One of the arguments for new gTLDs - ten years ago - was that it will trigger a new wave of innnovation. With new options, creativity will be stimulated and new services and applications will emerge.
Some of us knew that this was BS all along, but too many people bought into the promises of unicorns and wish-fulfillment peddled by the domain industry. "Innovation" is such a wonderful buzzword that it blinds people to the fact that the DNS is infrastructure. It's a natural commodity, like the electrical grid or highway signage. The domain industry promised that if we let them control the plumbing that they would invent better toilets. What amazes me to this day is how many intelligent and well-meaning people fell for it.
But what happened? One of the personal frustrtations I have - looking backwards - is that the new gTLD program with all its new (and great) diversity has delivered so far mainly just "more of the same" with the high risk of the emergence of new "oligopols".
That you could not see this from the outset is on you. Way back at ATLAS 1 in Mexico (2009), aspiring domain applicants described to us in detail how they would be able to game the system, and exploit rules that assumed fair play and shared interest. Some of us listened, the decision-makers did not because the exploiters were well funded and could dominate every conversation. I grant that some of the gaming methods were highly innovative, but not in any way that benefited anyone outside the domain industry.
Where are the creative disruptions which open the door for new services, applications, markets in the DNS? On the one hand, the issue of "personal idendity" is obviously a problem for the next generation of Internet users, that is the teenagers of tomorrow. But the teenagers and twens of today do not link the "issue of idendity" to the option of an own personal domainname. For them - even if they have a growing mistrust into the established social networks - to have a facebook, Instagram or TikTok account is much more convenient and they do not understand the opportunities of a personal domainname. Creators and innovators of all countries in the DNS, hear the wake up call!!!
Your analysis is deeply flawed. Society today is fully aware of the need for identity on the Internet, from the biggest company with an Instagram presence to the 12-year-old with her own monatised YouTube channel. They have evaluated the opportunities and come to the correct conclusion that "memorable" domain names are an inferior way to establish that identity. And innovators have certainly stepped up to create and support better paths.
We are not in the world of Lycos and Altavista anymore, now browsers merge AI-assisted web search and type-a-URL into a single bar. Social media home pages are free and domain names are legacy tech.
You want to find "Joe's Pizza" in your neighbourhood? What's easier? Trying to remember the particular URL of the one near you, or just typing (or saying) "Joe's Pizza near me" into the browser?
Want to find a generic business by name? What's easier? Just doing a search? Or trying to guess what domain name the business uses because the most natural one they wanted is squatted by a domainer?
(And we're not even beginning to talk about the impact of mobile apps or QR codes in countries with non-Latin scripts.)
ICANN has shamefully targeted every person in the world as just a registrant who hasn't been sold yet. This philosophy, advanced by those who would profit from such a mindset, exists throughout ICANN, no other worldview has even been given a proper hearing. As a result, ICANN and the DNS have been oblivious to the world catching on to the scheme/scam and moving on without it. Memorable domain names still have value, but then so does MS-Windows, another legacy tech with is endured and tolerated but never loved.
YOU are the one who needs the wake up call. There was NEVER any value in personal domain names beyond vanity and defensive registration.
Sorry to lay this on so thick. But I am staggered to see in 2020 that anyone is surprised by the public rejection of domain names as a way to find what it wants on the Internet, and even more staggered to see a view that faults the public for doing so.
This view is all-too-common in ICANN, and based on fantasy that never ever existed. There is incredible innovation out there, but it is happening outside the world of the DNS. The better toilets will never come.
- Evan