CIRA AGM proposals re: Warehousing, registrars, domain investing etc. (4.Viewing)

FM said:

Most people probably don't. That's why some years I do not run for the board and others I do. Unfortunately, most attempts to create a Canadian Domain Owners association failed or rather fell asleep.

One factor to keep in mind when deciding how much time to spend on it, is always how important/valuable it is to your business. Not just for you specifically Shaun, but for all of us.

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Agree with you Frank. Getting domainers together on a shared vision is almost impossible; we all have diverse priorities. For me these days, e-commerce is my focus, and mostly when I think of domains it is "Can I and will I build a business on this domain. If not, it's for sale. For others, it's a side-line, a passion, their main business and everything in between.

All of the proposals were rejected. Thank you to those who joined the AGM.

You can vote in the board elections now.

Alex will be disappointed


Is he a member here?

I don't think he's here.

[notify]MapleDots[/notify]: Can you please remove/correct the quote above that seems to imply that I posted Alex' address here? That probably happened by accident... it's public on this site anyways.

Strange his address is posted but it was in the original post.

Someone asked the question - where is the money going? Why do you suppose I asked the Board to disclose executive - not just CEO - compensation. As a past Board member I do know the CEO compensation but can't disclose it because of Board confidentiality I asked about the other executive compensation - NEO - but was denied. I was frequently muzzled at the Board so I am suing CIRA to get that information.

Would you have confidence in the dispute resolution process if a Registrar owned a firm administering it?

many more questions to consider

Welcome Alex

Let me know if you want your contact information removed.

MapleDots said:

Upon your request I removed it from your post, but I feel Alex wants his contact information shown because he puts it in all his emails.

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Oh, I see now, the quote was from the proposals, so that should be fine.

One thing to add - the topic of domain warehousing is already addressed by the contract with the registrar:

https://www.cira.ca/policy/legal-agreement/registrar-agreement

5.1 Throughout the Term of this Agreement, the Registrar shall:
Throughout the Term of this Agreement, the Registrar shall:

(p)
not, directly or indirectly, either individually or in partnership or jointly or in conjunction with or through any Person:

1. in any way be involved in the practice known as domain warehousing with respect to Domain Name Registrations; or

2. acquire Domain Name Registrations:
(i) that are not directly connected with the Registrar’s business; or
(ii)for the purpose of transferring them for immediate or deferred direct or indirect gain or profit.

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[notify]FM[/notify] do you really truly believe that there is no way around that?

It’s nice to have these agreements but they are so easily evaded.

theinvestor said:

[notify]FM[/notify] do you really truly believe that there is no way around that?

It’s nice to have these agreements but they are so easily evaded.

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I guess the real question is if writing it into CIRA membership laws changes anything or rather using it as a reason to exclude registrars from the board changes anything. Any rule or law could be evaded.

where there is low trust, I subscribe to the approach of - "trust but verify". when people in public institutions are opaque that begs many questions as to what they are hiding.

As per Alex's request I have removed his address from all posts

FM said:

One thing to add - the topic of domain warehousing is already addressed by the contract with the registrar:

https://www.cira.ca/policy/legal-agreement/registrar-agreement

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The big joke of this clause is that the entire TBR system is in direct contrast to this statement. CIRA regulates the release of expiring domains to ONLY be available to registrars in TBR sessions, and all successful TBR registrars acquire these domain names SPECIFICALLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF TRANSFERRING THEM FOR IMMEDIATE DIRECT PROFIT, by way of highest bidder auctions at prices reaching orders of magnitude higher than typical registration prices. Furthermore, rather than evenly distributing expiring domains to all certified CIRA approved registrars, they created a new market for themselves by selling the TBR connections required to acquire these domains for a significant profit to CIRA - in essence creating their own auction system to increase a registrar's odds to acquire the domains. So, CIRA 100% is aware of and clearly authorizes and encourages the purchase and reselling of .CA domain names, by CIRA certified registrars, at costs greatly exceeding actual registration costs, so that both CIRA and the registrars can profit from it.

So - what do ya'll think, does that sound contradictory or no?

I mean, I'm OK with it, after all, that's the system we've lived with and those are the rules we have been playing by so it seems worse to change how TBR works now. But it does seem funny when no one really believes that certain registrars or their beneficial owners don't have large portfolios of domains for resale. I'm not saying that everyone does, but you can be sure some do.

So I am highly skeptical that CIRA enforces that rule in any way shape or form. It would be interesting to know, has CIRA ever enforced that rule?? And if so how? By requiring the registrar to forfeit the domains when they get caught? Or by revoking the registrar's license? There's a huge difference in the two punishments. Those are things that we'll never know because I don't believe CIRA ever lets any dirty laundry type of information like that to become public.

rlm said:

But it does seem funny when no one really believes that certain registrars or their beneficial owners don't have large portfolios of domains for resale.

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I will add to that...


Lets pretend there are 200 TBR domains going to MyID in a month

Lets further pretend that 10% of the high bidders don't pay

Lets add that up over a year and then multiply it by years.


Where are those domains?
If anyone does not pay it will be a high bidder. lets say a 5k or 10k bid. The bidder defaults, we know it is a high value domain because it got bid up to 5 or 10k. Where is the unclaimed domain? Would you say in the registrars inventory?

I remember Siber used to have “ unclaimed/not paid” auctions. It was usually 30 -60 domains and I always liked participating and got a few really good domains. They haven’t done it for some time now but it does say that those types of domains do exist. Obviously WHC territory now and I doubt we’ll see those events again.
Ahhh…the good old days

Yes exactly. We know defaults happen. The question is, where do the domains go? Do they go back into TBR? I suspect some do. But I'm not sure that ALL do. Depends on the registrar of course.

I hate thinking about people not paying for domains because how many domains were driven up in price by people who had no intention of paying? I know it shouldn’t matter since it’s the price you’re willing to pay. But, I still think everything is so anonymous no one knows what’s actually happening. In the past, there were other registrars other than Sibername that also sent names to those who wanted to purchase them. My recollection was that they just priced the domains on a first come first serve basis.

I remember them sending a link to the auction…with the names that you could bid on much the same as it looks when you are in auction for multiple names with them following tbr. It could be quite hectic