Wonder What’s Happening at auDA?

It’s been just over a week since the AGM, and there has been virtual radio silence.

I don’t mean or want to be negative in any way – like many stakeholders, I am just so glad there is a new show in town.

But in my opinion, it would be good if members and stakeholders had some sort of introductory statement from the new Chair. Just to say “hello, and we’re in control. You’re in good hands now”. Or similar. Perhaps even a mention as to how and when a 4th Elected Director will be appointed?

As there is no CEO as yet, who is in charge on a day to day basis?

The auDA website still shows this:


For anyone interested in the slide presentation used at the 2019 AGM by the “previous crew”, here is the link.

12 thoughts on “Wonder What’s Happening at auDA?

  • November 22, 2019 at 7:36 am
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    Yep, this is the moment the new auDA should learn from the mistakes of the past.

    What are the new directors going to change going forward?

    Are we going to see greater transparency?

    What’s happening with Direct-Reg and the new policy rules implementation?

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  • November 22, 2019 at 9:01 am
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    Well that didn’t take long. The “Leadership” page no longer exists. Excellent!

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  • November 22, 2019 at 10:24 am
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    auDA’s phone number goes to a 3rd party phone answering service for months.

    What are the 15 paid auDA staff doing each day exactly? .. Is there really 15 staff or has there been some “ghost staff” added to the payroll over the last 3 years?

    Who are the staff
    What hours do they work
    What is their Job?
    How many are eligible for paid Bonuses and why?

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  • November 23, 2019 at 12:22 pm
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    Hi Guys,

    Not sure if anyone can help me – I’m at the other end of the auDA issues.

    As a business sideline I have developed websites for the last ten years or so, for paying clients and for my own business. Their’s not much money in it but my sites perform well, so my clients are happy. Along the way I have registered various .com.au domain names to provide information and business services, but I have never monetised any of them.

    A few weeks back someone lodged a complaint with auDA, no idea what it was about. auDA then decided that about 20 of my domains/ websites did not meet their policy, but have never explained how. I provided them extensive history and details of the web services provided. Late yesterday I received emails from an auDA reviewer that were all the same boilerplate, each ignoring the existing and past use and saying that the domains did not meet policies, but no info on how or what they wanted. I have had and developed these domains for 8-10 years as part of my web business and have invested substantially in some.

    auDA says they will go into policy delete next week. I will fight this tooth and nail but have no experience. Any pointers on who to contact and what to do on Monday?

    Thanks

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    • November 25, 2019 at 7:35 am
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      James, in my experience, auDA will assist you to try and comply. As with anything in this world, it is how you approach it – and who you speak with.

      A good first step is to make contact with a friendly, knowledgable and helpful registrar who will give you advice on how to make things right. Someone like Anthony from Drop; or Nikki from Netfleet.

      You also have a couple of levels of appeal with auDA which you can exercise if necessary.

      No need to spend money on lawyers yet!

    • November 25, 2019 at 10:51 am
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      Hi James, great question and sorry for your predicament. Just to get it clear, what do you think the reason is for the complaint? And what criteria didn’t you meet under the AUDA guidelines? Was it monetisation, the domain names not been close and substantial to your name, business name or service you provide? Without knowing what the domain names are it’s hard to give you more answers, but if look through the archives of Domainer and The Domainer Show there might be some answers there, and Neddy’s advice is good. Good luck, and let us know how you go.

    • November 25, 2019 at 10:57 am
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      Hi James,

      I would phone them and ask to speak to the “Complaints Manager” and ask them to explain it to you in more detail. I agree, their template-responses are hard to understand and can be quit technical in most cases.

      If that doesn’t work, feel free to contact me through my DBR Domain Brokerage website and I’ll give you some more advice on the phone.

  • November 24, 2019 at 8:55 am
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    Thanks John, that looks like a great start

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  • November 25, 2019 at 10:42 am
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    I agree, a short…” give us a month and we’ll start talking ”

    its simple, if you are busy and you have a nagging kid you just stop and say ” give me just 1 hour and i’ll give you my attention ”

    for me if it goes past a month …………here we go again !!

    tim

  • November 25, 2019 at 3:43 pm
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    Thank you everyone for your replies and support. Unfortunately auDA has not assisted in ensuring compliance, and It seems unnecessarily difficult to me. Looks like it will have to go down the Registrant Review Panel path.
    Antoine Pace at Gadens Lawyers has been very helpful – thank you for that contact John.
    We will see how it goes!

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  • November 28, 2019 at 9:43 am
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    Good to see that James has the support he needs. But it is a crying shame that names rights holders need to “lawyer up” to fend off the industry self-regulator. Involving the legal profession (with all due respect to those in that fine line of work!) is a failure of the system.

Comments are closed.