Larry

You state in your email "dubious endeavours" - I think they auDA has
gone out of its way in recent times to promote both itself and the .au
industry as whole.

As a registrar I would have thought that the more promotion the auDA
does direct to the public the greater the flow on effect would be.

For example:

- auDA has run a series of advertisements in major newspapers
- auDA has placed full pages ads in BRW at least 3 or 4 times which is
directly targeting the business community (and hence purchasers of au
Domains) for around $15,000 per ad to a magazine the has a 200,000
readership each week seems good value.

I don't think anyway should be too concerned about a concentrated
marketing effort from auDA - you need to spend money to make money -
and if $200-300,000 has been spent to promote auDA and its leadership
under Chris Disspain - surely that is a good use of the registration
fees.

Regards

Jim

On 6/8/06, Larry Bloch <larry.bloch&#167;netregistry.com.au> wrote:
> Darryl,
>
> You are absolutely correct about price. Red tape in .au makes it more
> expensive. Poor tender management by auDA results in the registry taking
> more than their fare share. Siphoning millions of dollars into separate
> legal entities for dubious endeavours all add to the cost of your .com.au
> name.
>
> Making businesses jump through hoops to justify their selection of name has
> the same effect.
>
> It drives people away from .au to .com. I think that's bad. I'd prefer
> Australian businesses to use .au. Partly from self interest and partly
> because I think in most cases it's more appropriate.
>
> I disagree with your assertion that the current policy enforces the .au
> branding. As you said, most people don't understand. They choose what is
> easier and what is cheaper. And the numbers show the result: gTLDs 2,
> Australia 1
>
> Larry
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dns-bounces+larry.bloch=netregistry.com.au&#167;dotau.org
> [mailto:dns-bounces+larry.bloch=netregistry.com.au&#167;dotau.org] On Behalf Of
> Darryl (Dassa) Lynch
> Sent: Thursday, 8 June 2006 8:09
> To: '.au DNS Discussion List'
> Subject: Re: [DNS] france ditches magic number requirement
> Re:Domaindisputeheats up
>
>
>
> |> -----Original Message-----
> |> From: dns-bounces+dassa=dhs.org&#167;dotau.org
> |> [mailto:dns-bounces+dassa=dhs.org&#167;dotau.org] On Behalf Of Larry Bloch
> |> Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 5:59 PM
> |> To: '.au DNS Discussion List'
> |> Subject: Re: [DNS] france ditches magic number requirement
> |> Re: Domaindisputeheats up
> |>
> <SNIP>
> |> Australia has 1.2m non AU domain names. Double the number of
> |> .AU names. A far higher ratio than the three countries
> |> mentioned. Many may say 'so what'.
> |> I think it's a scandal that our regulatory regime drives
> |> Australian businesses to register .com's over .AU's.
> |> Regardless of the relative merits, it is auDA's job to
> |> SUPPORT uptake of .AU for Australian's, no RETARD that
> |> uptake as it does.
>
> I don't see the policy or rules from AuDA as having much of an impact for a
> business deciding to go with .com rather than under .au, the biggest
> incentive I see and hear about is the price.  Same for hosting in Australia
> as opposed to hosting overseas, it is price that drives the market more than
> anything.
>
> If the Australian market had $5 or free domain names under .au I'm sure it
> would leap ahead in bounds.  Would you like to start running loss leaders
> and see if this isn't true?  It is what a lot of companies are doing in
> other namespaces to build up the numbers.
>
> I deal with a fair number of businesses and people, the majority of them
> don't really understand the differences with the TLD's or how the namespaces
> operate.  Getting more people investing in the .au namespace isn't about
> changing the rules, it is about getting the consultants, the web designers,
> the hosting companies and everyone else who advises business to recognise
> the importance of the .au branding.  The policies and rules in place support
> that branding.  What you advocate dilutes the brand.
>
> Think of .au as a trademark if you wish.  Those who invest in sharing the
> use of the trademark appreciate it as it is.  Those who don't already invest
> just don't realise the potential as yet.
>
> Darryl (Dassa) Lynch
>
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