We all remember the nightmare of following the multiple versions of the “AGB” from the ICANN new gTLD program, and the time it took to get to the final version, which then took to allowing applicants to submit their new gTLD application, and which then took them to wait for their application to proceed… Welcome to version 0.5 of the next Applicant Guidebook.

Future applicants’ next Bible

Let’s say it: the first round of the ICANN new gTLD program was some kind of test to allow Trademarks and Entrepreneurs to create a new domain name extension. If the idea was fantastic and the opportunity to move away from old “.com” domain names for something much more descriptive: the process to achieve this… was a nightmare.

Draft 0.5 of the AGB “is here”

I have the chance to participate in one of the Working Groups and in one word, I found it impressive and terribly exciting to see that I am the person to write the next applicant guidebook. What really shocks me is that very few people are deciding now about what you will find in the final version.

In the first round, I remember complaining to ICANN on things about the protection of wine geographical indications, the stupidity of allowing singular and plural versions of a same domain name extension, etc…

Well, the future is here and if you already want to have a look at what you will probably find in Round two of the ICANN new gTLD program’s applicant guidebook, you should read the report entitled “Competition, consumer trust and consumer choice review team draft report”.

The report lists what went wrong in the first round of the program, and what (and how) things should be changed.

The result of “participating”

I want to definitely kill the possibility to see both versions of an exact same TLD, its singular and plural version, to be validated by the ICANN. It is still unclear if my suggestions will be taken into account and if the solution I offered will even have been read by “someone”.

Reading the draft of the Competition, consumer trust, and consumer choice review team report, it seems that I was not the only person in the world to be pissed by the existence of a .CAREER and .CAREERS new gTLD, but the solutions that I offered seem to have caught someone’s eye.

Content of the next Applicant Guidebook from the ICANN new gTLD program is being discussed and written now, and your participation is more than welcome.

Not interested? Read this then.