Issue paper

["Richard R. Williams" <rrw@xxxxxxxxx>]

Consistency is the key. I was very surprised to learn that policy and 
procedure varied between TLDs. Why would there be any need for more then 
one policy / procedure? It makes no sense to handle .com one-way and 
.name another.

As for renewals, eliminate the grace period completely. Why are we 
always trying to make allowances for sloppy record keeping and 
inattention to details? There are no grace periods on a drivers license 
or car registration and most people manage very well with this. If you 
cannot manage something as simple as renewing a domain name prior to its 
expiration then stay home and watch soap operas.

Without grace periods it would be a very simple process to determine 
when a name may become available. Simply do a WHOIS search and check the 
expiration date. As of midnight Zulu (Greenwich mean time) on the date 
of expiration the name becomes available. Needless to say the actual 
event of deleting the name may not occurred exactly at midnight due to 
work load or other considerations but add requests could be logged and 
the first in line gets the name. If the current owner wishes to renew 
all that is necessary is to insure this is done prior to midnight.

This is the perfect realm for the KISS concept, keep it simple stupid.

Richard R. Williams