Participant Jean Guillon submits the following text about a new website gTLD.club which is focused on new generic Top-Level Domains.

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gTLD.club is a new website about new generic Top-Level Domains. It is also a club for authors who want to express an opinion on subjects related to domain name extensions. It is a club with its subscribers and a club usually deals with one subject, one sport, one topic: here it is gTLDs and gTLDs only: there is no other website to offer that.

With the daily launchings of new domain name extensions and a subject coming closer and closer to Internet Governance—note that I did not mention .WINE and .VIN new gTLDs here but it is true they are on my mind—there is room for parties interested in commenting on new gTLDs.

There is room for it

Room for Registries to inform about what they want to do with their new domain name(s); there is room for new gTLD service providers because it is important that they keep on informing entrepreneurs about the benefit of launching a generic TLD; there is room for law firm so they can keep spreading the word to brands and inform them about the benefit to use a personalized extension; there is room for Registrars to inform new generations of Registrants on how to create a website with a domain name; there is room for lobbyist to “chat” about the subject as well as there is room for ICANN to explain why these launchings can be delayed and why the rules to apply for a gTLD can change during the application process.

There is room for everybody to spread the message about gTLDs, so that information flows around the world and so that potential users can be informed about these new online identities.

“Power to the Users”?

I once heard an ICANN representative use this sentence or a similar one: was it “power to the Registrant?” Unfortunately, in the ICANN new gTLD program, Registrants and end-users do not seem to exist. There are groups where they feel welcome to join in and participate, but as a member of one of these groups, I clearly feel that it is not the right place to be because it is in English only and some subject matters are so difficult to understand and follow that I don’t feel represented at ICANN this way… Even the name of the group makes no sense to an end-user: the NCUC. Couldn’t they have named it USER or REGISTRANT?

End users are the first one to be concerned by the ICANN new gTLD program, but they are not heard by the ICANN Board when it comes to make the right decisions. An excellent example of this is the allowance of singular and plural strings: how could these groups representing end-users and future Registrants let this happen? Does an end-user, a brand, with—most of the time—little knowledge of domain names, want the same extension to exist with and with no “s”? Isn’t it going to be much more confusing when the same domain name exists with different contents on two similar domain names but one has no “s” to its extension and the other does?

The same applies to similar strings in multiple languages; there are other examples of decisions endorsed by the ICANN Board, which clearly show that end-users are absolutely not represented. On the other hand, service providers are clearly the one represented and surprisingly, their voice is heard.

gTLD.club offers space to end-Users “too”

The club of generic Top-Level Domains offers everyone a place to write: professionals as well as non professionals: the tone of voice does not matter. Members are welcome to congratulate ICANN for its efforts in launching such a perfect program… or not. It is fine with me it they come to complain, as long as it makes sense. New Registries are welcome to talk about the benefit of using a .KIWI, or a .BUZZ, a .BARCELONA or a .WINE, a .CLUB or a .?????. Brands are welcome to explain the use they will have of a .GALLO or a .HERMES. New users of these domain name are welcome to introduce their new website and tell us why they decided to go for a .WEBCAM domain name.
Becoming an author on gTLD.club is free and… count on me to spread the content of your article.