auDA recently announced that direct .au domain name registrations will commence from 24 March 2022, giving you access to shorter, more memorable names to promote you and your client’s business websites – meaning you will soon be able to register ‘yourdomain.au‘
Obviously, some people aren’t happy that Direct .AU is nearly here. Personally, I’ve been all for it (I know I’m in a minority in the Domain Investor community for this!), as long as the policy rules were fair and as long as the Direct .AU went straight to the .com.au holder. But, as we all know now, that is not going to be the case.
For those of you who aren’t happy about the new Direct .AU coming in March, please explain your reasoning below in the comments. And, let us know if there are any parts of the rules you’re not sure of.
Here is what the auDA COO Bruce Tonkin ( previously from auDA Registrar Melbourne IT and Netfleet.com.au NetRegistry Director) said about the proposed auDA Direct .au
https://assets.auda.org.au/a/2020-12/2007npp-issue-MELBOURNE-IT-tonkin26.txt?VersionId=gFcbdKDod7Z0KtLKdZyjJoprPcY357qY
“The existing second level domains are widely recognised in Australian and internationally.
A key drawback of introducing names directly at the top level could be damage to the businesses of existing .com.au registrants when registrations at the top level are made to trade off their reputations.
There would be a significant cost to businesses to try to protect their brands in the top level without any specific gain from a consumer perspective.”
Why has he flip-flopped?
I’ve personally wanted this to happen for years. The .au will be an asset and I’ve already began designing the site. I don’t own the volume as many here, so the cost is not a factor- so I don’t have any negatives.