Various nominet questions

[Si]

It would be good to hear from someone at whmcs re a few things concerning their uk nominet tag holders.

 

1) Are the current issues going to be addressed (as have been documented on the forums by myself and others). ie legal status incorrect and having to manually register new domains etc.

 

2) On the 9th June (just 1 month away) will we be able to offer the new .UK domains from the get go?

 

If these questions have been asked and answered already, forgive me, I couldn't find them. (The search on the forums is quite weird when it returns posts in no date order and doesn't give the ability to sort them by date).

[Si]

anyone? surely other nominet tag holders are interested?

[Infopro]

(The search on the forums is quite weird when it returns posts in no date order and doesn't give the ability to sort them by date).

 

You only need to set your search options, then save, first, and then search.

 

Or use Google:

site:forums.whmcs.com

[brian!]

anyone? surely other nominet tag holders are interested?

I think we're all interested, but working under the assumption that they'll be at least one whmcs update before then, which should hopefully finally deal with all the Nominet issues... I doubt it will, but there's no harm in hoping!

 

of course, what they should do is release an updated Nominet module well before the 9th, perhaps giving it early to some beta testers to identify any issues before a general release... unfortunately, the cynic in me thinks that they'll release something flawed on June 6th and then fix it on the 10th!

[Si]

How on earth we can plan, or do any sort of pre-launch promotions to our customers if we know nothing about whether this is going to be available to us?

 

I'm seeing many of my competitors move on this already and I can see many of my existing .co.uk and .org.uk customers registering their domains elsewhere. - and no doubt will be attracted by hosting deals elsewhere as well.

 

Feeling really disadvantaged here WHMCS - silence is not golden.

[lance]

unfortunately we all know by previous experience an update will come a day before launch that wont work... then it will be a last minute thing for everyone... its the norm and what we come to expect unfortunately....

 

We are all awaiting info Si, but like me I guess others are waiting on a whmcs response to your original post.

[othellotech]

anyone? surely other nominet tag holders are interested?

We use our own Nominet module(s), as a number of other UK WHMCS users, so we don't see these 'issues' or have any problem with handling the proposed .uk tld

[Si]

Would you or any of the others care to share with the community?

[searley]

Maybe you could make it commercially available??

We use our own Nominet module(s), as a number of other UK WHMCS users, so we don't see these 'issues' or have any problem with handling the proposed .uk tld

[Si]

Maybe you could make it commercially available??

I second that. Surely if so many tag holders have developed their own, maybe at least one of them sees an opportunity to help others in the community and make a few quid on the side too. Waiting with bated breath ?

[Si]

strangely.......everyone is quiet over nominet. no help from anywhere

[Si]

just over 3 weeks away from launch of the biggest marketing opportunity for nominet tag holders and whmcs users CANNOT offer .uk domains. We estimate 50%+ of .co.uk and .org.uk domain holders will want to order their .uk domain immediately - and that means a serious amount of LOST REVENUE and custom.

 

Nothing from WHMCS

No help from other nominet tag holders in this community

 

on what is (for UK businesses) a much bigger deal than all of the recent plethora of TLD's launched.

 

I'm not looking a freebie here.....willing to pay. Anyone willing to help out?

[searley]

I'm not totaLy sure the .uk will work as whois lookup for existing variants show as take on the whois results, so I'm not sure if this is something whmcs will be able to support

 

I also assume there will be some validation required to ensure they are the correct registrant

 

Just sounds too difficult for whmcs

 

just over 3 weeks away from launch of the biggest marketing opportunity for nominet tag holders and whmcs users CANNOT offer .uk domains. We estimate 50%+ of .co.uk and .org.uk domain holders will want to order their .uk domain immediately - and that means a serious amount of LOST REVENUE and custom.

 

Nothing from WHMCS

No help from other nominet tag holders in this community

 

on what is (for UK businesses) a much bigger deal than all of the recent plethora of TLD's launched.

 

I'm not looking a freebie here.....willing to pay. Anyone willing to help out?

[Si]

...... I'm not sure if this is something whmcs will be able to support

 

Just sounds too difficult for whmcs

 

Yet othellotech wrote this:

We use our own Nominet module(s), as a number of other UK WHMCS users, so we don't see these 'issues' or have any problem with handling the proposed .uk tld

 

That's why we need to hear from someone.

[Si]

Received this from WHMCS support today:

I can confirm our developers are aware of the upcoming change.

I have recorded your enquiry against the internal development case ID 4231 for this work, but do not have any further information at this time.

[DF-Duncan]

Received this from WHMCS support today:

 

The biggest problem we see though, that WHMCS appear to be over looking in the development of the module for xx.uk domain names is the functionality that would be needed.

 

This is the reply we received from WHMCS support in regard to this:

 

However I do not believe there are plans to automatically verify the owner of the .xx.uk domain automatically - that is something that would need to be done manually.

 

The module must be able to check to see if a person is 'entitled' to register a new .uk domain, otherwise it would be pointless.

[brian!]

it's worth remembering that those 'entitled' to a .uk domain (because they have the .co.uk/org.uk etc equivalent) have them reserved until 2019 - assuming they continue to renew their .co.uk/org.uk etc domains in the meantime.

[Si]

The biggest problem we see though, that WHMCS appear to be over looking in the development of the module for xx.uk domain names is the functionality that would be needed.

 

This is the reply we received from WHMCS support in regard to this:

 

The module must be able to check to see if a person is 'entitled' to register a new .uk domain, otherwise it would be pointless.

 

Surely, the customer logs in to their client account, and places an order for a .uk domain ONLY if he already has the same .co.uk domain?

 

Come on othellotech, you said:

We use our own Nominet module(s), as a number of other UK WHMCS users, so we don't see these 'issues' or have any problem with handling the proposed .uk tld

 

so, if that's the case, won't you help the community or even offer your advice on how you do it to them/us?

[DF-Duncan]

Surely, the customer logs in to their client account, and places an order for a .uk domain ONLY if he already has the same .co.uk domain?

 

This would not stop someone 'trying' to register any domain though, even if they are not entitled to it. The module needs to prevent it from happening.

[WHMCS Nate]

Hi there,

 

We are planning on releasing a blog article about preparations for the .uk launch in June, we hope to clear a lot of questions up in that article. I would point out that the work to include the additional domain fields for .uk domains went out as part of 5.3.6:

 

http://docs.whmcs.com/Changelog:WHMCS_V5.3#Bug_Fixes

 

This means if you added a valid whoisserver.php entry for the tld it would be possible to offer .uk domains for sale as soon as the general availability period opened.

 

The handling of domains with right to register claims and Nominet's new validation requirements are a more complicated comment and part of what we want to cover in our blog post.

 

I recommend anyone interested in selling domains review pages 25 through 28 of the specification:

 

http://registrars.nominet.org.uk/sites/default/files/sldr_changes_to_processes_document_v3.pdf

 

The validation requirements are extensive and many require manual sources and logs which are things you need to be thinking about going forward.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Nate C

 

P.S. Si I am aware of three open nominet cases: 3178, 4476, and 4524. If there are other issues / forum threads I should be aware of please feel free to PM me links.

[brian!]

P.S. Si I am aware of three open nominet cases: 3178, 4476, and 4524. If there are other issues / forum threads I should be aware of please feel free to PM me links.

Nate, that's one of the rare times you've asked someone to PM you and then not closed the thread - which means that i've never been able to tell you that you don't have PM enabled!

[Si]

Nate, thank you. It's good to hear from WHMCS on this at last.

 

I've noticed recently that nominet have started this process of strict validation with registrants on even .co.uk and .org.uk domains. This is a single example of 1 of 3 I received as a tag holder (and my customers received) today when they attempted to update their domain contact details. Obviously I've removed the personal details......

 

From Nominet:

========================================================================

 

Domain Name:

 

* abclimited.co.uk

 

========================================================================

Unfortunately we have been unable to validate the registrant details that you have provided for the domain name as you have provided name details that we have been unable to automatically identify against public data sources.

 

Registrant Name: Some Business Ltd

 

Address:

4 This Street

Upper Branch Lane

Some Town

This County

XY1 4HJ

GB

 

It is possible that your details are correct, but that they do not appear on public data sources available to us. Please review your details by logging into your Online Services account and making any necessary corrections to your information ensuring that your name is entered in full. If on review you find that your name has already been entered correctly please provide us with documentary evidence (copy of official ID or incorporation certificate etc) so that we can validate your details and process your application. Please attach this by reply or send directly to case-123456@workflow.nominet.org.uk. Alternatively please fax or post copies of the documentation to us quoting your domain name.

 

Please note that any domain names you subsequently register with matching name and address information will be included in this process

 

To correct your details please log into Online Services at: http://www.nominet.org.uk/go/login'>http://www.nominet.org.uk/go/login

 

* Click on 'Domain List'

 

To correct the registrant name:

* Click 'edit' next to your registrant name

* You will then be able to correct the registrant name

 

We have also notified your registrar.

 

Please contact the Data Quality Team if you need any assistance.

 

Kind regards,

 

Data Quality Team

T +44 (0) 1865 332222 F +44 (0) 1865 332288 E validation@nominet.org.uk

http://www.nominet.org.uk

 

Any documentary evidence that you provide will be used solely for the purpose of validating the

data on the domain name register, and will not retained any longer than is necessary for that

purpose. In any event, copies of your documents will not be retained any longer than three months

from the date on which you submit them. The documentation provided will not be passed on to any

third parties.

 

Nominet UK is a company limited by guarantee and registered in England

under No. 3203859. Our registered office is Minerva House, Edmund Halley

Road, Oxford Science Park, Oxford, OX4 4DQ, England.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Si

[lance]

We are getting these also, some for genuine addresses, so not sure what Nominet are using to reference too.

[searley]

i had about 4000 similar emails from MelbourneIT for .com .net and .org domains they are using google maps to verify addresses

 

90% of mine were correct, except what they think is a small error on the admin details... our actual address is 'Cadland Park' google wrongly has it listed as 'Cadlands Park Estate' using royal mail postcode lookups will show what we have entered is correct

 

so i can see the whole address verification issue being a big pain in the ass no matter what the registry is

[WHMCS Nate]

brian!,

 

Thanks for letting me know. I have gone into my settings and made sure that people can PM me.

 

As far as domain registrars getting more specific, I would agree with searley its a pain for every one. This is something that each registrar is pushed to do by ICCAN's 2014 policy changes. They are each implementing their checks in different ways, there is not really a single validation we can do for all the different registrars we work with.

 

Ultimately my hope is that as registrars spend a ton of money doing all this manual verification, their validation will get smarter and fuzzier.

 

Nate C