[gnso-rn-wg] Reserved Names vs. Prohibited Names

["Edmon Chung" <edmon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Everyone,

We have touched on the issue a few times, that is the different "types" of 
"reserved names".  The general consideration was that there were 2 main types:
1. Reserved and NOT to be used (Marilyn has also mentioned that as a subset 
there may be RFC "sanctioned" names as well)
2. Reserved to be used under certain considerations

In my mind I think names in 1. Should NOT be called "reserved names" but 
Prohibited Names.  "Reserved Names" to me has the connotation that the name is 
reserved for a particular purpose, but not prohibited, i.e. it can be activated 
if certain considerations are met.  (OR somewhat like a reserved table at a 
restaurant...).

I think this terminology would work much better: Prohibited Names vs. Reserved 
Names.

And for Prohibited Names (or category 1 above), there really isn't much (here I 
am talking only about at the second or third-level) if I read into the 
contracts and intents correctly.  The only one I can think of are domains that 
start or end with a hyphen.  And this falls somewhat into the category which 
Marilyn has mentioned, and has not been discussed by the WG.

It is possible to think of single character names as prohibited as well (though 
I think even for this we are thinking of opening).  All other "Reserved Names" 
being discussed in the WG so far however are correctly called Reserved Names in 
my mind.  None of the categories are intended to be Prohibited.  Even for names 
such as "ICANN.TLD" I can imagine possible usage by ICANN itself, 2-character 
domains as we have seen could be used where appropriate.

Wonder what others think...

Edmon