As most regular readers of Domainer would know, Shane Moore and I were going to run for the two auDA Demand Class director positions at this year’s AGM in November.
Shane is still running (and has also put his hand up for the current casual vacancy), however, after the “Grumpy campaign”, I decided to opt out. I only did so because I knew that there was a great alternate candidate ready and able to stand.
And that person is Nicole Murdoch. I first met Nicole on the auDA 2015 Names Policy Panel (she was also part of the Minority Report), and we have stayed in touch since. There is no doubt in my mind that she will make a fantastic director, and truly represent demand class members.
You be the judge though. This is her candidate statement below. If you have any questions for her, you can post them below – or alternatively, you can email her directly.
Candidate Statement
I am Nicole Murdoch, and I am running for election as a Director (Demand Class) of the auDA along with Shane Moore.
My reasons for running for election as Director of auDA are very simple.
I have been involved with domains since approximately 1998 when I designed my mother’s website for her business and reserved her domain name as part of that process. I leant to program 31 years ago (don’t do the maths) when my father brought home an Apple IIE. But as I wasn’t a front end coder, it was a learning experience. That got me interested in the rules and regulations that governed the industry (at the time) and the coding languages that were so unique back in the day. From there I moved onto larger projects coding in PHP, HTML, C/C++, JAVA and SQL (Oracle and MYSQL), including working on the E*Trade (German) website and other e-commerce sites. I have worked as a website developer, and worked in SEO.
I was part of the 2015 auDA names panel, and as a result of that, I became interested in the decision making process of auDA. It is something I want to take part in.
The 2015 names panel members were appointed to discuss direct registrations. I was a minority report member. Two years down the track, my position in that respect is unchanged – we cannot answer the question of whether .au should be opened up without considering how it should be opened up and what policy rules would apply. We need to consider WHY it should be opened up and whether opening it up, under whatever now unknown rules would apply would actually achieve that aim – and what aim that is. I would have also preferred to see a more comprehensive community consultation than what was conducted.
I am keen to increase the membership of auDA, the transparency of auDA and increase the involvement of the community in auDA. We need to increase memberships. Ultimately it is a public resource, and as such it needs to serve the people.
I now work as an Intellectual Property lawyer. I have served as a director in other companies, and that background (and my legal training) gives me knowledge of corporate governance and good practice.
Because I am a lawyer and work in trade mark dispute matters, I am often accused of being anti-monetisation. That is simply not correct. I represent clients who are rights holders as well as clients who simply want to openly trade without intimidation from trade mark holders. I am keen to have the .au domain space used by the community and believe in monetisation of domains. But, yes, I say that there does need to be some fair “rules of play” involved.
Please vote for me as Demand class Director at this year’s AGM. I promise you that I will listen to you, especially when we disagree, I will ask you your views even when you are quiet, and I will represent your views honestly to the Board.
You can read more about my background at https://au.linkedin.com/in/nicolemurdoch.
If you have any questions on my where I stand and what I want to achieve then feel free to contact me. Or you can post them below.
Nicole Murdoch – 5th September 2017
Disclaimer
This is a breath of fresh air for AUDA. She is against the .au proposal, was part of the minority report, is in favour of increasing membership base and clearly committed given that she is running for a second year.
I believe Nicole will have excellent support!
Thanks Snoopy.
FYI you were my favourite stuffed toy when I was a child. If you ask me nicely I’ll admit you are still my favourite.
Good introduction Nicole, you and Shane will have my vote.
Don
Thanks Don. I appreciate it.
Interesting background and experience Nicole. You and Shane are much needed at auda.
Jeff
Great candidate statement Nicole. It’s nice to see the engagement.
Mark
I love that you’re an old school website coder AND an IP Lawyer. auDA certainly need more people steering the ship who actually understand the true concept and power of a domain name. It looks as though you get it from at least two different angles, which is great.
If you can help stop the Direct Registration train, I’m all for it! Otherwise, I would hope you would be promoting .com.au holders to have exclusive first rights…
Thanks Robert.
Hi Nicole,
Congratulations for your passion to make the ,au namespace and auDA the best they both can be.
Very few people will have your high level of real domain name industry relevant experience in so many areas.
auDA, auDA members and all .au domain name registrants are in need of a considered voice like yours to be heard and taken seriously at auDA Board level.
– Better Accountability
– Better Transparency
– Better policy, process, member program decisions
– More informed knowledge about the proposed competing .au domain name extension. The damage auDA, Board and others have done to the current .au namespace.
Finally someone at your experienced level see’s through the untruths that some at auDA, on the Board and in Supply have pushed to get rushed in another .au extension for perhaps some people’s or organisations gain at risk to existing .au registrant consumers and the solid .com.au global reputation built up with $ billions of investment, branding, IP, public/ government/ consumer awareness and trust.
The direct .uk and .nz have failed. auDA and the auDA Board needs to realise their actions are causing damage already and it could get worse unless they cancel the whole thing.
Follow the money and everyone can see who wants to push in another .au extension and the lengths they will go to get it in for their own benefit.
You have my vote and support.
I had the pleasure of catching up with Nicole a couple of weeks ago, and she is definitely someone we want on the board as a demand class director.
Great candidate statement too. Bring on the AGM. 🙂
Thanks, Shane – and everyone else for the support. I agree lets bring on the AGM.
Nicole makes a great point about the proposed direct .au extension not being proven.
Don’t be sold the B.S. that a shorter extension will be better.. look at the world experts of internet search Google.
Google shot down Ausregistry’s claims already.
auDA wake up! Don’t be pushed into a massive mistake!
https://www.netnames.com/insights/blog/2012/03/so-what-do-i-do-with-my-new-gtld-now/
Type these into your browser and see what happens!
http://www.google.uk not active
http://www.google.nz not active
Nicole, thanks for releasing a Candidate Statement. It’s great to see prospective auDA Directors engaging with Demand Class members.
I think you would make a terrific contribution as a Director of the auDA Board, given your knowledge and experience, and also your willingness to constructively engage with auDA Members and other stakeholders.
You’ll have one of my votes!
I met Nicole once at AISA Brisbane conference where she had a speaking role, and I was really impressed by the way she carried herself.
But that was nothing compared to the way that when you communicate with Nicole. When I met with her after the event, I could see that Nicole showed a genuine interest in the people that she interacted with. If I measure her based on that, then I highly recommend her for auDA director, which by its very nature requires strong interpersonal skills.
Thanks, Beau. It was a great pleasure to meet you as well.