Foxbane Ltd and Steven Heath: Domainz

Behold the future!

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 21:02:28 GMT

I have been mulling the future of this site from some time.

The reason is simple, .nz, in general, has its shit together. Things are not falling apart or lawsuits being threatened (or in some cases filed) and multi million dollar projects run by inept management are not occurring any more.

I created this blog back in July 2002 in the days of the formation of the SRS to highlight what was going to those people that did not ‘live the SRS’.

While I do not think .nz is perfect it is one of the best ccTLD’s. I think that for instance NZOC should be more transparent and broader process for appointments and full registrar stats being made public.

The last part of the jigsaw is the .nz disputes process. Once that is implemented I will cover any initial cases and then I think I will turn out the lights. I plan to keep the site online for all those amusing Google searches I get.

Other options were to turn it into a ‘personal blog’ but then again I would rather give myself a lobotomy with a spork than do that. For a brief moment I had thought about running the Unofficial DPF Fan Site (UDPFFS) but I think some 8 year old girl called Sarah is already planning on doing that so I wont steal her thunder :-)

I plan to refocus my attention on the registrar survey that I was half way through doing before a hard drive crash and being a reference site for the .nz ccTLD.

Of course if I’m lucky .nz could all fall apart and I could have a ‘target rich environment’ again and things will be back to the ‘good old days’. Here’s hoping!

SSC becomes registrar

Mon, 11 Apr 2005 19:41:28 GMT

NZ Herald has a story on State Services Comission becoming a .nz Registrar. I have been aware of a while about the SSC trying to figure out what to do with the registration name process and how to run it or select a registrar. I find the part that One Squared 'built the registrry'. I assume they mean the little web based application that handles name submissions and the approval process... yeah, that sounds like a registry to me.

Registrar stats for gTLD, .au and .nz

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 04:20:55 GMT

I have blogged the market share and registrar averages for ICANN, auDA and DNC approved registrars. I think it makes some interesting points such as ICANN and DNC have very similar profile other than the names per registrar average.

InternetNZ settles Melbourne IT claim over Domainz sale

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 01:11:16 GMT

Interesting tidbit in the minutes of the InternetNZ council meeting. InternetNZ approved a payment of $20,000 to Melbourne IT to settle a claim that they had made. I wonder what the issue was and how much they actually asked for?

Melbourne IT reaps in the dosh

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 05:11:20 GMT

Melbourne IT (the owner of Domainz) has released a statement that profit is going well and could out do the last 12 months. It states Domainz was one on 'strong contributions' to the profit.

Stuff on .nz disputes process

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 22:57:39 GMT

Stuff has a story on th e.nz dispute process. Some quotes from Peter Dengate-Thrush, Domainz and FreeParking. Normally a WG member does not speak their own views to the media. I wonder if the WG changed the normal agreement?

expired domain names

Mon, 13 Dec 2004 04:57:16 GMT

NBR has a good story with a very misleading title regarding expired .nz domain names and a new service from Net24.Reminds me to blog about my thoughts on expired domain name 'services' and also to update the .nz registrar price list.

Calling me a liar eh?

Mon, 23 Aug 2004 20:27:31 GMT

IDG has a story on the Intergen/Vodafone issue I posted about last week. The interesting thing is I spent a long time on the Intergen website looking for domain name information. Now Intergen says that it was online all this time... guess I am being called a liar?

In all of New Zealand perhaps half a dozen people know .nz domain name polices, process and the SRS history better than I do. If one of the 'experts' in this area can not find the alleged information on a public site I think it is safe to assume it is so well hidden that in reality it does not exist.

Knowing that Intergen (or one of its previous incarnations) wrote the DRS for Domainz you can reach your own conclusion on quality standards and over all process of that company.

domainz.net.nz is not valid (so they say)

Thu, 29 Jul 2004 02:54:39 GMT

Back in the dark ages of .nz (AKA the DRS days) Domainz had an interesting way to handle registering their own domain name (domainz.net.nz).

The search logic had a block on searching on the string ‘domainz’ in any 2LD. This was because the name in fact wasn’t actually a regular name in the DRS it was kind of hard coded in the system. The same search block was done on any 2 letter domain name when the .nz policy did not allow a ccTLD string to be registered. You could still use the email template to try and sneak the name past the eyes of an Irishman, but that's another story.

The SRS has been live for approx. 18 months now and Domainz still has the block on searching on their website on any 2LD string with domainz in it. It responds with:

Please provide a valid domain name for the .nz Register

The legacy of the DRS still haunts us…

Domainz makes money

Thu, 20 May 2004 04:09:04 GMT

Guess a new management team can do wonders eh? This was reported in SMH today.

"The information technology group told its annual general meeting today that Domainz was performing above expectations and that it is profitable and cash flow positive. "

This is compared to the 'gloom and doom' of the last management that had the company losing money even with projections of much higher number of names.

Paul Brislen, IDG, Telecom and lawsuits?

Wed, 12 May 2004 19:19:28 GMT

Talking of Paul @ IDG. I have been told by a very good source that Telecom has threatened to sue IDG in the past over some of the opinion pieces Paul has written. Also it appears they have told the NZ Herald that they should not hire him and they are foolish to do so. Kinda reminds me of the good old Patrick O'Brien days at Domainz. It is amazing what threatening a lawsuit can do eh?

Roger De Salis removed from InternetNZ council

Fri, 30 Apr 2004 02:10:06 GMT

Digging around in the council papers I finally found the reference that Roger De Salis was 'removed' from council. I wonder why it took 4 months for InternetNZ to notice that a councillor was in fact no longer a member. Guess they were to busy consulting to the LIC.. oh hang on... strike that.

InternetNZ spending plans in NZ Herald

Mon, 22 Mar 2004 19:20:52 GMT

Herald has a story on the spending plans of InternetNZ. David Farrar, ~~President~~ Vice President, is quoted. The one issue I have is that after the Domainz sale monies is gone how is InternetNZ going to get used to living off lesser income. That is unless major change occurs in its funding model. Lets hope they are working very hard on sponsorship and other funding from industry and not the nearly 100% from registrants as it is now.

Also the story does not make it clear that all the DNC costs are funded by NZRS on a management fee, in fact NZRS pays more that the actual costs to help create surplus for the DNC just in case the shit hits the fan. My views are well known about the management fee and the costs not being the same dollar amount.

Davidson sells shares in .nz registrar to former CEO of Domainz

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 22:51:11 GMT

Just found out that Keith Davidson, President of InternetNZ, has sold his shares in the ISP/Registrar he owned. It looks like the former CEO of Domainz, Derek Locke is one of the new owners. This does reduce any conflict issues that might have popped up from time to time.

Donna Hisser on board of NZRS

Fri, 27 Feb 2004 02:50:44 GMT

Looks like Donna Hiser has been appointed to the board of NZRS. No announcement of it but then again InternetNZ is shocking in its inability to mention these things.

Domainz articles

Wed, 25 Feb 2004 20:41:48 GMT

Couple of stories the other day about Domainz becoming ICANN accredited. Its amazing what a press release with no worthwhile information in it can generate. IDG and Dominion Post stories.

Domainz and ICANN

Mon, 23 Feb 2004 03:40:53 GMT

Domainz just issued a press release stating they have finally been approved as an ICANN registrar. Not that this really means much as they are owned by one of the largest gTLD registrars.

IDG end of year review story

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 21:38:39 GMT

IDG has a 'end of year' story about defending the Internet. The back half of the story is about .nz, SRS and scammers.

Domainz: 3 months on

Mon, 08 Dec 2003 19:41:11 GMT

IDG has a story on Domainz and its path to money making. Melbourne IT claims it would make money after 3 months. GM did not comment if it was making a profit yet.

Versign are idiots but DNC is naive?

Mon, 17 Nov 2003 02:53:54 GMT

I just read the article about the flaws in the Verisign use of flash files for their ‘trust seal’. This has reminded me about what I feel are flaws in the use of the DNC Authorised Registrar logo.

The authorised registrar logo is not centrally provided by the DNC. As Domainz and other registrars have proved it can be changed on a whim with no automated manner of reporting of changes or usage. Nothing is stopping me using the authorised registrar logo on this website (other than a swift kick up the ass from Debbie when she sees it :-)

The DNC site is running Apache on Debian. Off the top of my head I can think of several ways to centrally serve this logo to only those websites that have been authorised by the DNC and with little if any impact to the registrars. All of this using out of box features of Apache.

MelbourneIT has Domainz lock stock and DRS

Thu, 13 Nov 2003 08:00:10 GMT

ZDnet and SMH each have a AP story about MelbourneIT completing Domainz purchase. Looks like settlement price dropped about $400,000 NZD.

Drew Whittle resigns as councillor

Sun, 02 Nov 2003 22:55:29 GMT

Over the weekend it was announced that Drew Whittle had resigned as a councillor of InternetNZ. Drew is a former Domainz director (during the Stabilising Registrar phase) as well as the current chair of the Technical Committee. This is on top of David Zanetti, former councillor, Technical Committee chair and NZRS director quitting InternetNZ a few weeks ago. All is not well in InternetNZ land?

Melbourneit.co.nz and domainz.co.nz

Tue, 30 Sep 2003 19:23:23 GMT

Melbourne IT advises to make sure you get all the names in can in the different 'name spaces'. I find it amusing then if you whois on melbourneit.co.nz. Then do a whois on melbourneit.net.nz and look at the different dates between these two records. Also while on the subject when is Domainz going to fix their bR0k3n DRS system as when do a check on domainz in any 2LD it states you must provide a valid name.

Domainz and Melbourne IT story in NZ Herald

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 21:12:39 GMT

NZ Herald has a story about Domainz and what Melbourne IT plans to do with it and its overall role.

Stuff on Domainz GM and 'new math'

Tue, 23 Sep 2003 22:50:02 GMT

Stuff had a story on the new Domainz GM on Monday, I find the last sentence amusing, 40,000 names and $5.19 million revenue. Lets do the math, assuming only income is from .nz names (and not the website stuff that MelbourneIT has hinted they are dropping) then thats an average of $129.75 a name. Hmm, me thinks Stuff stuffed it up.