John B. Reynolds wrote:
>
>I agree with Michael Sondow. Membership criteria will be a lot clearer if
>we base it on the identity of the domain registrant rather than the content
>of the Web site (if any).
Maybe I'm brain dead today, but how does that work?
For example, our county Office of Education is not considered a
"commercial" enterprise. However, it owns some rural land used for outdoor
public secondary school education during the week, but available for rent
as a retreat for businesses on the weekend. This is a very small corner of
its activities, but the weekend business gives it a commercial spin. So
what constituency fits that registrant?
If a commercial business also wants a separate URL for its community
donation efforts (I'm thinking now of the Autodesk Foundation, a unit
within the software company's structure), is that commercial?
If a registrant who runs a business decides to set up a parody site (I'm
thinking of PETA.ORG), is that commercial or non? If the site is making a
statement by linking to other commercial entities (in the case of PETA.ORG,
to furriers and the Bear-Paw Cookbook) is it then commercial?
Here's another one. My brother is a professor at VPI. He has registered
several domain names. One for the AAUP (American Association of University
Professionals) to help that organization come online; one called
sharebook.com, a concept similar to shareware; one for the family site at
rony.com, and a fourth at domainhandbook.com. So knowing the domain
registrant really doesn't clarify what constituency(ies) are appropriate.
Do organizations using the Internet to solicit fee-paid memberships count
as commercial? Do commercial enterprises using the Internet to display
expertise in an area of human activity, without any mention of product or
service, count as commercial?
If Chris "Pokey" Van Allen decides to collect his experience with his
domain name dispute into a booklet, available through the site for $3.00
postage, must he change his constituency from non to commercial?
And you certainly cannot tell anything by the .COM, NET and ORG suffix. In
the past year, many registrants have grabbed all three expressly to throw a
safety net over a desired name.
Ellen Rony Co-author
The Domain Name Handbook http://www.domainhandbook.com
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ISBN 0879305150 *=" ____ / +1 (415) 435-5010
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On the Internet, // \\ no one knows you're a dog.
