How would you run the internet?
dae-...@at.dot.durge.org
of people here to answer. Even if your answers are "I don't know", and
especially if you've not got an internet domain yourself, I'd be interested
to hear, if only to get a count. It'd be good if you could answer without
reading any responses which might give right (and wrong) answers; I'd much
perfer to know what you think is the right answer, or how you feel, off the
top of your head, rather than have you go and research it, or let other
people influence it, even if it's technically wrong. :)
1 Who Runs the ".uk" internet domain?
2 Do they do anything else of note?
3 Do you think they do a good job of it?
4 How often do you use any of their services?
5 If there were important changes happening, do you think you'd find out
about them before they happened?
6 Do you know if or how you could make your views on such matters, as a user
of the internet in the uk, known to the powers that be?
7 Do you think they'd take any notice?
8 Do you care? :)
Thanks - this is just a quick straw-poll for my own purposes, not for anyone
else, although if anything interesting comes from it I might talk to people
individually to get more details, or might post a couple of follow-up
questions.
Cheers
-Darren
--
Darren Edmundson - Internet & 3G Technologist
MSN:grid...@hotmail.com
ne...@loowis.durge.org
looking for, but here goes anyway...
> 1 Who Runs the ".uk" internet domain?
Nominet
> 2 Do they do anything else of note?
Depends what you classify under "Runs" in Q1
> 3 Do you think they do a good job of it?
Seem to. I guess it's one of those things you never notice unless you
have a specific complaint, which I guess Darren does from the tone of
his questions?
> 4 How often do you use any of their services?
I used to use the Automaton, but that was a couple of years ago now
> 5 If there were important changes happening, do you think you'd find out
> about them before they happened?
I thought that was what the nom-announce list was for? (although I've
also not read it for a couple of years now)
> 6 Do you know if or how you could make your views on such matters, as a user
> of the internet in the uk, known to the powers that be?
I'd post on the nom-steer mailing list :)
> 7 Do you think they'd take any notice?
Probably
> 8 Do you care? :)
At the moment, not particularly...
Andy Scheller
<can't be bothered with a sig>
Neil Shaw
>
Nominet, on behalf of someone else (ICANN, or is it IANA?)
> 2 Do they do anything else of note?
>
Not that I'm aware of
> 3 Do you think they do a good job of it?
>
Never had any problems myself, but is it that hard a service to run?
> 4 How often do you use any of their services?
>
What other services?
> 5 If there were important changes happening, do you think you'd find out
> about them before they happened?
>
Ocasionally.
> 6 Do you know if or how you could make your views on such matters, as a user
> of the internet in the uk, known to the powers that be?
>
Nope
> 7 Do you think they'd take any notice?
>
Hopefully, but I doubt it :(
> 8 Do you care? :)
>
A little. Although another aspect that should be looked at is what do
domain resellers do to help their customers? ;)
David Nutter
> I've a couple of quick questions, which I hoped I'd be able to get a couple
> of people here to answer. Even if your answers are "I don't know", and
> especially if you've not got an internet domain yourself, I'd be interested
> to hear, if only to get a count. It'd be good if you could answer without
> reading any responses which might give right (and wrong) answers; I'd much
> perfer to know what you think is the right answer, or how you feel, off the
> top of your head, rather than have you go and research it, or let other
> people influence it, even if it's technically wrong. :)
>
> 1 Who Runs the ".uk" internet domain?
Nominet UK
> 2 Do they do anything else of note?
Not that I know of.
> 3 Do you think they do a good job of it?
I've never had any problems, other than the very short registration period
for .uk domains which was a bit of a pain on one occasion as we needed a 10
year registration.
> 4 How often do you use any of their services?
Four times so far, twice on the behalf of someone else. However, always via
some intermediary.
> 5 If there were important changes happening, do you think you'd find out
> about them before they happened?
No
> 6 Do you know if or how you could make your views on such matters, as a user
> of the internet in the uk, known to the powers that be?
No
>
> 7 Do you think they'd take any notice?
No
>
> 8 Do you care? :)
"It depends" is the best answer I can give --- depends on what those changes
are, and how likely they are to affect me directly.
Regards,
-david
Tim Izod
> 1 Who Runs the ".uk" internet domain?
Nominet UK have responsibility for .uk They don't sell domains
directly but through 3rd party "tagholders".
They're responsible for resolving .uk name disputes and seem for
the most part to do an OK and understandable job.
> 2 Do they do anything else of note?
ISTR they have a policy role though my understanding of that is
fairly nebulous and ill-remembered.
> 3 Do you think they do a good job of it?
They seem to be less secretive than some other internet bodies
bt that may be because they're covered fairly often by theregiters et
al.
The mentions you sometimes make of flame wars on the mailing
lists imply that there may be internal squabbles behind a calm public
face.
> 4 How often do you use any of their services?
Often. Whenever I resolve a .uk or perform a whois on a .uk
> 5 If there were important changes happening, do you think you'd find
> out
> about them before they happened?
Recent governance changes were proposed and ISTR reading that
for the most part they were voted down. Not sure where I first saw them
mentioned but it was probably on the usual round of /., theregister,
theinquirer, etc. It almost certainly wasn't in an ungeek medium or news
channel.
> 6 Do you know if or how you could make your views on such matters, as
> a user
> of the internet in the uk, known to the powers that be?
I don't, though I know who I would ask first to find out. My co
workers with .uk domains have no idea.
> 7 Do you think they'd take any notice?
I would hope so but am usually resigned to having to repeat
questions to bodies to get a response.
> 8 Do you care? :)
I do care. If I can be motivated enough to try to clearly and
rationally advance a justified opinion I would hope for a response in
kind. I'd rather be disagreed with than ignored.
> Thanks - this is just a quick straw-poll for my own purposes, not for
> anyone
> else, although if anything interesting comes from it I might talk to
> people
> individually to get more details, or might post a couple of follow-up
> questions.
>
> Cheers
>
> -Darren
>
> --
--
Tim. /\ /\
O___O
=\__|__/= meow.
U
Charlie Turner
> 1 Who Runs the ".uk" internet domain?
dunno
>
> 2 Do they do anything else of note?
no idea
>
> 3 Do you think they do a good job of it?
don't know. i haven't heard anything about them so it can't all be
bad... I guess?
>
> 4 How often do you use any of their services?
dunno
>
> 5 If there were important changes happening, do you think you'd find out
> about them before they happened?
well, given that i've not heard of them thus far, chances are no.
>
> 6 Do you know if or how you could make your views on such matters, as a user
> of the internet in the uk, known to the powers that be?
no idea how
>
> 7 Do you think they'd take any notice?
no idea
>
> 8 Do you care? :)
not until you started asking these questions!!!
Simon Farnsworth
> 1 Who Runs the ".uk" internet domain?
>
Nominet.
> 2 Do they do anything else of note?
>
Not that I'm aware of, and nor should they.
> 3 Do you think they do a good job of it?
>
Usually, but occasionally they get above their station.
> 4 How often do you use any of their services?
>
I use their ccTLD servers daily, their whois server from time to time, but
that's it.
> 5 If there were important changes happening, do you think you'd find out
> about them before they happened?
>
Not unless they were really fucked up changes.
> 6 Do you know if or how you could make your views on such matters, as a
> user of the internet in the uk, known to the powers that be?
>
Swear at my domain registrar, and hope they pass it on.
> 7 Do you think they'd take any notice?
>
Nope. Nominet's board seems to think they're something they're not.
> 8 Do you care? :)
>
Only if they're going to cause me problems as a holder of a .uk domain.
--
Simon Farnsworth
Simon Key
> I've a couple of quick questions, which I hoped I'd be able to get a couple
> of people here to answer. Even if your answers are "I don't know", and
> especially if you've not got an internet domain yourself, I'd be interested
> to hear, if only to get a count. It'd be good if you could answer without
> reading any responses which might give right (and wrong) answers; I'd much
> perfer to know what you think is the right answer, or how you feel, off the
> top of your head, rather than have you go and research it, or let other
> people influence it, even if it's technically wrong. :)
>
Heehee, saw your post on nom-steer earlier :).
Given that I work for a Nominet member and tagholder, I might not be quite
the audience you're looking for, but I'll give it a go anyway :).
> 1 Who Runs the ".uk" internet domain?
Nominet UK.
> 2 Do they do anything else of note?
Depending on quite what you mean, either "no", or yes, they run the uk
whois service, DAC, PRSS (not sure if that's running or not yet), as well
as offering a dispute resolution service for uk domain disuptes.
> 3 Do you think they do a good job of it?
Yes. Seems to be an unpopular opinion for some reason, but I find Nominet
to be a whole lot better than any of the other registries I've dealt with.
The registrant can always get what they want by going directly to Nominet,
even if their registering agent is being awkward, and the DRP works in a
sensible way, so you don't have to be a huge business to afford it. It's
also nice to see whois and zone updates happening in less than a minute,
rather than 8 hours like .com.
On the non-technical side of things, they also seem to do a good job of
operating in a not-for-profit way. They do the job they're supposed to
do, and that's it.
> 4 How often do you use any of their services?
Anything up to a few hundred times per day.
> 5 If there were important changes happening, do you think you'd find out
> about them before they happened?
Yup, I watch nom-steer, and was half tempted to go the EGM.
> 6 Do you know if or how you could make your views on such matters, as a user
> of the internet in the uk, known to the powers that be?
As a representative of a member, yes. I came very close to posting during
the debate about the EGM, but didn't actually get around to it.
As a user I'm not so sure. They do do occasional surveys, but to be
honest I've never noticed if any of those were aimed at registrants rather
than members and tagholders.
> 7 Do you think they'd take any notice?
Again, as a representative of a member, yes. It's nice to see that their
staff do respond occasionally nom-steer, and I get the impression that the
PAB members are always willing to listen to both registrants and
tagholders.
I'm not sure quite how much notice they'd take of me as a registrant
though. I quite like their system of staying out of the registering
busines themselves, and getting the tagholders to do the work, I think
that's how a registry should work. The few services that they do offer
directly to registrants I think they would take comments on. From what I
hear from customers, the staff are quite good at dealing with queries, and
are probably willing to take feedback too.
> 8 Do you care? :)
For as long as I stay in this job, yes :).
> Thanks - this is just a quick straw-poll for my own purposes, not for anyone
> else, although if anything interesting comes from it I might talk to people
> individually to get more details, or might post a couple of follow-up
> questions.
Feel free to repeat anything I've said on nom-steer/elsewhere (if it's any
use).
--
Simon Key
Ben F-W
> 1 Who Runs the ".uk" internet domain?
Nominet
> 2 Do they do anything else of note?
Other than the admin, fraud prevention and politics (representations to
ICANN etc), don't think so. Oh, and try to turn themselves into a more
commercial company or something.
> 3 Do you think they do a good job of it?
Yes.
> 4 How often do you use any of their services?
Every time I use the internet. But their domain admin stuff, not really.
> 5 If there were important changes happening, do you think you'd find out
> about them before they happened?
Not directly from Nominet. Yes from the press.
> 6 Do you know if or how you could make your views on such matters, as a user
> of the internet in the uk, known to the powers that be?
Umm. Send them an email?
> 7 Do you think they'd take any notice?
Not of me hugely, but they seem quite responsive in general.
> 8 Do you care? :)
Moderately. ICANN seems to be an awful lot less well run and less
responsive, and I wouldn't want the UK going down that route.
Rather run-of-the-mill answers, I suspect.
Ben
Richard
>
> 2 Do they do anything else of note?
>
> 3 Do you think they do a good job of it?
there in the end. I have experienced irritating issues with
Cybersquatting that may be attributable to them.
>
> 4 How often do you use any of their services?
>
> 5 If there were important changes happening, do you think you'd find out
> about them before they happened?
>
> 6 Do you know if or how you could make your views on such matters, as a user
> of the internet in the uk, known to the powers that be?
unofficial ones! I guess if enough people with the same view were to
contact Nominet/Verisign/ICANN whoever, someone would notice.
>
> 7 Do you think they'd take any notice?
>
> 8 Do you care? :)
really.
David Waterson
> 1 Who Runs the ".uk" internet domain?
Nominet.
> 2 Do they do anything else of note?
Not that I know of.
> 3 Do you think they do a good job of it?
Well, it took them over a year to get a domain registration certificate to
me once, which wasn't particularly impressive.
> 4 How often do you use any of their services?
Rarely.
> 5 If there were important changes happening, do you think you'd find out
> about them before they happened?
Probably not, unless I happened to read a news report or someone told me.
> 6 Do you know if or how you could make your views on such matters, as a user
> of the internet in the uk, known to the powers that be?
I'd probably look at their website to find out some contact details.
> 7 Do you think they'd take any notice?
Doubtful.
> 8 Do you care? :)
Not really, as long as they run the service well enough.
-DW.
Andrew Paul Bowden
> I've a couple of quick questions, which I hoped I'd be able to get a couple
> of people here to answer. Even if your answers are "I don't know", and
> especially if you've not got an internet domain yourself, I'd be interested
> to hear, if only to get a count. It'd be good if you could answer without
> reading any responses which might give right (and wrong) answers; I'd much
> perfer to know what you think is the right answer, or how you feel, off the
> top of your head, rather than have you go and research it, or let other
> people influence it, even if it's technically wrong. :)
> 1 Who Runs the ".uk" internet domain?
Nominet
> 2 Do they do anything else of note?
Don't think so.
> 3 Do you think they do a good job of it?
Reasonable.
> 4 How often do you use any of their services?
Rarely - usually when the domain needs reknewing.
> 5 If there were important changes happening, do you think you'd find out
> about them before they happened?
Probably not.
> 6 Do you know if or how you could make your views on such matters, as a user
> of the internet in the uk, known to the powers that be?
No idea.
> 7 Do you think they'd take any notice?
I'd like to think they would.
> 8 Do you care? :)
Yes.
dae-...@at.dot.durge.org
dae-...@at.dot.durge.org wrote:
> 1 Who Runs the ".uk" internet domain?
Most people knew this - but thats possibly because we have a lot of people
who own domains on here. The answer is "Nominet UK", a not-for-profit
company "owned" by it's members, who are usually ISPs, or other people who
sell UK domains to consumers.
I'm a Nominet Member, although as I said, this is nothing to do with them,
its for my own personal information. Any mistakes are mine! :)
Nrms mentioned they do it on behalf of IANA/ICANN - not quite; IANA
recognise Nominet as being authorised to run the domain on behalf of the UK
government.
> 2 Do they do anything else of note?
No. Their terms strictly limit them to only running the .UK registry (and
anything required to those ends) for the collective benefit of everyone who
uses it. They're currently looking at loosening that up though, to allow
them to apply to run the UK ENUM registry, for example.
I was wanting to see if people knew where Nominet stopped and their ISP
started mainly here....
> 3 Do you think they do a good job of it?
Lurch thought I had an axe to grind. I don't - I was purely after your
thoughts here.
Both technically and economically, they're doing a good job atm; their
servies are reliable (although a bit clunky at the back end - this is
changing for the better though) and they have the money in the bank to
ensure that level of service is continued.
Like too many companies, though, they don't, however, seem to be good at
communicating :(
> 4 How often do you use any of their services?
Every time you type a .uk url or email address you use their DNS servers, as
well as the obvious when you register/complain about domains. They're a key
part of the internet, but one very few people think about,
> 5 If there were important changes happening, do you think you'd find out
> about them before they happened?
Again, I was after your thoughts about how Nominet communicate. Nominet
exists to support the whole of the UK internet community, although IMHO
don't really engage with anyone outside their membership much.
You may have seen recent stories about (defeated) proposals to change
Nominet's make-up and rules posted in places like TheRegister and The Times
Online Edition. Other things they do are less newsworthy. Certainly I'm not
aware of the last time Nominet put something out to public consultation.
> 6 Do you know if or how you could make your views on such matters, as a user
> of the internet in the uk, known to the powers that be?
As an end user, I'm not aware of any way, unless you can get the ear of a
nominet member. You can send email to one of their contact addresses,
although I don't think any of them are specifically intended to be used for
feedback/concerns from the general public.
> 7 Do you think they'd take any notice?
Simply Wondering how approachable you think they are....
> 8 Do you care? :)
...and if I was wasting my time in asking :)
Thanks people :)