Dear All: The mission remains preventing abuse and misuse of the domain name system, maintaining stability and predictability within the namespace and preserving the integrity and value of the domain name space. Here's an example where the At-Large community finds itself entangled in discussions that consume valuable time but have little impact on the core issue. Just look at the poll results from the CPWG this morning. While regulatory actions that protect the vulnerable and ensure fairness are commendable, citing "avoiding end-user confusion" as the primary reason for prohibiting singular/plural strings in the namespace is the weakest argument. In practical terms, we're supporting a regulatory measure that’s supposedly intended to protect users from a navigational error—preventing them from landing on an unintended website. Our brief, apparently, is to advocate for the barely attentive end user. This feels like pandering to an extreme. Stronger arguments for prohibition include consumer protection, identity verification, avoiding brand and trademark conflicts, preventing domain name collisions, combating cybersquatting, and maintaining the integrity, stability, and predictability of the namespace. These are far more compelling reasons. Another troubling aspect is the reliance on a dictionary for a logically consistent interpretation of what constitutes singular or plural. Presumably, this would require an authoritative dictionary for every script and language. However, it's the content of the landing page that ultimately signals to a user they’re in the wrong place. Elevating specialized content as the arbiter for accessing other content raises concerns, especially in light of the "no content regulation" principle, revealing the weakness of this foundation. Prohibit if necessary, but unless "end-user confusion" is a catch-all label for all the ills, it is the wrong justification to anchor this argument and not a strong enough rationale to support such a significant regulatory action. Carlton Samuels ============================== *Carlton A Samuels* *Mobile: 876-818-1799Strategy, Process, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround* =============================