As much as I love George, he is not a domainer and is also on the dark .... I mean supply side.
Sorry guys, I just returned from a vacation and I was under direct orders from the boss (my wife) to stay away from doing any work. I did manage to sneak away on occasion though.
I just wanted to comment on this thread about my relevance to domaining. Although I am on the supply side (aka dark side), I would argue that few others in the .au industry has listened and serviced as many different domainers as I have. Those of you that know me will I hope attest to the fact that I have always offered advice and listened to people's business needs. This gives me a unique birds eye view of the landscape. So potentially, I would argue I may have a better perspective than a domainer on some issues.
Although I do not label myself as a domainer, I do have a strong commercial interest in making the domain industry an open and free market. Prior to becoming an auDA Board member, I have participated on a number of panels and most importantly I was on the panel that recommended the introduction of monetisation and secondary market sales. I have also attended a number of ICANN events and Domainer Conferences, all helping to further increase my awareness of issues relating to domainers.
Being on the supply side of the equation does not dilute my relevance to domainers. In fact, my business relies on your business succeeding.
During my time in the industry the .au space has changed significantly. Just 10 years past, it was a fax based application process, and a one domain one legal entity environment. Now registrants can monetise and sell domain names openly and freely and can own as many domains as they want. Internationally .au it is regarded as one of the better ccTLDs and it has strong consumer trust from the Australian Internet community. This translates to value.
(NB: I will only use my credit card online with well known big brand .com websites. However, I trust much smaller operations if they have a com.au domain. Why? Because I know they are legitimate legal entities and if I need to I can track them down, via their ABN or ACN)
In conclusion, I agree that domainers as a subset of demand class stake holders must get more involved. In order to effect change or have your interests represented at an industry level, you can't sit on the side lines and complain about decisions after the fact. As Simon and David both suggested, get involved it costs next to nothing for membership and you are protecting your investments worth many many times more...
Best Regards,
George
