Stephane has an interesting post on the possible end of domain tasting.
While the debate around domain tasting has been going on for quite some time ICANN can be a very slow moving beast. In some ways it moves far too slow, but when you consider the range of different opinions that have to be taken into consideration for such a significant policy change to come into effect it’s a different story.
Domain tasting grew out of a loophole. Like so many things involving the internet and governance policies, the goalposts move over time. A big issue 10 years ago may have vanished completely, but a whole new range of issues will have taken its place, so nobody could expect policy makers to “second guess” every change.
The AGP (Add Grace Period) is an important function for any registrar. It allows a registrar to delete a domain that is less than 5 days old.
Why was this needed? Is it still needed?
There are a lot of very valid reasons why a registrar might need to delete a domain shortly after its creation.
Obvious reasons would include things like credit card fraud and purely abusive registrations (eg. spammers / phishers registering domains for purely abusive usage).
Of course the entire debacle was sparked off when some registrars realised that they could use the AGP in way that ICANN and the registries had never intended.
A lot has been written about how tasting was abused, so there’s no point repeating it. Suffice to say that there are some very valid reasons for blocking abuse, but whether the proposed change that is on the table will negatively impact registrars or not is another question.
Hopefully the change will lead to an improved experience for end users.
I was going to post a comment on Stephane’s blog but apparently it is in ’emergency comment blocking mode’ or something.
Domain Tasting in .com fell off dramatically from when the ICANN resolution was added to the Fiscal 2009 budget in June. The graph for 2008 shows a massive drop in tasting from June 2008 onwards.
http://www.hosterstats.com/Detailed-com-Statistics-2008.php
Much the same kind of effect can be seen with .org in 2007:
http://www.hostertats.com/Detailed-org-Statistics-2007.php
When PIR introduced its restocking fee, the tasting in .org dropped off dramatically. That occurred over the 01/June/2007 to 01/July/2007 period. Some of the taster nameservers (such as those associated with Snapnames) dropped off completely. Almost the whole .org drop was being tasted.
The effect of domain tasting on TLDs is such that it interferes with the natural growth of a TLD and creates an artificial view of the health of a TLD. ICANN makes Eurid look like a properly run operation. Working out the regulations and the future of TLDs requires the best minds. It requires the ability to make decisions rather than endlessly discussing things. Unfortunately ICANN seems more about discussion than action.