From: Martin [marty@supine.com]
Sent: Friday, 6 September 2002 12:05 AM
To: jo.lim@auda.org.au
Subject: New Names Discussion Paper

Hi Jo & Panel

I'd like to take a moment to comment on the proposals put forward for new 2LDs.

I believe (and there would be members on the panel with data to confirm or
refute) that there is no saturation of the existing 2LDs and therefore additions 
of analogues (eg. biz.au) of existing 2LDs (eg. com.au) would be redundant.

A lot of the other proposals, particularly those for closed 2LDs, claim that a 
lack of consistency in current registrations by parties covered by their proposal 
is justification for a new 2LD to consolidate the Internet presence of their 
particular interest group. Rather, I believe, the diverse registration choices 
reflect a lack of understanding about the current AU 2LDs and cost considerations 
(ie. price difference between com.au and com).  

Another feature of a few proposals is a portal at www.2LD.au guiding the user to 
the entity they are after. However, it is quite possible to build to build a 
portal without needing a 2LD name space devoted to it. Given that search engines 
and links are significantly more common ways of finding a site then URL guessing, 
the arguments for new closed 2LDs seem moot.

I like the idea of geographic names but I suggest that locale.state.au is about 
the length of nesting that people will be comfortable with. A panel will also 
need to be entrusted with deciding on corner cases like the problem highlighted 
about Daydream Island.

Ongoing support for current anomalies like csiro.au and conf.au are hard given 
that they are already in use by parties. I find it hard to justify removing a 
name space that already exists and is in use, no matter how flimsy the case for 
keeping it. Again, these are corner cases and the panel needs to make a decision 
whether to remove anomalies or leave them be.

To summarise my position:

aom.au          unviable        [requires global cooperation and
                                 legislation to work as designed]
biz.au          unviable        [redundant]
catholic.au     unviable        [too specific for 2LD]
club.au         unviable        [redundant]
conf.au         ?               [in use]
emb.au          unviable        [too specific]
info.au         unviable        [redundant]
law.au          unviable        [too specific]
med.au          unviable        [too specific]
pharmacy.au     unviable        [too specific]
research.au     unviable        [redundant]
retail.au       unviable        [redundant]
state.au        viable          
university.au   unviable        [redundant]

regards
Martin Barry

--
Can't buy what I want because it's free.
Can't be what they want because I'm me.

"Corduroy" - Pearl Jam