Bruce,
I am interested to hear what members of the NANOG list believe would be
a better transfers process.
<operator_hat="on">
Non-functional changes of operationally significant configuration data
is avoided. My thumbs are as thick as the next person's.
I'm quite happy to buy a decade's worth of name, even at $35/name/year,
because other than changes to NS records, as renumberings come and go,
and machines spontainiously combust, I don't want change.
When I need change, I plan it, just like renumbering or new circuits
or new network elements or new staff.
The notion of "REGISTRAR LOCK" is simply too weak, it can be flipped in
minutes. I want something that presents only limited windows of state
change (other than NS) opportunity, which I can syncronize to corporate
standard paperwork flag days, so it isn't when I hand the keys to the
shop to a junior and take the kids on holiday.
I want a "transfer process" that is inherently difficult, if not
broken, for domain names that are business assets. I don't care about
"competition" between registrars, or how much I get soaked for by the
registrar and registry, or how evil and/or retarded one or both are.
I actually don't care about how quickly domain names are added to a
tld zone, in fact, my domain names that are business assets worked
just fine when names were published 3 times a week from the SRI NIC.
So, I want a "transfers process" that is not indifferent to my use
of domain names. I don't care what the domain name industry does with
vanity names, trademark names, speculation names, porn names, spam
names, even ebusiness names that aren't in the ISP/NSP food chain.
Heck, I'd be happy to pay two registrars $35/name/yr to make sure they
both have to be gamed before my domain names tied to operational assets
become vulnerable to unplanned and state change in the registry (3rd
party acquisition). [I actually do this, with some names with one good
competitior-registrar, and some self-registrared, but to spread risk.]
<operator_hat="off">
<hosting_hat="on">
I do have hosting customers who more or less come and go synchronous
with registrar transfer. In effect, these are month-to-month or year
contracts, and I understand why new customers are wary of hosting
providers who want to be in the control path for registry state
change.
But the "bread and butter" are multi-year hosting contracts, and for
these customers registrar they want to be in the same small boat I
want to be in.
<hosting_hat="off">
I hope that is helpful. I'm sure everybody else is wicked happy with
the system they have, which is why everyone has the same system.
Cheers,
Eric