Where In The World Has Berkens Been? Playing a $10 Million Dollar + Hand of Poker On The New gTLD’s
You may have notice a couple of days of light postings from theDomains.com, which may lead you to ask where did Berkens go?
Although due to a ton of NDA’s I can’t reveal the extension, or the parties I have been involved in negotiations over the last two day, but it looks like the new gTLD race, is going to be on some levels, just a high stakes poker game.
No more.
No less.
Instead of playing for $100 a hand or a pot of thousands of dollars, the stakes are in the tens of millions for highly desirable generic gTLD string.
Anyone who has ever played poker knows that some players with great hands lay low, sucking others into betting higher, while others just try to bluff their way into having all the other players with better hands fold convincing them they have no chance of winning even though they are holding all the cards.
As the World Series of Poker starts there are thousands of players paying $10K for a seat at the table and as time goes on those players start dropping out, get eliminated, outplayed, out witted.
The new gTLD process is setting up new rules for a new game and as in any game, there is going to be game playing.
So like poker, some are going to represent themselves as holding the strongest hand forcing others to fold or in the case of new extension to merger when they actually don’t even have a pair.
Yet others are going to keep their cards hidden until they are forced to revel, in this case which may lead to a auction.
The Applicant Guidebook encourages parties who submit applications for the same string to work it out between each other and many in the field expect that most of the contentious applications to be resolved by negotiations between the parties.
Some applicants who anticipate filing competing applications are already talking trying to negotiate deals.
So why would someone with a good hand fold at this point?
For one, the ICANN Applicant Guidebook, the final version of which is overdue and still not out, in its draft form is still confusing to most and open to different interpretations.
ICANN should have a Guide Book, crystal clear in meaning, not subject to different interpretations or open questions so everyone know what the rules are and what hands beats the others.
Clearly we ICANN has failed to deliver a rule book, clearly defined within the time necessary to digest and understand it properly.
If the new gTLD process starts out in mass confusion the results are going to be a mass mess.
People are engaging in real debates, with millions, and tens of millions at stake, beating on what the rules are.
At the moment the answers are unknown, but what is for certain is that the new gTLD’s process is a new system, a new game and with any game there is going to be game playing.
I’m sure ICANN didn’t intend it, but for the most desirable new gTLD’s it looks like ICANN may have just set up the highest stake poker game in the world.
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“So why would someone with a good hand fold at this point?”
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It would be interesting to see what experts **think** is a good hand.
? All 50 key people greased with one million in cash each ? plus new Porsches for the top 20 people and trips to your private island on your private jets for the top 10 ? is that a good hand ?
“if you are disqualified then it all comes down to who is willing to pay the most.”
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if you are **qualified** then it all comes down to who is willing to pay the most
more likely….If you have PAID the most people OFF….then you are **Qualified**
a big problem domainers have is they are not part of the DNS Cartel insider’s club
it does not matter how many or what domains you own – that could be a liability
Big
OK we understand your point you think you are going to pay kickbacks or graft to someone or group of people to get a TLD, which isn’t happening since the rule book doesn’t allow ICANN to pick and choose from applicants but rather award an application to the highest bidder unless all other applicants come to an agreement on how they are going to work together on the string or drop their application out for cash.
Enough comments from you on this topic
domainers don’t need to be part of the cartel that steers the engineering side of the internet. and they do not need to care how poorly a job the cartel does acting on behalf of internet users. they do not need to care how much those users suffer for it.
domainers simply spot the flaws in the system propped up by the cartel and exploit it. for profit.
if you have an improvement to the way the internet is engineered, and you pitch it to the cartel, they will in one way or another just ignore you, no matter how sensible it is. there are several possible reasons for this, among them:
- they are not smart enough to “get it”
- they get it but they’re annoyed because it’s something they’re not smart enough to come up with themselves
- they are vested in the incumbent approach (e.g. they introduced it or had a role, they have built a business around it, etc.); change is scary
- you fail to show any potential to “grease palms” (e.g. you don’t work for a company with lots of cash on hand); change is ok as long as we are guaranteed to make money from it
so how do proceed given this cartel structure?
if you have a sensible solution to an internet engineering problem, do not pitch it to the cartel. do not pitch it to engineers. pitch it to end users. it should be comprehendable by the average 11 yr old. and it should solve a problem that every internet user has experienced first hand.
the description of ipv16 is well written. but doubtful end users would understand it or why ipv4 and ipv6 are deficient.
pitching sensible solutions to a perceived “internet engineering cartel” is a futile exercise. of course this does not stop hundreds of engineers to keep trying.
“if you have a sensible solution to an internet engineering problem, do not pitch it to the cartel”
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YEP
in fact, one of the best pieces of advice given to the early Asterisk VOIP developers was “Do not let the IETF touch it…” – the same holds for Skype and you see they sold to Microsoft
The good news is a lot of progress has been made since 1998. People just can not talk about it. The cartel would not like that. There is benefit in allowing the cartel to continue thinking they are God’s gift to networking. It frees up talented people to produce interesting and useful wares.