Recent Posts
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Kinderis calls on industry to cut the bullshit
Domain Name Association chair Adrian Kinderis has called for the industry to “grow up”.
The former ARI CEO, now Neustar veep, said Monday it’s time for the industry to kick out the handful of bad actors that ruin its reputation, and to quit the “bullshit bickering” about which TLDs are best.
“For far too long this industry has turned a blind eye to the less than scrupulous activities,” he said, “and these activities have plagued this industry. Bad actors have tarnished the perception of this industry.”
“This may have been acceptable when it was a few insiders first grasping at a fledgling product in the early nineties but… we are now front and center of the internet,” he said.
“These practices of a few bad actors have led to the frustration of consumers. We have not served the best interests of our consumers at all times,” he said. “This has to change.”
He was speaking to an audience of registries, registrars and investors at the opening session of the NamesCon conference in Las Vegas on Monday.
It was a fairly standard DNA sales pitch, the kind Kinderis has given before, but few could deny the truth of his remarks.
He called upon the industry to more effectively self-regulate, working with ICANN, to keep the boogeymen of government legislators and law enforcement agencies at bay.
“It’s time to grow up and show that we can regulates ourselves and build a strong sustainable industry with integrity,” he said.
He also called for unity among industry participants, pointing out that the threats to their businesses are external to the domain industry.
“The domain name war must be over,” he said. “The infighting and bullshit bickering has to stop. The .coms, the not-.coms, the IDNs, the g’s versus the cc’s… this must stop.”
“As an industry we have been very lucky. We’ve stumbled through 20 years without a collective strategy nor cohesion,” he said. “Outside forces have not had a massive impact on us, yet. QR codes have tried. Apps are trying.”
He pointed to the recent positive “bump” that many domain companies have experienced as a result of investment from China, but attributed to “dumb luck” rather than the result of any smart marketing or outreach.
The 10-minute speech can be viewed below or on the NamePros YouTube channel.
Sorry but the introduction of garbage G’s when there was no market need and little in the way of benefit to end user consumers, cannot be dismissed now that the money grab has been allowed. This train wreck has to play itself out before the domain industry can move forward. Pretending that the turd in the punch bowl isn’t there ain’t gunna work.
sounds like hes bitter about the new g’s taking a backseat to the china investment boom. its funny that he complains about the bad actors meanwhile there are a number of them in DNA that have done things like file fake trademarks in order to get top new gtld domains in sunrise.
Some very valid points. There was a time when legit domain owners and investors were lumped in with cybersquatters. This was (is) terrible and was perpetuated by a relatively small group of “bad actors”. The other scourge of the internet are the companies and individuals that abuse the UDRP to try and hijack domain names from legal registrants. That ICANN have refused to address this as a major issue is a significant failing.
$60k for a new .car reg???? What light do you think that puts the industry under???? Looking from the outside in as a consumer I would say not a very good one…..
Kinderis knows too well about corruption and bad tactics in the industry.
He only needs to look back at the auDA – AusRegistry relationship.
Sorry?
Is that slander david?
Perhaps you know something I don’t.
Would be good to see DNA put an industry event on. The current ICANN (policy pushing) and NamesCon (domainer focused) is little help to the challenges and opportunities facing registrars.
Agree completely.
Watch this space.
So do you think $60k for a fresh reg is good for our industry??
Yes Steve I do.
It is called competition and choice. If you don’t want to pay that much then don’t buy it.
I’m not sure I understand the problem.
There have always been differences in domain name pricing, especially in ccTLD’s.
It is a free market and no one is forcing anyone to buy a name, especially at that price.
Domain names have sold for hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars in the aftermarket since their inception. The difference now, of course, is that registry operators are now trying to retain that value rather than have it go some where else in the value chain.
Please help me understand your concern with expensive pricing.
I have seen shoes at target for $5 and shoes at Louis Vuitton for $5000. Isn’t it my choice to buy the pair that are right for me?
The perception from outside the industry and to some degree inside the industry is that it is a scam. They could have saved tens of thousands of dollars waiting for general reg and just filing a udrp on the name. Sure you can have your opinion but $60k for a fresh reg is a scam when many are suggesting the industry be cleaned up. IMO.
As for shoes at Louis Vuitton being worth more than $5 many sheeple may see value but they are made in the same Chinese factory as the target ones which are at least priced accordingly. Just because Louis puts lipstick on its pig better than target does not mean there is any real value there, just silly sheeple. Same goes for a $60k .whatever. There will be zero type-in traffic to newev.car …..
Next week it will be AD calling for the removal of bad actors.
Sit down Kinderis, you are only making us look worse!
I quite agree with Kinderis, the wheat should be separated from the chaff.
Addressing domain industry insiders with an appeal to scale back the infighting, rally round a common (unspecified) strategy, exploit consumers less, and begin operating with a culture of integrity?
Noble ideals. But why would anything change? Change comes from outside – or, if from within, then it is forced upon us by outside circumstances changing.
If there’s to be any transformation, then it will be a consequence of external regulation, of new blood entering the industry and out-competing the established insiders, or catastrophic loss of market share to something other than domains. No mere speech will inspire new habits.