I think it was figure of speech. The domain is registered until 2036

> Registry Expiration: 2036-01-29 00:00:00 UTC Updated: 2026-09-03 08:12:27 UTC Created: 2002-01-23 14:41:45 UTC

it's probably a 10 year registration, plus a pre-paid renewal at the registrar

No, we were in fact part of the very first batch of "new" TLDs

I thought I knew a lot about the policies and expectations when it comes to domains. I was surprised to see 3rd level domains called out in the .name registry agreement and I’m stunned that ICANN allowed this.

It’s incredibly one sided. The registry gets to cut costs and the detriment to registrants is extreme. ICANN is supposed to act on behalf of all participants.

The flagrant disregard for DNS stability in this case is jaw dropping.

Agreed. If you don't want to care about backwards compatibility, there's plenty of space for you in tech. Just not at a domain registry!!

Seriously.

  > 7.3. Provide any other relevant information to include with the request. If none, respond with “N/A.”
  > None.

    N . / A .
    N o n e .

I think the “not applicable” is to the elided second sentence of the question:

> 3.6. Have you communicated with any of the entities whose products or services might be affected by the introduction of your proposed service? [→ No.] If so, please describe the communications. [→ Not applicable.]

Gotta say that the entire form feels not applicable. The proposed service is the discontinuation of an existing service. I see from their website that other similar things do the same, but it feels broken when so many of the questions become nonsense.

This is how you fill out an application when you know it's going to be rubber-stamped.

I caught this one:

> 2.1. What effect, if any, will the proposed service have on the life cycle of domain names?

> None. There will not be any effect on the life cycle of domain names.

If they're dropping existing domain names, that seems like it has an effect on the life cycle of those domain names. I suspect I must be misunderstanding what they mean by that question, because it otherwise seems like it shouldn't have passed basic muster.

The nerve.

If aaa.bbb.name is registered, then bbb.name cannot be registered.

bbb.name can ONLY be registered if it is not already registered AND there are no 3rd levels registered on bbb.name currently.

https://manage.whois.com/kb/servlet/KBServlet/faq1485.html

> Or pick any TLD and register ˋ a 2nd-level domain (ˋfraser.tld`)?

How would that help? The problem is that he's losing access to all the accounts currently tied to fraser.name, if he is changing that he can just use any arbitrary domain anyways.

There will other people with the Fraser surname in the exact same position.

Because only one lucky person can own `fraser.name` at any one time in your model. And whilst that lucky person might be able to register their family members for free. There will be countless more (unrelated) Frasers who won't be able to register (even for money) their own `FIRST.fraser.name`.

So the argument goes, society as a whole gains more if we prevent anyone from owning `fraser.name`.

A legitimate alternative though, is to register `FIRST-fraser.name`

At the beginning of the existence of the .name TLD you couldn't do that, you were forced to register firstname.lastname.name and provide an ID to justify registering this specific domain.

With it you got an email redirection from firstname@lastname.name to the address of your choice. At some point this feature was discontinued (I assume when VeriSign took control of the .name TLD), a bit after it was decided (again by VeriSign) to allow registering first level .name domain. My main email address stopped working from one day to another without me being warned in any way.

When this happened I've emailed VeriSign and my registrar at the time, and tried several time since then, to be able to register the first level domain I'm the only one using, but they categorically refuse, despite recognizing that a single subdomain has ever been registered. They kept saying that I could just let the domain expire, wait for the grace period, and register it once it's liberated, hoping that no one does it before me, and without any solution for the downtime in the mean time…

And now this… fuck VeriSign -_-

Based on my understanding of the situation, the 2LDs are getting sold, so yes, you should try to acquire the 2LD if you want to retain control of your subdomain(s).