on.

FOLLOW THE MONEY!

Very few people would trust auDA or the auDA Board due to their activities, non accountability and non transparency. This has been well documented by many.

 

[snoopy]

auHQ in concept is a good idea, WHY ? simply because no body knows who the F auda is, do they !!!
i spoke to a guy on wednesday, webdesigner, internet marketer yadda yadda he was trying to impress me so i'd authorise my clients ad $ going to him........... so i asked " so you know auda" ? he said "what" i said " A ...U...D....A " and he said " whats that stand for?"

seriously, nobody currently cares or knows

I hope AUDA isn't going to spend a whole lot of money trying to promote itself. It is a non issue that few people know or care about AUDA. It is just a fact with most small organizations. Auda regulates .com.au, that is about it, they are overpaid ($4.85 per name) the job isn't done that well (UBU's) and it sounds like significant rorting has previously taken place (forensic accountants).

Changing 2 letters won't change anything either, everyday people don't want to know and even many domainers only got involved when when Auda was going to derail the whole extension with the .au proposal.

Auda should reduce the amount it charges registrants instead of spending money promoting itself.

 

[findtim]

you make some valid points snoopy but also contradict yourself, on one hand you say don't waste money on promoting the org but people only got involved because of the .au.
why did they get involved? because they knew, so which do you want? an ostrich or a lion?
UBU's , i think we can all agree this has to stop and i will be bringing this up again at the next board meeting as a MAJOR concern to the .au space.
as for changing 2 letters, its moving towards the radio test for me, auHQ gives you at least a good guess at what we do where as auDA gives you nothing !
au diabetics association, au dentists association, etcccccccccccccccc

everyday people don't want to know

thats what depresses me the most, business people who are so apathetic towards online, but will complain when there is a problem.

tim

 

[snoopy]

you make some valid points snoopy but also contradict yourself, on one hand you say don't waste money on promoting the org but people only got involved because of the .au.
why did they get involved? because they knew, so which do you want? an ostrich or a lion?

I believe AUDA wanting to promote itself is not to expand the membership base but simple to build up the CV's on the people who work there, if the organisation is more widely known it looks better for the people running it when they look for their next job. The CEO has clearly stated he is against expanding the membership base.




AUHQ ia also a part of this, a name change for no reason is so management can say "look at what we have done, what have transformed this organisation". In truth they are damaging the .com.au extension, that is what has been achieved so far under the new management. At the same time they fluffed around with AUHQ the place fell apart.

thats what depresses me the most, business people who are so apathetic towards online, but will complain when there is a problem.

Of course they will complain, but it doesn't mean they should get involved when their is no problems.

Are you involved with the Reserve Bank of Australia, do you care about the Reserve bank of Australia? Do you go to their meetings? People will only care if the bank wakes up one day and decided to increase intrest rates by 10% for no clear reason. That is why some are now involved with AUDA, to help prevent the disastrous course they are now on.

 

[findtim]

i am pro membership, always have been, that screen shot you took from the report is one that was pre me on the board and i also disliked it, still do, it is an open ended statement prone to being twisted and i don't like those.

look at what we have done

well thats not me, my focus is always on what i feel is best for everyone and not me, i don't need a CV, my reputation amongst my clients is solid, i don't want to be prime minister/ceo/chair, i suppose what i do want is for domain owners to not wake up with a "reserve bank 10% increase in fees" so they don't complain.

your analogy of the reserve bank is good but not valid, they just do what they want, we can't , but they are the same in they have to make decisions for the overall big picture and that means you will never be able to make everyone happy.
interest rates go up, currency goes up/down , exporters are happy, or not, importers are happy or not !
tim

 

[snoopy]

well thats not me, my focus is always on what i feel is best for everyone and not me, i don't need a CV, my reputation amongst my clients is solid, i don't want to be prime minister/ceo/chair, i suppose what i do want is for domain owners to not wake up with a "reserve bank 10% increase in fees" so they don't complain.

I know that but I believe this is how proposals like this have come about, someone looking to "make their mark".

I think the AUDA inner circle have come in thinking the old management was incompetent and they can "fix everything up", the realty is the old management did a better job than the new, the place was at least stable.

 

[neddy]

UBU scammers getting "smarter". Now going to the trouble of selecting ABN / Business details which are close to the domain name.

e.g. Lily Pty Ltd for lilydalecemetery.com.au - want a pair of shoes for your funeral? Story on Domainer.

As I have suggested many times before, the common denominator for this UBU problem are two particular overseas based registrars. Public Domain Registry and Tucows seem to have a few bad apples when it comes to certain registrants and resellers.

♦ auDA MUST SUSPEND the .au accreditation of these two registrars until they have fixed the problem.

If I still owned a few registrars, and was allowing registrants or resellers to register UBU’s, auDA would have suspended my accreditation long ago.

 

[snoopy]

UBU scammers getting "smarter". Now going to the trouble of selecting ABN / Business details which are close to the domain name.

e.g. Lily Pty Ltd for lilydalecemetery.com.au - want a pair of shoes for your funeral? Story on Domainer.

Strange, a relative of mine used to work at the Lilydale Cemetery, it was merged into another entity several years ago which would have been why the domain dropped.

Perhaps the fact that .com.au is so restricted if you play by the rules is another reason why it is so easy for scammers to pick up names with traffic (i.e. they aren't competed for much on the drops by legitimate registrants)

 

[neddy]

a relative of mine used to work at the Lilydale Cemetery

Bit of a dead-end job?

 

[snoopy]

Tucows’s reseller platform OpenSRS will no longer be able to provide .au domain name registrations to any reseller that is based in China.

This follows a formal direction Tucows was given by auDA, the registry for the Australian top-level domain, .au.

https://onlinedomain.com/2017/08/28...-domain-name-registrations-chinese-resellers/

 

[neddy]

Tucows’s reseller platform OpenSRS will no longer be able to provide .au domain name registrations to any reseller that is based in China.

This follows a formal direction Tucows was given by auDA, the registry for the Australian top-level domain, .au.

https://onlinedomain.com/2017/08/28...-domain-name-registrations-chinese-resellers/

Excellent news. Squeaky door gets the oil.

 

[Bacon Farmer]

Members kicking auDA in the arse again.

 

[snoopy]

https://onlinedomain.com/2017/08/28/domain-name-news/tucows-discontinue-au-domain-name-registrations-chinese-resellers/
Excellent news. Squeaky door gets the oil.

I guess we will have to see if this solves the issue or whether they will migrate to different resellers or other lax registrars.

 

[neddy]

I guess we will have to see if this solves the issue or whether they will migrate to different resellers or other lax registrars.

Quite right Snoopy. I was thinking that myself.

Good to see Tucows acting, but the biggest offender by far seems to be Public Domain Registry.

Wonder what's going to happen with regards all the fees for the 20,000 plus domains registered fraudulently this year? Donate to charity?

 

[snoopy]

Wonder what's going to happen with regards all the fees for the 20,000 plus domains registered fraudulently this year? Donate to charity?

Another 100k for the AUDA Foundation to continue its vital community work?