RE: [soac-newgtldapsup-wg] Auctions and outcomes

[Krista Papac <Krista.Papac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

By allowing any applicant to change their string post application submission, 
you are effectually allowing them to pick their desired string with visibility. 
If this were implemented, a supported applicant could start with a popular 
string and work backwards if there are multiple applications. 

Let's not forget there is a 70% refund for applications withdrawn after the 
posting of applications and before initial evaluation results are posted. While 
this puts $55,000 of the application fee at risk and the costs to actually 
apply -- it's not a total loss.

Krista Papac
Chief Strategy Officer
AusRegistry Group Pty Ltd
Email: krista.papac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Web: www.ausregistry.com
-----Original Message-----
From: ebw@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ebw@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 
ebw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 9:04 AM
To: Krista Papac
Cc: soac-newgtldapsup-wg@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [soac-newgtldapsup-wg] Auctions and outcomes

Krista,

You wrote:

> ...
> This restriction exists to ensure the process is predictable and to
> ensure fairness to all applicants.
> ...

I think I pointed out that the absence of a change in the process, or
the extension of "support" to qualified applications which are placed
in a contention set and lack either of the existing dispositive means
to determin allocation, that the predictable outcome is the supported
application will not be selected by the allocation mechanism. We seem
to agre on the "process is predictable" and to differ on what "ensure
fairness to all applicants" means.

You also wrote:

> ... allowing any applicant to alter their string after they've submitted
> their application creates a huge opportunity for gaming.

Could you elaborate how a process of submitting a string, discovering
that string joins or forms a contention set, and substituting subsequent
strings until the first subsequent string is not contained in or forms
a contention set, by a supported application, is an opportunity for
gaming, huge or even theoretical? 

How does discovery of the first non-contended string by a supported
applicant remove value from any other applicant, or create any value
to the supported applicant except the preservation of the value of
their application, the applicant originated, donor originated, and
the JAS recommended program support originating resources?

Amadeu used to characterize the ICANN contention and auction design as
a "Mexican Standoff" (with some cultural references to Italian Spagetti
Westerns popular in Europe, involving Clint Eastwood and other men with
guns). Using this metaphorical device, do you want the qualified applicant
to be able to back out of the room full of gun men, and live, or do you
want the applicant dead on the floor?

And I suppose it is worth pointing out that the AGB doesn't really have
any text dealing with supported applicants, yet, so if we used that as
an absolute guide, our job would have been over some months ago, not
some months from now.

Eric