Hi from James Seng/Zodiac - IDN Forums

jseng · #1 (**permalink**) 12th March 2013, 11:19 AM

This is James Seng. Yes, I am the guy that started this little mess called IDN.

Currently, I am the CEO of Zodiac, the largest IDN applicant from China. See http://www.zodiacregistry.com/

In the next couple of months, we hope to launch some of our Chinese new gTLDs and would be interested to see how we can work with some of you.

I would also welcome any feedback or suggestions you have for our operation.

I welcome you to leave your questions below.

Wot · #2 (**permalink**) 12th March 2013, 12:01 PM

Welcome and good luck.

However,personally I see very little chance of many of the thousands of new gtlds having any success whatsoever.

squirrel · #3 (**permalink**) 12th March 2013, 12:55 PM

Hi and welcome to IDNF

IDNer · #4 (**permalink**) 12th March 2013, 01:33 PM

Welcome James,

Are you a Chinese?

**tee1** · #5 (**permalink**) 12th March 2013, 02:21 PM

Hi James,
Welcome to IDNF. Great to have you here. We have a large number of members heavily invested in Chinese IDNs, .com, .net ect. While some members only invest in .com or .net others are more open to other extensions, so I believe you will find some interest here.

You found the right sub forum, so please keep us posted of your activities.

Again welcome!

Drewbert · #6 (**permalink**) 12th March 2013, 02:26 PM

Nice to see you here James. Good luck with your IDN newGTLD's.

It's been a long time coming.

I think the new Chinese TLD's will do better than .asia

Well, they'd better!

Rubber Duck · #7 (**permalink**) 12th March 2013, 05:54 PM

Hi James,

Your're a legend and I wish you well.

However, in investment terms I have to say I still firmly believe that IDN.com are the real deal.

I therefore think it is extremely unlikely that we will be investing in any New gTLDs in the shor-term other than Verisign Aliases of dot Com which we are fully expecting to be Grandfathered into.

bumblebee man · #8 (**permalink**) 12th March 2013, 06:49 PM

Welcome to the forum.

domainguru · #9 (**permalink**) 12th March 2013, 10:13 PM

Welcome James. From your avatar, you look far too young to have invented IDNs! Or maybe the photo is from the time of invention, not now

Just out of curiosity, did you expect IDNs to take this long to mature? Let's face it, in several aspects, they still aren't mature. In 2001, my biz partner said IDNs would be a 15-20 year project. I laughed then. I'm not laughing now. He got it right as far as I can see. Your thoughts?

blastfromthepast · #10 (**permalink**) 12th March 2013, 10:49 PM

Do you have the droit?

bwhhisc · #11 (**permalink**) 13th March 2013, 12:51 AM

Welcome James.....glad to have you here. You can see we have been keeping up with you on IDNForums since 2005.

Are you also planning any IDN.com development? What about progress for E-mail with IDNs??

http://www.idnforums.com/forums/7319...a-premium.html

http://www.idnforums.com/forums/11-i...-in-japan.html

jseng · #12 (**permalink**) 13th March 2013, 01:08 AM

Dear all

@Wot I agree :-) I think only a handful of them would be successful. Which is why we focus only China market TLD only. In the last couple of months, my team have been traveling across China to meet up all the major registrars. A handful have scorned at the idea of new gTLD but most of them are really excited about our Chinese TLD.

@IDNer Yes, I am a Chinese. Oversea born Chinese, but 100% Chinese. I live in Beijing now for a couple of years.

@Drewbert There are far more Chinese domains than .asia add together. And a lesser known fact. Even tho there are smaller number of Chinese .cn over English .cn, the margin from Chinese .cn is about 10x better than English .cn. At one stage, CNNIC is making more money from Chinese .cn than all the 10m English .cn names they have.

@Rubber Duck Of cos. dotcom will be the NYC in the domain world and for investing terms, I think that's still a pretty good bet. But there will be other "cities" that will bloom.

@domainguru A good friend of mine tells me I need to dedicate the rest of my life to this to make it happen. It took us 10 years to get from a proof of concept to .中国. I think I am going to spend the next 10 to make .网站 the .COM for Chinese.

@bwhhisc Thank you.

Avtal · #13 (**permalink**) 13th March 2013, 01:27 AM

James,

Welcome and thanks for helping to invent IDNs!

One of the current barriers to IDNs is the lack of web applications that support them. For instance, gmail does not allow you to send email to IDN addresses. There are also problems with Twitter. (See discussions here and here).

Do you see any way of fixing this? For instance, are you following ICANN's Ad-Hoc ccNSO/GNSO Joint IDN Working Group?

Avtal

jose · #14 (**permalink**) 13th March 2013, 02:53 AM

Hello James, welcome on board.

I just have two questions:

Quote:

Originally Posted by jseng

. It took us 10 years to get from a proof of concept to .中国. I think I am going to spend the next 10 to make .网站 the .COM for Chinese.

1. Don't you think domain names will be irrelevant in 2023?

2. What makes you be so sure you can easily change the way Chinese read .com from .点看 to .网站?

Rubber Duck · #15 (**permalink**) 13th March 2013, 04:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jose

Hello James, welcome on board.

I just have two questions:

1. Don't you think domain names will be irrelevant in 2023?

2. What makes you be so sure you can easily change the way Chinese read .com from .点看 to .网站?

What stupid questions.

The man has bet his ass on the outcomes, so his opinions are obvious, and deserve respect.

jose · #16 (**permalink**) 13th March 2013, 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rubber Duck

What stupid questions.

The man has bet his ass on the outcomes, so his opinions are obvious, and deserve respect.

Forgive me all mighty Rubber Duck, owner of the holly and unquestionable truth on IDN domain names. We are all stupid inferior beings.

domainguru · #17 (**permalink**) 13th March 2013, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jose

Hello James, welcome on board.

I just have two questions:

1. Don't you think domain names will be irrelevant in 2023?

2. What makes you be so sure you can easily change the way Chinese read .com from .点看 to .网站?

Come on Jose? Someone who says:

"A good friend of mine tells me I need to dedicate the rest of my life to this to make it happen. It took us 10 years to get from a proof of concept to .中国. I think I am going to spend the next 10 to make .网站 the .COM for Chinese."

And then you ask him "Don't you think domain names will be irrelevant in 2023", seriously?

It doesn't matter whether the guy is the dumbest or brightest guy on earth, he's given you his answer before you asked it. He wouldn't be dedicated his work life to this if he thought domains were going to be obsolete in 2023. You are brighter than that Jose .... or so I thought. I'm beginning to wonder now

clipper · #18 (**permalink**) 13th March 2013, 06:59 AM

Hello James and welcome.

Quote:

Join Date: Dec 2012

You've come to the right place to learn about IDNs.

Quote:

Even tho there are smaller number of Chinese .cn over English .cn, the margin from Chinese .cn is about 10x better than English .cn. At one stage, CNNIC is making more money from Chinese .cn than all the 10m English .cn names they have.

Interesting.

Any insight you have on Avtal's question regarding email and web applications would be worthwhile reading for all of us.

Thank you and best of luck.

Rubber Duck · #19 (**permalink**) 13th March 2013, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jose

Forgive me all mighty Rubber Duck, owner of the holly and unquestionable truth on IDN domain names. We are all stupid inferior beings.

Jose,

Facebook has turned your head to Mulch.

Domains names are the portable address references of the internet. IP addresses can be recycled but they are not really moveable. Without a domain name system everytime you changed where your site was hosted, you would have to contact every visitor you ever had to give them a new URL and probably a new email address too.

If that is too complicated, then think of a domain a mobile phone number that is portable between not only phone devices as you upgrade but between carries. Without phone numbers you would need to ring the serial number on the phone.

So forget chatting on twatter or facebook, or even Marketing. Domains are not going anywhere because the Internet cannot function without IP Address Aliases which is what Domain Names are. They are not only more fundamental to the Internet than Facebook, but more than Google, Apple and Microsoft put together.

Rubber Duck · #20 (**permalink**) 13th March 2013, 08:51 AM

To take this argument one step further. Consider the fate of DOS. Nobody uses it anymore. Of course they do! Windows is only a Dos overlay. And whatever referencing systems follow will only ever be an overlay to the existing Internet Referencing systems, which are just about evolving to the point where further development is unnecessary because their capacity is virtually infinite. And believe me it has taken a lot more than 10 years to achieve that, so they are not going to just junk it now.

In the future you may not overtly see domain names in use in every application, but it will be there like the sap in a tree just as binary code is. Facebook, however, is like those pesky adoration that go on a Christmas Tree. Actually probably like the old fashioned lights where you spent most of Christmas trying to find out which one was lose or had blown.