I spent some time thinking about this, how do you create
a fair model for introducing and alloting domain names. The most common view is that
this should be treated like concession land-grabs. A very common practise in North
America is for governments to create "landrush" or "land concession" events for the
purpose of mining or oil&gas speculation. It is all done on a variation of a "first
come first serve" model of sorts with one very important caveat, unless you develop
your property within a specific time period, it goes back to the government (or the
second in line).
And this is exactly what needs to be done for the benefit of all.
You establish whatever random selection process there is, however unless the winner
develops that name, they lose it. Only after a specific number of years had lapsed
that its title passes to the occupant.
This way you do three things, cut back on
mindless speculation, improve the value of the net as a whole and make whatever names
out there that much more valuable.
It is sad to watch the feeding frenzy going
on in the "expired" name space these days when you realize that probably over 90%
of those are being scooped up for the sole purpose of speculation.
I think if
Afilias was keen on developing INFO into anything of substance, they should have
cghanged their charter to enforce exactly that. This is how city planners and urban
designers strive to avoid ending up with ghost towns.
Personally I think that someone
like CJ Lovik and the likes (link included) who has frauduently acquired over 400
coveted generic names just for their re-sale value, should be absolutely the number
one item on Afilias' agenda for restoring some integrity. How they handle this will
most certainly play a large role in determining the success or failure of INFO.
I
paid a great deal of money for INFO names that I really wanted to develop, I ended
up with 30% of what I applied for. I'm not complaining and I plan to do my share
of development, however if Afilias can't do something about the stench that surrounds
us today, no one will come visitting no matter how attractive it looks from the outside.