Bruce A few questions: 1) What happens to the funds in the escrow account that are over and above the $6 the registry gets? This would be a huge number pretty quickly. 1a) Do registrants get a cut? (if so how does it flow to them?) 1b) ICANN? 1c) Registrars? (if so in what proportion, or based on what, and why?) 2) What happens if some registrars decide not to participate and do the NSI/Tucows model unilaterally? In effect pre-empting whatever the registry does? By suggesting your model below, you seem to be implying that that activity not be allowed, or they would somehow be forced to participate. 2a) I notice that currently there are a variety of models, for example, godaddy is fixed-fee (not an auction model). There are even differences on the type of auctions from one to another. There are benefits to each model to both the registrar and to consumers. What happens to these other models if we impose one? 3) What happens in the meantime? It may turn out that one system is the best, but I'm not sure we can just "jump to the end". What if we are wrong again? I support the "ratio" model, not only because I know it will efficiently fix the "tragedy of the commons" problem now, but also because once that is in place, the market can calmly and prudently take care of the rest, including consumers. If consumers choose to go to one place with many auctions, then more auctions will happen in one place. Natural cooperation will occur. If pool.com or VeriSign or SnapNames or Joeschmoe has a great auction model or provides whatever benefit, then we'll naturally clump to one or two of them to do the back-end or front-end or whatever they are doing. If consumers do not want "islands", then to attract more business, the back-ends for example will, over time, naturally and efficiently clump together. Paul -----Original Message----- From: owner-registrars@gnso.icann.org [mailto:owner-registrars@gnso.icann.org] On Behalf Of Bruce Tonkin Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 5:28 PM To: Registrars Constituency Subject: [registrars] Proposed short term solution to registry contention Hello All, I didn't get much response on alternative solutions to resolve contention for names at the registry. Contention typically either occurs when a new registry starts operation, or when a previously registered name is made available for another entity to register. The solution I proposed was based on auction, and I pointed out that the more controversial debate will really be how to distribute the funds. Here is a proposed way forward, that allows the debate on how to allocate the funds to take a little longer. (1) Registry implement auction mode for deleted names where there is more than one registrar wishing to register the same name (2) Auction funds to be placed in an escrow account that can only be accessed with the agreement of ICANN and the registry. The registry would be permitted to take $6 for each registration transaction (preserving their current registration revenue). The costs of implementing the auction system would likely be covered by the saving in resources needed to support hundreds of registrars slamming the batch pool. (3) Registrars will be able to add their own margin onto any fee (base or auction) paid to the registry as they do now Regards, Bruce