symbols/dingbats are safe

[Lmg67]

I've been corresponding with Verisign about symbols/dingbats, etc. I sent them about 10 of mine as examples of what I'm speaking about. I wanted to know what is going on with them b/c my renewals are coming up. Here is their response:

Laurie,

There are currently no plans to exclude the already registered domains
from resolving on the internet, however, we cannot say for certain in
years down the road that standards will not change. Our IDN policies are
based on various standards put in place by the Internet community. We
cannot predict if these will change in the future.

I can tell you there are no immediate plans so you may want to consider
renewing some or all of the domains for a year at at time.

Best Regards,

Bryant, Bonnie
Customer Service
VeriSign, Inc
www.verisign.com
1 703.925.6999
1 703.421.5828 Fax

[idn]

Too bad I still have not found a practical use for any dingbats... Most of them are so small that you cannot even tell what they are in the address bar.

[thefabfive]

Thank you for sharing Laurie.

[idn]

Yes, thanks for sharing

I have plenty of dingbats i just can't figure out why I keep renewing them!

[jose]

Thanks. Great info. I have some also.

[Drewbert]

Too bad it's not Verisign's decision to make.

[Rubber Duck]

I think all he is saying is that Verisign's policies reflect ICANN's and to date there is officially no change.

I would not interpret this as clear evidence that Symbols and Dingbats are safe.

It would seem to me that Verisign have more to gain than you have from your renewals, so therefore may not be the best source of advice.

[IDNCowboy]

Originally Posted by Lmg67

I've been corresponding with Verisign about symbols/dingbats, etc. I sent them about 10 of mine as examples of what I'm speaking about. I wanted to know what is going on with them b/c my renewals are coming up. Here is their response:

Laurie,

There are currently no plans to exclude the already registered domains
from resolving on the internet, however, we cannot say for certain in
years down the road that standards will not change. Our IDN policies are
based on various standards put in place by the Internet community. We
cannot predict if these will change in the future.

I can tell you there are no immediate plans so you may want to consider
renewing some or all of the domains for a year at at time.

Best Regards,

Bryant, Bonnie
Customer Service
VeriSign, Inc
www.verisign.com
1 703.925.6999
1 703.421.5828 Fax

You have to contact ICANN

[jose]

Thanks. Great info. I have some also.

[blastfromthepast]

Starting price of one of the best Japanese symbol domains, with overture and google trends, reduced:

http://www.idnforums.com/forums/9040...html#post57051

[Lmg67]

OK so I'll write ICANN. I'll let you all know what they say. (though I do believe that Verisign is echoing whatever ICANN is saying...still, it would be nice to hear it from the "horse's mouth" and for them to hear that people are paying attention to this issue and to some people it matters a LOT.)

[domainguru]

Originally Posted by Lmg67

OK so I'll write ICANN. I'll let you all know what they say. (though I do believe that Verisign is echoing whatever ICANN is saying...still, it would be nice to hear it from the "horse's mouth" and for them to hear that people are paying attention to this issue and to some people it matters a LOT.)

I'm sorry but you are not in the right ballpark here. If you want to know whether lottery tickets are a good investment, you don't ask the guy selling you the ticket, do you?

The IETF is currently drafting a new "inclusive" standard for IDNs that will 99.9% not include dingbats or any other symbols. The only question for me is whether current domains are deleted, or allowed to be renewed indefinitely.

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by domainguru

I'm sorry but you are not in the right ballpark here. If you want to know whether lottery tickets are a good investment, you don't ask the guy selling you the ticket, do you?

The IETF is currently drafting a new "inclusive" standard for IDNs that will 99.9% not include dingbats or any other symbols. The only question for me is whether current domains are deleted, or allowed to be renewed indefinitely.

I don't think it is really something ICANN has much control over either. They are switching from one version of Unicode to another, which are based on different principles. I think you will find that your domains will just stop working, whether they can be renewed or not. If the punycode you have registered no longer decodes to anything meaningful then you are knackered whether Verisign allows you to renew or not.

[Lmg67]

I am not familiar with IETF. Who are they? I will write or call them. True I'm just a tiny pea in a pod and this is probably some huge corporation or group, but my motto is that it never hurts to try (or make your voice known). At least if they do get canceled, I'll know that I tried.

How are people's characters doing? Several of mine have blossomed lately. Most are getting 50-60 uniques a month (with clicks here and there), and some even more. The most viewed are the phrases as opposed to single characters. Here are my top names:

♀♀.net - 104 (uniques per month)
✈flights✈.com - 104
✈flycheap✈.com 121
✈flight✈.com 101
i♥israel.com 105
business¢.com 155
♒aquarius♒.com 108
✪.com 112
i♡jerusalem.com 105
i♥sushi.com 104
i♥tokyo.com 105
i♡vegas.com 103
i♡you.net 86
★moviereviews★.com 91
☆☆☆☆☆NYhotel.com 113 (4 clicks = $1.74)
❢.com 89
1ã.com 105
1¢.net 91

[domainguru]

Originally Posted by Rubber Duck

I don't think it is really something ICANN has much control over either. They are switching from one version of Unicode to another, which are based on different principles. I think you will find that your domains will just stop working, whether they can be renewed or not. If the punycode you have registered no longer decodes to anything meaningful then you are knackered whether Verisign allows you to renew or not.

My understanding is that they switching from an "exclusive" system to an "inclusive" one. So previously, only certain specific unicode code points were excluded from registration. But with the new inclusive system, the IETF are actually approving every single code point that will be allowed in future IDNA. That means many code points won't make it, including dingbats / symbols / strange spaces, punctuation etc.

As for what the IETF actually is, try this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interne...ing_Task_Force

or just visit ietf.org