[AfrICANN-discuss] AfriDNS - Internet governance at the local level

[Dewole Ajao]

Okaaay.... A simplistic interpretation of yours below could translate to “Registrars are able to consume gazillions of African ccTLDs if everything worked reliably and predictably from the ccTLD managers’ side. Adoption and renewals have nothing to do with end users being convinced.”

?

Dewole. 

Sent from a mobile device. Please excuse typos and autocorrect strangeness. 

> On 17 Nov 2017, at 11:32 AM, Dr Eberhard W Lisse <el at lisse.na> wrote:
> 
> From your simplistic views, I assume you are not in business yourself
> :-)-O, and from the content, being mainly incorrect, it would appear
> you have nothing to do with a ccTLD Manager.
> 
> The success of a ccTLD Manager lies in high renewal rates.
> 
> To achieve this one needs no marketing whatsoever to end clients, but
> only towards potential Registrars
> 
> Registrars, by the way, uniformly complain about poor administration, in
> particular,
> 
>   answering emails,
>   sending invoices,
>   sending receipts/acknowledging receipt of funds,
>   sending renewal notices,
>   making payment difficult (!).
> 
> They do not complain so much about statutory and other hassles, if it
> works once a procedure has been established (whatever that is). They
> want predictability and reliability (over automation).
> 
> "Build it and they will come"...
> 
> el
> 
>> On 17/11/2017 11:25, Dewole Ajao wrote:
>> This statement right here is insightful but again nothing is ever as
>> simple as it appears, right?
>> 
>> /"... A domain by itself is of no value. If you are trying to
>> encourage content then it’s a very different conversation" -
>> Mr. Michele/
>> 
>> The process probably starts with a (potential) customer having content
>> that they want to share; At some point, there is a crowd and they
>> decide they need their own identity to stand out (of course they
>> will pick the domain name extension that's least stressful and most
>> affordable to acquire); Then the registrars had better hope they are
>> vain/rich enough to grab many extensions of their chosen name from Day
>> 1; Again, hopefully they get big/vain enough to care about identity
>> preservation/protection and grab a few more popular extensions and
>> hopefully keep renewing them.
>> 
>> Personally, I believe that while content might be the starting point,
>> vanity and profiteering are the amplifiers of the global domain name
>> industry.
>> 
>> Some other pointers might be the state of Internet connectivity -
>> how significant are the connected populations in these places? Do
>> business owners think it's important to acquire unique Internet
>> real estate? Not unless they view it as being significantly
>> revenue-impacting. I know of a Nigerian gossip blogger who for many
>> years was reportedly raking in thousands of dollars in daily advert
>> revenue and all she had was a .blogspot.com subdomain. When she
>> finally had to setup a domain name to reduce Google's control over her
>> visibility on the web (only in the last 2 years or so), she opted for
>> a .com even though she could afford a .ng domain.
>> 
>> While stable infrastructure, pricing, ease of payment, and registry
>> automation are important considerations, I think the younger ccTLD
>> operators have a lot of enlightenment and hoping to do (if the local
>> markets are their targets). Unless they can figure out ways to
>> influence local development in areas like connectivity, web hosting,
>> online payment and e-commerce in general, there is still a long way to
>> go.
>> 
>> Dewole.
> [...]
> -- 
> Dr. Eberhard W. Lisse  \        / Obstetrician & Gynaecologist (Saar)
> el at lisse.NA            / *     |   Telephone: +264 81 124 6733 (cell)
> PO Box 8421             \     /
> Bachbrecht, Namibia     ;____/
> 
> 
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