A Domain Name Association - part 2

This is the second in a multi-part series on how I would approach the establishment of a Domain Name Association. I must say that the feedback has been fantastic to date and that the discussion has been really valuable. I would encourage everyone to take part in the discussion.

The role of the board is to monitor the progress of the association so that it is in line with the guiding principles and vision. The following diagram illustrates the position of the board with respect to the principles and membership.

The board has 3 primary responsibilities:
1. Financial prudence and good governance to ensure that the organisation is solvent.
2. Fulfilling the vision via policies that benefit the different membership classes (more on this later).
3. Empower the executive with the necessary resources to meet the policy objectives

Members of the board may be part of a subcommittee that is involved in management tasks but when they report back to the board they need to act as directors.

 

In board meetings all directors of the association have a fiduciary responsibility to leave their external objectives (ie. personal and possible employer) and to work for the betterment of the association. This means that at times individuals may find themselves in a conflict of objectives. If this is the case the director will need to notify the board of a possible conflict and have it minuted that they have excused themselves from future deliberations on that particular issue. Typically, this will also involve the individual leaving the board meeting physical for a short time.

Issues such as the one above will need to be addressed as a part of the code of conduct that each and every director would need to sign prior to becoming a director.

Board Structure

Other than the CEO all board positions are for a maximum term of 2 years. Any director can serve for a maximum of 3 consecutive terms (ie. a total of 6 years) prior to having to rotate off the board. After being off the board for a term they may then offer their candidacy for election. This will then force a rotation in the board and ensure that fresh ideas are constantly being brought forward by new directors.

The board may initially be formed with a cascading terms (ie. some positions deemed as being already served for 1,2 or 3 terms) so that all elections for all board positions do not fall at the same time.

All board positions are only accessible either via:
1. Election in a particular category class.
2. Appointment by the board to assist in its proper functioning.
3. Chief Executive Officer

Under the guidance of the three overarching principles of inclusive, representative and transparent I would suggest the following structure for a fully functioning board. The category and classes of available board seats are derived from the various “freedoms” that are core to the vision outlined in part 1 of the series.

Category

No. Seats

Class

General User
Regular domain owner

1

A

 

 

Domain Investor
Invest in domains as a business model

3

A

B

C

Domain Supply
registries, registrars

2

A

B

 

Monetisation
parking, zero click, affiliate

2

A

B

 

Domain Sales
brokers, marketplaces

2

A

B

 

Development
Designers, business developers

2

A

B

 

Board reserved

2

N/A

N/A

 


Members that can possibly be in multiple classes must choose which class they represent at the time of becoming a member. This means that members can ONLY represent a single class. Members with multiple associated organisations may only represent one class. For example, if a member is a part of a group of companies that has both a parking company and a registrar then they must choose which class that they represent. This is to avoid any individual company potentially seizing multiple board seats with different affiliated companies.

To be geographically inclusive there needs to be at least three continents represented on the board. If there isn’t then the board can use one of its two reserved seats and appoint a director from a region to fulfill this objective.

The classes of A, B and C represents bands of size (by revenue). For example, there may be 5 domain investor members that qualify for the class A director seat. Any of these member may offer themselves up for their class’s board seat. If there is more than one member offering their services to the association for a single position then the other members in that class may vote whom they would like to represent their class on the board. In the event that there is a tie the current board chairmen has a casting vote to break the deadlock.

No board seat is automatically awarded to any member that “pays” for the position. All members are treated equally in their class and all directors have equal voting rights within the board itself.

This structure for the board will mean that it is inclusive, representative and transparent. All members will have an opportunity to become a director, represent their membership class and elections will be transparent and open. This would then satisfy the guiding principles of the association.

I would like to make it clear that these are my thoughts on how I believe that a domain association could be established. This is not meant to be disparaging against any existing associations in anyway whatsoever (eg. ICA, thedna.org etc.). I’m sure that this article will provoke a great deal of thought and hopefully comment. It is my belief that it’s through open discussion that a better outcome can be achieved.

  3869 Hits
  0 Comments
3869 Hits
0 Comments

Write Your Own Content

I've been saying it for many years now. Building a domain is no longer a technological problem....these have largely been solved through applications such as Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal etc. You'd be surprised at the number of plugins that are available for these content management platforms that solve all sorts of problems.

The biggest challenge with developing a website is creating content. This is one of the reasons why I choose to develop sites around topics that I'm interested in. Just recently I've relaunched downwind.com (aviation industry), build fftribes.com (gaming websites for the game FireFall) and now rebuilt and structured whizzbangsblog.com.

Other than the underlying technology there are a number of things in common with each of these sites:

1. I have a long-term vision for each of them.....it's not a short-term plan.

2. They have a LOT of content.

3. Members are empowered to add their own content and contribute to the communities.

Because I'm not in a mad rush for instant success I find that I can give Google what it needs over an extended period of time.....lots and lots of consistent new content. For example for my gaming site I've written a book and I've now just started writing my second science fiction novel. I'm enjoying the experience and the members are really valuing the new content. This then brings in new members and so my traffic continues to rise.

The secret is to fine something that you're really interested in and start building that. Don't worry about the domain that you have no interested in but may be great.....sell that one off for a whole lot of money. Write the content and build the site for the topic that you LOVE!

For me, I love domains, I'm a private pilot and I've been into games and science fiction since I was a kid. So go and do it.....take something that you love a turn it into a business.....the challenge will then be if you're offered a lot of money to part with it. :-)

  6823 Hits
  0 Comments
6823 Hits
0 Comments

.Club: 1 Million Registrations by Year 1, 5 Million by Year 5

OK, I've seen this posted around the different forums that .club is going to make it really, really big but I personally believe that 1 million registrations by the end of the first years is a big stretch. What's crazy is that they could have said 200,000 and everyone would have thought that was a lot of domains. If they pass the 200,000 mark they will look like heroes but now they've set a bar so high that it's going to be tough to reach.

Don't get me wrong....I wish them all the best. I wear their polo shirt all the time....it's really comfortable. :-) The problem that I see with many of these new extensions is that many of them have had to get investors to "drink the kool-aid" and this has set them up to fail. I personally think that about 98% of them will go down and be snapped up by some of the more successful ones....by hey, it's a gamble and people with a lot of money seem to like doing it.

As for me, I'm going to stick with .com and some of the ccTLDs as I know for sure that they're not going to vanish in a hurry.

  6688 Hits
  0 Comments
6688 Hits
0 Comments