<This message was in my drafts folder and did not get sent yesterday as I had wished so I apologize if it is out of sync>
Two things here. One about Jim's statement and another more general thought. First off. If one sets a domain to auto-renew is there some assurance that the technology is monitored (by OpenSRS) to ensure domains did in fact auto-renew? I know I don't sit down with my morning coffee and peruse the auto-renewed domain report to ensure they did in fact renew. So while I may be willing to believe that the universe may unfold as it should the client may not be so trusting. It is my understanding that the "auto-renew" flag is something in the OpenSRS domain profile and doesn't exist at the registry. If Verisign is accepting the onus for ensuring that their flag (assuming it is flagged at the registry and not at OpenSRS) works then that would probably set the customer's mind at ease. If OpenSRS is guarenteeing that their auto-renew always goes through (and is liable for damages if it doesn't) then that too would somewhat appease them. Either way *I* don't want to be responsible if it doesn't. When I renew a domain manually it is quick to check at that time that the renewal date has been incremented. If they were all occurring on one date the client could just sit down and set his mind at ease for a year that they've all been renewed correctly. Second off. I'd like to extrapolate this concept to another thought. Let's simplify this to saying that a domain renewal is currently the original registration month and day (which incidentally makes it interesting for domains registered on February 29th) plus the desired X number of years desired by the client. This date would not need to be assumed to be that month/day at all and it could be allowed that the user enter a field for the desired renewal date (perhaps insisting it be at least one year ahead). This not only allows for those who'd like all their domains to renew on the same date but allows for the client who'd prefer to have his expense spread out over the course of a year. (Domains are pretty cheap so I'm guessing only speculators who have ridiculous numbers of domains that aren't selling would fall into this boat.) The form could default to the original registration month/day but allow the user to override it to whatever they like. Pretty simple from a user interface standpoint. Not sure what hoops the TL Registry would have to create/jump through though. Again I apologize if some of this has been discussed earlier but I haven't caught up on the list and wanted to send this before my thoughts got any "staler". Jack
