Yes you heard it right, Domain Tasting will end in 2008. This year i have been seeing some positive motion to end this domain-tasting/front-running and i am hopeful that it will be at least minimized to greater extent if not stopped completely.
This is what DomainTools Blog comments on it:
“The ICANN board just passed the following motion to end Domain Tasting, “THEREFORE, the Board resolves to encourage ICANN’s budgetary process to include fees for all domains added, including domains added during the AGP, and encourages community discussion involved in developing the ICANN budget, subject to both Board approval and registrar approval of this fee.
It did not directly deal a death blow to tasting, but it was a definitive motion that will kill it this year. This policy is expected to go into effect when the new budget is approved, and that process typically happens in the summer.“
Read more about this @ Domain Tools Blog here
Those of you who might be wondering what is Domain Tasting, well this is what WikiPedia has to say
“Domain tasting is the practice of a domain name registrant using the five-day “grace period” at the beginning of the registration of an ICANN-regulated second level domain to test the marketability of the domain. During this period, when a registration must be fully refunded by the domain registry, a cost-benefit analysis is conducted by the registrant on the viability of deriving income from advertisements being placed on the domain’s web site.
Domains that are deemed “successes” and retained in registrant’s portfolio often represent domains that were previously used and have since expired, misspellings of other popular sites, or generic terms that may receive type-in traffic. These domains are usually still active in search engines and other hyperlinks and therefore receive enough traffic such that advertising revenue exceeds the cost of the registration. The registrant may also derive revenue from eventual sale of the domain, at a premium, to a third party.“
Those of you who are unaware of the Network Solutions most-talked-about practice must go through the following: