For Sale end of new prov. extensions

[fwdtech]

namespro has posted a notice:


Last chance to register provincial dot-ca domains (e.g. domainname.on.ca)!

Apparently, CIRA will stop allowing new provincial registrations beginning in October.

Is anybody aware of this?

 

[whitebark]

First I've heard of it. Nice for CIRA to send out notices to current domain owners!

 

[theinvestor]

I think this is a good thing...

 

[whitebark]

Well it will certainly cut down on sales of provincial extensions for currently owned .ca's. I cannot be the only one who has sold the rights to a provincial extension to someone interested in getting it?

 

[Namefox]

First I've heard of it. Nice for CIRA to send out notices to current domain owners!

Apparently they don't like domainers

 

[fwdtech]

I think this is, and always will be, the worst thing that CIRA does.

For those that develop domains into sites, this destroys the best thing about the .ca extension - the ability to create more than 1 website with the same word.

 

[theinvestor]

Best news i have heard today

 

[hugegrowth]

It will certainly reduce the pool of potential .ca domains, every .ca domain can potentially be turned into a .bc.ca, .on.ca, .qc.ca and so on.

Is it worth taking the provincial extensions of your best .ca domains before the cutoff, at least for the provinces with large populations, or where the keywords might apply? Say you had VancouverHomes.ca, it would be worth getting the .bc.ca before the cutoff I'd think.

 

[msn]

This is just wrong.

If you go back to the CANARIE days or NetNorth you might have an appreciation for a geographically distributed tree under the .ca structure.

Does this mean then that all of the two-character domains will be pulled also, just as other registries have moved to offering even single-position domains?

 

[whitebark]

It will certainly reduce the pool of potential .ca domains, every .ca domain can potentially be turned into a .bc.ca, .on.ca, .qc.ca and so on.

Is it worth taking the provincial extensions of your best .ca domains before the cutoff, at least for the provinces with large populations, or where the keywords might apply? Say you had VancouverHomes.ca, it would be worth getting the .bc.ca before the cutoff I'd think.

gives you more domains to sell that's for sure. And since the domain name itself is one factor in search rankings, having the bc or ab etc in the domain name can help that little bit for seo as well.

 

[theinvestor]

I am glad this is being removed. I don't want to go into the details, but this was done to protect end users.

Lots of slimy people out there and taking advantage of people who don't understand .ca's.

 

[fwdtech]

I don't want to go into the details, but this was done to protect end users.

First of all, this doesn't protect me.
It will force me to make some hard decisions, and do a lot of needless research, and spend unnecessary money, in the next few months, deciding which extensions to create.

Second, how would you have inside knowledge of this decision, when no one here knew of it.

 

[theinvestor]

I didn't say i had inside knowledge. They are simply assumptions of why they decided against this...like many other decisions they will be changing in the future.

.ca's are going back to simplicity... many more changes to come. I look forward to them, it adds value to me and every other domainer.

 

[fwdtech]

are you talking about opening it up like .co ?

 

[theinvestor]

yes among other things, making transfers easier.

Lots of things are happening behind the scenes.

 

[fwdtech]

opening it up seemed to me like the only reason for eliminating prov. ext's. - to make it less complicated.
that would be good for the overall portfolio - but it sucks bigtime to have no notice, esp. for our development domains.

 

[theinvestor]

i think this was inevitable...and it's a big step forward for CIRA to do this.

 

[Namefox]

I am glad this is being removed. I don't want to go into the details, but this was done to protect end users.

Lots of slimy people out there and taking advantage of people who don't understand .ca's.

Ya, I heard of people approaching someone who owns the provincial extension to buy the root domain. Give them a thousand or so bucks and all of a sudden, you have a great root LL.ca or LLL.ca. Seemed kind of unethical to me.

 

[Ilze]

The extention that will be hit the hardest is Quebec...the .qc has always been very important to "separating" the domain from the rest of the fray...lol...

Personally, I never gave approval for any extention, as it would devalue my root domain...so I do not really care. Most people do not understand it, and all I see are matters being simplified.
If you start to register a ton of provincial domains, it is my belief you are wasting your money. again...all my opinion after ten years of doing this.
qm

 

[fwdtech]

I am glad this is being removed. I don't want to go into the details, but this was done to protect end users.

Lots of slimy people out there and taking advantage of people who don't understand .ca's.

We receive a lot of these anonymous requests from a tucows registrar to create a xxx.ca because we hold the xxx.on.ca, etc. ( it's ironic that CIRA gives congrats to tucows for their 10 millionth domain - but doesn't directly address this scam run through tucows). But as CIRA is grandfathering existing extensions, it won't change this scam one bit.

If you start to register a ton of provincial domains, it is my belief you are wasting your money. again...all my opinion after ten years of doing this.
qm

For future resale, agreed.
I'm speaking strictly from a development point of view. We have A NUMBER of domains that can be developed in different cities, (so xxxxxx.ca can be one city, xxxxxx.on.ca can be for Toronto with a completely unique and distinct website, etc.)

---------- Post added at 11:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:04 PM ----------

The extention that will be hit the hardest is Quebec...the .qc has always been very important to "separating" the domain from the rest of the fray...lol...

The qc.ca still seems to be used for new registrations by Quebec registrants.
It almost feels like a bit of a political decision to stop fresh qc.ca registrations.
(I also wonder if anyone has applied to ICANN for .qc or .que as a top-level extension.
ADDED : Forgot about this from a few years ago:
http://www.ecanadanow.com/news/technology/quebec-seeks-distinctive-web-address-20080418.html
It will probably resurface after October.
)