ICANN: New Policy Has Reduced Domain Tasting

In past years, if you made a mistake when registering a domain name, whether a spelling mistake or some other type of mishap, you had five days to return the domain and get a refund from your registrar. This is called the Add Grace Period. ICANN would refund the registrar the cost of the domain. Some professional domainers, however, abused the Add Grace Period.

The domainers would register a large chunk of domains, create ad websites, and then monitor them. The websites that generated more ad revenue than the cost of the domains were kept, and the ones that were not profitable were dropped, all within the 5-day period. The practice is called “domain tasting”. It is a nuisance to legitimate domain customers who want to register the domains because they are unavailable during the process.

In an effort to combat domain tasting, last year ICANN introduced new policies that included not refunding registrars the fee for registries and making it more expensive for registrars by charging them $6.75 or more. The new policies, they say, have virtually eliminated domain tasting. As for those who still make honest mistakes, ICANN makes exceptions.

Source: Computerworld

Domain Convergence Conference in August

Registration is now open for the second annual Domain Convergence conference to take place in Toronto, August 13-14. It is a conference for domainers to learn from each other, share ideas, network, and acquire useful tools. The first event was held in Niagara Falls, Ontario. In addition to general domainer networking, the conference will feature a session about .ca country top-level domains.

“The idea for Domain Convergence was born from our local DomainerDinner events, where domainers get together for an evening of social networking and open information exchange. Domain Convergence is taking the social concept further and adds sessions that will provide you with valuable information and bring new ideas & partnerships.”

Early registration is C$ 649.00. This seems like an excellent opportunity for both experienced and new domainers interested in exchanging ideas. If you are in Canada or anywhere nearby, it might be worth your time if you can write the registration off as a business expense. As the domain landscape is quickly changing, particularly with the new gTLDs announced by ICANN, it is a good idea for domainers to begin meeting all over the world.

Source: DomainConvergence.com