Recent Posts
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Nominet shuts down “hostile” discussion forum
Nominet has angered members by unilaterally shutting down a discussion forum that has been for many years the main place for discussions about .uk policy.
The forum, which Nominet hosted on its web site, went dark abruptly during the company’s annual general meeting yesterday.
Speaking to members tuning in to the live webcast, CEO Russell Haworth said that the forum was “dominated by a handful of posters, and has increasingly become aggressive and hostile, not least towards our staff”.
And then it was gone.
Haworth said he expected criticism over the move, which was “fine”, adding that posters have plenty of other venues to air their grievances.
He also suggested periodic Zoom calls to communicate with members.
The decision to close the forum is being greeted poorly by affected members (presumably the ones who most actively used it) on social media and seen as a way for power to be further consolidated among Nominet’s biggest revenue-generators.
Nominet recently came in for criticism for its efforts to grab a slice of the drop-catching pie by charging registrars an extra £600 a year (now, members note, up to £1,000) for additional EPP tunnels.
It also recently admitted privately to members that it last year miscalculated how many votes members they should get in directorship elections, but insisted the error did not have an effect on the outcome of the most recent poll.
The move is not entirely without precedent. Those of you with as many grey hairs as me may recall the old Domain-Policy mailing list, once the central hub for community discussions, going dark back in 2001.
But Verisign, which hosted the list and its archives, explained that move as a measure to reduce redundancy, rather than straight-up admitting that it was a PR move to silence its legion of critics.
What some may call “aggressive and hostile” others would call holding Nominet to account…