I want to send out a personal thank you for joining.

We need hundreds of domainers to wake up, spend a little and protect our interest, there is sure enough people coming after us

Maybe if enough angry small-timers like me join and harrass the ICA enough, we can get them to act on the warehousing issue.

It’s a given they’re not going to do anything at all without cash, and the trademark lobby will be a well funded adversary to say the least.

Good question.

I Have no idea of the percentage of people that attend ICANN meetings, I personally have never gone.

But lets look at the list of people who commented on the Guide Book for the new gTLD’s:

Andrew!Alleman!(A.!Alleman)!
David!Allen!(D.!Allen)!
Amadeu!Abril!i!Abril!(A.!Abril!i!Abril)!
Adobe!Systems!Incorporated!(Adobe)!
Andrew!Allemann!(A.!Allemann)!
American!Bankers!Association!(ABA)!
American!Intellectual!Property!Law!Association!(AIPLA)!
Lana!Andreff!(L.!Andreff)!
Ron!Andruff!(R.!Andruff)!
I.E.!Arribillaga,!dot!EUS!!
Asia!Pacific!Top!Level!Domain!Association!(APTLD)!
Asociacion!PuntoGal!(PuntoGal)!
Association!Uninet!!
Association!of!National!Advertisers!(ANA)!!
At”Large!Advisory!Committee!(ALAC)!
AT&T!Inc.!(AT&T)!!
auDA!
Karl!Auerbach!(K.!Auerbach)!
Vittorio!Bertola!(V.!Bertola)!
BITS/Financial!Roundtable!(BITS)!
M.!Neylon,!Blacknight!Solutions!
Eric!Brunner”Williams!(E.!Brunner”Williams)!
John!Burden!(J.!Burden)!
Marilyn!Cade!(M.!Cade)!
ccNSO!Working!Group!on!Geographic!Names!(ccNSO!WGGN)!
Ronald!Chen!(R.!Chen)!
China!Internet!Network!Information!Center!(CNNIC)!
Chinese!Organizational!Name!Administration!Center!(CONAC)!
Edmon!Chung!(E.!Chung)!
City!of!New!York!(NYC)!!
City!Top”Level!Domain!Interest!Group!
Connecting.nyc,!Inc.!(Connecting.nyc)!
Coalition!Against!Domain!Name!Abuse!(CADNA)!
Coalition!for!Online!Accountability!(COA)!
Coalition!for!Online!Trademark!Protection!(COTP)!
Michael!Collins!(M.!Collins)!!
Phil!Corwin!(P.!Corwin)!
Matthieu!Credou!(M.!Credou)!
M.!Pochyla,!Ministry!of!Industry!and!Trade,!Czech!Republic!
Roy!DeFee!(R.!DeFee)!
Bertrand!de!la!Chapelle!(B.!de!la!Chapelle)
May 2009
Steve!DelBianco!(S.!DelBianco)!
Demand!Media!Inc.!(Demand!Media)!
J.A.!Andersen,!National!IT!and!Telecom!Agency,!Denmark!!
C.!Disspain,!ccNSO!Council!
DotAfrica!
dot!berlin!
dot!BZH!
Dot!Eco!LLC!(Dot!Eco)!
dot!EUS!
dot!koln!
DOTZON!GmbH!
eBay!Inc.!(eBay)!
eco!
eCOM”LAC!
Jaser!Elmorsy,!Bluebridge!Technologies!(J.!Elmorsy)!
Kevin!Erdman!(K.!Erdman)!
European”American!Business!Council!
J.!Scott!Evans!
Go!Daddy!
Fred!Felman!(F.!Felman)!
Paul!Foody!(P.!Foody)!
Jothan!Frakes!(J.!Frakes)!
Claude!Gelinas!(C.!Gelinas)!
Chuck!Gomes!(C.!Gomes)!
Jean!Guillon!(J.!Guillon)!!
Faye!Hammersley!(F.!Hammersley)!
Derick!Harris!(D.!Harris)!
Tony!Harris!(T.!Harris)!
Hearst!Communications!Inc.!!
Mike!Housman!(M.!Housman)!
HP.com!!
Robert!Hutchinson!(R.!Hutchinson)!!
INDOM.com!
Intellectual!Property!Constituency!(IPC)!
Intercontinental!Hotels!Group!PLC!(IHG)!
International!Anti”Counterfeiting!Coalition!(IACC)!
International!Olympic!Committee!(IOC)!
International!Trademark!Association!(INTA)!
Internet!Commerce!Association!(ICA)!
Internet!Society!of!China!!
Ron!Jackson!(R.!Jackson)!
Yoav!Keren!(Y.!Keren)!
Khamma!Group!LLC!!
Jaeyoun!Kim!(J.!Kim)
Adrian!Kinderis!(A.!Kinderis)!
Stacey!King!(S.!King)!
George!Kirikos!(G.!Kirikos)!!
Dirk!Kirschenowski!(D.!Kirschenowski)!
LEGO!et!al.!(Lego)!
Michael!Leibrandt!(M.!Leibrandt)!
Lovells!LLP!(Lovells)!!
Andrew!Mack!(A.!Mack)!
S.!Maniam!
MarkMonitor!Inc.!(MarkMonitor)!!
MarkMonitor!Inc.!et!al.!(MarkMonitor!et!al.)!
MARQUES!!
Max!Menius!(M.!Menius)!
M.!Mansell,!Mesh!Digital!Ltd.!!
Steven!Metalitz!(S.!Metalitz)!
Microsoft!Corporation!(Microsoft)!
Minds!and!Machines!
Alexei!Mykhaylov!(A.!Mykhaylov)!
National!Business!Coalition!on!E”Commerce!and!Privacy!(NBCEP)!
NetChoice!!
Jeff!Neuman!(J.!Neuman)!
NIC!Mexico!!
Noncommercial!Users!Constituency!(NCUC)!
Mike!O’Connor!(M.!O’Connor)!
Michael!Palage!(M.!Palage)!
Pat!
Mons.!Carlo!Maria!Polvani,!Holy!See’s!Representative!
Jim!Prendergast!(J.!Prendergast)!
A.!Ptashniy!
Regions!Financial!Corporation!(Regions)!
Register.com!!
Registries!Constituency!(RyC)!
Susan!Reynolds!(S.!Reynolds)!
Mike!Rodenbaugh!(M.!Rodenbaugh)!
Kristina!Rosette!(K.!Rosette)!
Constantine!Roussos!(C.!Roussos)!
Tim!Ruiz!(T.!Ruiz)!
Ken!Ryan!(K.!Ryan)!
Jarrod!Seitz!(J.!Seitz)!
James!Seng!(J.!Seng)!
Philip!Sheppard!(P.!Sheppard)!
SIDN”Netherlands!(SIDN)!
Shahram!Soboutipour!(S.!Soboutipour)!
Smartcall!
Shahram!Soboutipour!(S.!Soboutipour)!
Sophia!B.!(Ethiopia)!
Software!&!Information!Industry!Association!(SIIA)!!
Alexei!Sozonov!(A.!Sozonov)!
Paul!Stahura!(P.!Stahura)!
Werner!Staub!(W.!Staub)!!
S.!Subbiah!
Wil!Tan!(W.!Tan)!
P.!Taylor,!Bradford!&!Bingley!
3M!Company!!
Time!Warner!Inc.!(Time!Warner)!
Tom!
Marc!Trachtenberg!(M.!Trachtenberg)!
Patrick!Vande!Walle!(P.!Vande!Walle)!
Verizon!Communications!Inc.!(Verizon)!
Visa,!Inc.!(Visa)!
Mary!Wong!(M.!Wong)!
Worldwide!Media,!Inc.!!
Yahoo!!Inc.!(Yahoo!)!
Satoru!Yanagishima!(S.!Yanagishima)!!
Zodiac!Holdings

How many domainers do you recognize?

How many trademark groups, Fortune 500 companies are represented?

I think there is your answer

Pat “You are picking 1 issue out of the whole universe of issues and using that as the one test for the ICA”

I think that’s what too many of us do. Mike’s reply was right on the money here. Regardless of what the ICA does or does not do for specific individual domainers we all need a voice for the greater purpose and the ICA is what we have.

Must join now ….

You are picking 1 issue out of the whole universe of issues and using that as the one test for the ICA.

Hell I’m the one that started that issue and called the ICA out.

The ICA represents domain holders and those in the domain business, including registrars.

Yes there are registrars that are not only members of the ICA but big financial supporters, like Tucows.

I hate that ICANN has allowed registrars to keep the expired domains of its customers and not allowing us to have access to them.

However, there is more at stake in the domain universe than this issue.

I’m more worried about keeping the one’s I got.

The ICA does represent the average domain holder in all ICANN matters (you know those guys are in charge of regulating the business your in) and right now there are a ton of issues that threaten your domains.

The ICA basically singled handedly killed the Snowe Bill, without them it would be law today.

As far as voting, as a “voting member” at $10K a year, I have only voted at 1 meeting in 2 years. (one of those votes involved the issue you raise & I was outvoted)

There is nothing to vote on.

There is no election of officers, its a very small organization with a very limited agenda.

When your a member of a group or a country not everything goes your way.

Sometimes a group like a country does something your against like the warehousing issue, but you don’t cut your own throat over one of these issues and lose sight of the bigger issue which is the trademark groups that are after our domains and we need representation in the process

Most of the TRAFFIC shows have at least 1 or 2 domains that are auctioned off for the benefit of the ICA. The whole TRAFFIC downunder show (not the whole auction) was for the benefit of the ICA but I don’t know if they made any money.

Your observation on the interest of domainers on ICANN issues bang on.

Almost any post about ICANN or the ICA get fewer readers than a what sold at namejet, type of post.

For example today, joke post has more readers than ICA statement.

Crazy.

I do have to correct one glaring error in your comment.

I certainly do not blog about these important issues “while sipping Pina Coladas in my underwear”,

I’m an Grey Goose Guy and wear a bathing suit.

This is something that affects every domainer who pays money for drops, and there aren’t many who aren’t based on the success of SnapNames, Pool, NameJet…etc.

So where is ICA on this? Dead silent.

But reading Mike’s passionate posts, and fully believing his dire predictions on what will happen if the trademark lobby gets their way, I think to myself, “maybe I should join ICA and try to work from within to push them to lobby against the egregious warehousing going on.”

So, I went to the ICA site, to look at a membership for $295, and guess what?

For your $295, you get a NON-VOTING membership. So, if you actually want to have a chance to vote for board members, it’ll cost you $1000. Or, if you’re really flush, you can just buy a Board seat for $50K.

Not exactly Democracy in action, eh?

We need an organization that will represent domainers for all the reasons that Mike so eloquently states. But these guys definitely don’t represent Joe Blow Domainer.

Considering Mike’s last 2 posts on the ICA (at this moment in time) have had a whopping total of 19 clicks per the domaining.com count vs. 45 for LLLL.com’s “Are you that Fucking Stupid” post and 35 for people wondering (who cares) “Why Elliot enjoys conferences” I’m going to bet the domain community has little representation if any.

It it wasn’t for Mike, Phil Corwin, ICA and other these issues would never be challenged and probably never mentioned. We have not joined the ICA but probably will later this month.

As a community we suck in supporting the ICA but to be honest – they suck in communicating to domain owners. I learn more about what the ICA does here at Mike’s blog and he’s doing this while sipping Pina Coladas in his underwear.

We also suck in coming together to raise funds. Sure, some don’t want to give money away for nothing, others just think an angel will never let anything bad happen and others just keep going back and forth on why/why not to support the ICA (myself included).

Sahar has run auctions, Aftermarket has run auctions for ICA funds but “correct me if I am wrong” its basically been an auction for one name.

I think the real responsible thing would be for someone (possibly Moniker/SnapNames) to have a special featured live auction with 100-200 names with ALL proceeds going to the ICA. I have no problem donating some good names and I’m sure others would too. When raising money is fun – it usually works for all plus then maybe the ICA could actually hire someone so Mike doesn’t have to do all the work explaining to us what they do