.US Town Hall Hosted by Neustar

Elliot I’m surprised you would be making a post about this now and apparently the only industry blogger even doing so in my normal reading circuit. I must say surprises never cease sometimes.

Here is the definitive statement on the state of .US, which I posted in reply to Lori Anne Wardi’s sponsored guest post over at DNW on July 18 of this year:

Link to original: https://domainnamewire.com/2019/07/18/marketing-a-teenage-tld/#comment-2255828.

7/18/2019 comment: (I wonder who the “like” on my comment is over there.)

“Well Lori, if you get too good at this they may need to get rid of you.

> “So exactly how does a teenage TLD, like .US, stand out in a marketplace with more than 1,000 shiny new competitors?”

One of the greatest ironies of .US is that it was released for public use – under a rock, that is – at the very pinnacle of the greatest resurgence of US patriotism virtually every living person in America has ever seen in our lifetime and quite possibly will ever see. The only rival period for such patriotic renewal would doubtless be WW II.

In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy struggled through the entire movie just to make her way home. We struggled with her through all her wild and dangerous adventures. Finally she and all of us discovered the ironic revelation, that she was carrying the answer herself entire time.

.US is exactly like that famous story we all grew up with here in the USA. From Day 1 in April 2002 – and every single day since to this day – there has never been any mystery or riddle about what could have and would have lit the flame of public awareness, popularity and passion – virtually without even costing a single penny, and scarcely even having to lift a finger.

For Dorothy it was the ruby slippers and the homeward incantation.
For US it has been a no-brainer the size of the USA itself. For us it is and has always been, and for the sake of efficiency in phraseology, the “PTB.” In a manner of speaking, virtually a single word, and virtually a single use by example is all it would have ever taken. Even Christian Zouzas, the most famous .us domain “investor” of them all, sees it and has been saying more or less the same thing on his Twitter page in recent months.

Had the “PTB” of the USA not wanted to release .us under a rock as it was in April of 2002, and had really wanted it to go anywhere, they would have done and could always still have done the exact opposite of what they all have done ever since. The President and other prominent US government figures would have said even just a single word to the American public, and begun using it in various ways. Most ironically, and tellingly, of all – would have begun transitioning certain prominent US entities to the ultimate no-brainer patriotic TLD instead of keeping them on .com.

One of the most incredibly glaring and astronomical examples of .US-avoidance has always even amazed me.

I don’t watch much television anymore, hardly any really, but in the years since April 2002 there was a period of time in which I used to watch a fair amount. One of the most captivating and patriotic marketing campaigns – and one of the greatest platforms one could ever imagine for getting the American public to even know that .US exists at all, as well as ignite the fire of interest – has always been the television ad campaigns of the US military. Genuinely engaging and spectacularly engrossing examples of patriotic captivation for anyone and everyone with even a streak of the red, white and blue in them, even those who only wished they could have served some time in the US military but for various reasons they could not. And every single time, at the great and final climax of these presentations – the viewer is solemnly presented with “.com” instead of “.us.”

How incalculably ironic.

One of the greatest spectacles you could possibly even imagine to demonstrate American patriotism on the Internet aside from statements and actions of the “PTB” to begin with about .US, yet nothing. Nothing but the “.com” establishment and status quo glaring brightly like the noonday sun.

And that is only one such example. As it is, these 17+ years later the American public still for all intents and purposes practically doesn’t even know that .us exists at all, period.

And the idea some have that the burden lies with the Neustar registry itself to bring about incrementalism over decades and decades is disingenuous at best, and much worse than that at worst. If whoever has occupied the relevant positions of authority had ever wanted the American public to be substantially aware of America’s own online country code and for it to go anywhere at all since Day 1 in 2002, things would and could – and should – have been very different.

> “I mean, I read all the domain blogs too!”

Well perhaps you’ll like my other recent related comments too. Especially the one where I mentioned I had worked in both US federal law enforcement and IT before.

> “As investors, we want to know that the TLDs we invest in are being well managed and marketed, and are building”

> “As the country code domain extension for the United States of America, our most obvious end-user target market is, you guessed it, American businesses, organizations and individuals.”

> “Instead, our team has developed a ‘micro-targeting’ approach; essentially, breaking our audience down into niche segments that each have unique and interesting motivations for using .US domains – and then building creative, relevant campaigns for each of these groups.”

Sounds great, doesn’t it? And some of the activity even looks pretty nice. But piecemeal incrementalism is a nowhere strategy, and certainly not appropriate for something as significant as .US.

A blogger named Caitlin Johnstone, probably not known to most in the domain industry, is one of the great “truth seeking truth tellers” of our time. She wrote a great blog post only days ago about “Why “Incremental Change” Is Worse Than No Change At All,” and people should take a look at that post and then contemplate this very issue in comparison to that (https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/07/15/why-incremental-change-is-worse-than-no-change-at-all/). Other truth tellers and truth seekers have recently covered very well the same idea as well.

> “It has been an honor for the Neustar team to launch, build, grow and shape the .US namespace, from inception to today. But we’ve never rested on our laurels and we certainly don’t plan to do so now. In the years ahead, we are committed to continue refining our marketing strategy, innovating on new and unique marketing campaigns, engaging our community of brand ambassadors and supporting ongoing growth and success of the .US TLD.”

And as mentioned above, the American public still scarcely even knows that .US exists at all. Practically speaking, despite a little bit of progress since 2002 – they still don’t know.

> “Ultimately our goal is to ensure that the millions […] are building their future on .US – as well as those who invest in the .US namespace – can rest assured knowing that .US is one of the most trusted, dynamic and in demand TLDs in the world.”

Well Lori perhaps even you can agree that ending assessment of the current state of things there is getting a bit carried away, but frankly we know that it’s your job, and we all understand the idea of commercial puffery and the like, so it can certainly be overlooked.

But that is not the main reason why I quoted that.

The main reason why I quoted that resides with this: “as well as those who invest in the .US namespace.”

Many have invested over 17 years of their time, money and life in .US now, but aside from all the other issues, which are huge, there is also looming a practical “existential threat” to .US and to all that nearly 20 years of such investment of time, money and life already. And it remains to be seen whether Neustar and the “PTB” are going to allow (or worse) this practical existential threat to have its merry way.

And that practical “existential threat” is .USA.

The push for .USA apart from .US is one of the greatest travesties and mockeries in TLDs and specifically of .US one could ever even imagine, and directly and completely threatens all of the years of time, money and life others have already invested in .US. Not to mention Neustar’s own interests if it is indeed true that Neustar has any interests at all.

And don’t misunderstand me: I am a patriotic American, bounding the Internet super highway in shades of red, white and blue. Nothing would please me more than to see a .USA alongside .US – but only if it is done properly and right – only if it is done in a genuinely American way. So what does this mean?

The only way of .USA existing and being released to the public at all that treats the investment of time, money and life people have already spent on .US these 17 plus years now with justice and fairness is to: 1. recognize what it really is, i.e. a country designation, in this case an alternative to the first .us iteration. Say what one will about how ccTLDs can only be two letters – either an exception should made for .USA or it should not exist at all, unless and only unless its existence conforms to: 2. The fair and right thing to do if .USA is even to be allowed to exist and be released at all is if it is done exactly as has already just been done in the case of .UK. Yes, that means:

1. First right of registration for .US holders of corresponding SLDs.

2. NO public gouging premium costs, no matter how good the domain is – just as .US was released originally and still is and should be. Simple basic “reg fee” for all domains, especially for those who already have the corresponding .US.

Anything less makes a total mockery of .US itself and all the people who have spent and invested so much into it all the way since 2002 to this very day.

I’m sure there is more I could address, but for now I will close with this:

PRIVACY – whois

As I mentioned before, not only did I once work in US federal law enforcement, but in the reinventing of oneself many of us experience in our lives, I also worked professionally in IT, and especially with data and database technology.

There is NO excuse – none, zero, zilch, nada – for American citizens and American businesses still not having the right and option of engaging in whois privacy after all these nearly 20 years. This was *already* the case in April 2002, is even more so now in 2019, and has been increasing in significance and importance every year in between. It is nothing but data in a database, and there is both no practical excuse and no other excuse of any kind. While I’m sure exceptions may exist for instance, even the nexus requirement itself for all intents and purposes doesn’t get enforced no less, but there is no meaningful practical impediment to data access to begin with for issues anyone in appropriate positions might actually really care about – nor has there ever been.

The entire world no less has continued to increasingly recognize and even expand the importance and right of privacy since 2002, particularly and especially for domain TLD whois, while .US has continued to preserve the undesirable status quo. It should go without even mentioning that it is obvious to anyone this lack of such a privacy option also works against the very kind of adoption and use people purport to want and work for and support. Not allowing Americans to engage in this in today’s world is even nothing less than appropriately called obscene.

According to Konstantinos Zournas at OnlineDomain.com, who attended the 2017 .US Town Hall –

“Neustar said that they are working on the whois privacy implementation for .us domain names. That was never allowed up to now, mainly because of the Nexus requirements. Only US residents and US organizations and companies that have a bona fide presence in the United States of America can own a .us domain name.

According to Neustar that has been their biggest policy issue to date. The Council formed subcommittees, solicited public comment and worked with law enforcement (?) and other stakeholders to build a consensus recommendation. It seems that .us whois privacy may be introduced in 2018.”

2018 came and went, and here we are with half of 2019 already spilling into 2020. I think the time for talking about it is over, don’t you think?
So Dorothy could have made her way home in an instant any time she wanted, but she never knew. In this case, however, we do know, and have always known. Incrementalism is often a counterproductive and even harmful path. The burden is *not* on the registry, contrary to the misguided public narrative and misconception about that. .USA should not be allowed to exist unless and only unless it is done fairly and equitably with regard to the many who have invested so much for so many years in .US. And in a no-brainer the size of the .US itself, American citizens of all people and American businesses must have the right of .us whois privacy to use or not use at their discretion in today’s society.”

Anyone have any insights as to why .us hasn’t had the same levels of development and secondary market sales as .me, .de, .co,uk, .it? , I agree it always has had the potential to be a strong extension, and some large companies have used the .us extensions as their main sites. .
I own a few .us domains, but I’ve never purchased one on the aftermarket.

Forget about .us, it is junk and asking questions at a “townhall meeting” won’t change things.

Snoopy seems like someone has owned your name paulshaw.us for a few years…..

Here are the .US stats per domain sales — not bad for average sales price. I still believe the extension has potential, with right marketing campaign. Much more viable than the new GTLDs. Just my opinion.I’m also a .com believer, but can’t afford to pay 7 figures for the names I like.

STATS
2,323
Total Sales
$3.5m
Dollar Volume
$1,519
Average Price
$4,533
Standard Deviation
$100
Low Price
$150k
High Price

I’m a big fan of .us domains and have quite a few. For the price they are going for in the aftermarket, there are some amazing deals. Sure it’s a gamble, but for the price I’m paying for generic one word .us names, it’s worth the risk to me. I do agree that Neustar could have handled things better from the start, but I’m still bullish on them.

Elliot if it’s ok with you, I just want to say that I’m purchasing one word .us domains if anyone is interested in selling: dotusdomain@gmail.com

Did anyone attend the meeting? Anything new?