What's going on at AUDA? Over 100 years of experience has left the building and now this?
I've only been an auDA member for the last 18 months. I've been working in the industry since 1994 and remember when it used to take months to register a .com.au. Below is a blog post and video I created a few weeks ago on the subject.
Since 1999 I've been working with businesses helping them with their digital marketing. When I heard about the direct AU registrations my first reaction was "Why?". A business will have to register a direct au version of their .com.au domains to protect their brand. The irony being they will also devalue their existing .com.au in the process.
The upside?
None. You will probably hear claims that it is better for marketing. It is not. The only upside is for people selling direct au registrations. Here's why we need them according to AUDA
Respond to market demand
I haven’t heard any market demand and I’ve spoken to thousands of clients over the years in business and online and never have they requested a need for direct name registration. Maybe there’s a market demand from registrars as they’re the ones poised to make millions of dollars from it.
Be more attractive to natural individuals than the current option, .id.au
Really? That's a thing? We need to devalue the assets of 1.5 million domain owners so there's a better option for vanity URLs?
Strengthen the “.au brand” in a globally competitive market
I don’t understand how making direct names .au available is going to strengthen the .au brand in a globally competitive market. There’s no substantiation for that at all. Certainly .com.au has a very strong brand globally. Introduction of direct registrations will only weaken that
Add value to all three main categories of users – Registrars and resellers, registrants and ultimate users of the .au domain name system.
No, it doesn’t add value to all three categories at all! It only adds value to two categories, and the one left out is of course the registrants who are getting the short end of the stick.
I'd love your vote for the auDA board and I would suggest your second is for Tim Connell who shares similar views.
