.forum Pre-Register Domain - .forum Domain Information

Fegistryʹs mission for .forum is to create a recognizable, viable, and profitable extension to bring together individuals and companies who are passionate about self-identifying with forum. There are thousands of forums on the Internet and a registrant can create a website that identifies itself directly in the TLD. It seems fitting, as ICANN opens up an unprecedented and innovative program to expand how we use and identify with the Internet, that use cases like .forum should be allowed as well. We are creating the opportunity for internet users to identify websites that operate as forums by looking just at the TLD. By owning a domain in the .forum community it creates a win-win for most companies because they don't need to identify to the left of the dot they are a forum.
It is our goal to be a financially successful company, solvent throughout our launch and profitable within our first year of operations. We believe this is an eventual reality and that our projections and financial analysis included in this application demonstrate this. We hope to grow at a rate that allows us to continually improve our registry offerings, and increase benefits for both our customers and employees. Our commitments and projections at this time are focused on conservative estimates of our revenue in order to best prepare for a TLD market with the possibility of 100,000+ TLDs in the next decade. We don't expect the demand for domains under our TLD to be big. Perhaps up to 10,000 registrations by the end of year 3, however we do have investors and a technical team that will stand behind the company if projections are higher than we anticipate.

i.) What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?
It is our expectation that .forum will be primarily used by companies and enthusiasts. Given the wide range of what can be classified as forum we do not intend to limit the gTLD to a specific community. We believe that "forum" is a internationally understood concept and word, and that the average Internet user will understand that the content of a .forum domain will be geared towards sharing on a chat board using forum software.
We hope to create a community that uses the domains with respect and helps users talk about subjects the domain subject is suggesting. We hope to solidify a positive and recognizable reputation as the best TLD for finding product information whether it is positive or negative.

ii.) What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of areas of competition, differentiation, or innovation?
Implementing .forum into the root zone is not only necessary due to the scarcity of desirable domains in the Internet's most prominent TLDs, but further necessitated by the size and diversity of the ideas around products and services. Forum does not fit well under any of the current gTLDs: for example, forum is not necessarily a "commercial," "organized," "informational," or "business" endeavour. Further, given that thoughts and ideas around products transcend national boundaries, it also does not fit well into the purview of ccTLDs. The .forum TLD will provide a competitive alternative for those with the primary interest organizing feedback around products and services. We believe that creating a .forum TLD will facilitate hosting more forums than any other current TLD.
This does not mean we expect that all of the forum-centric sites will want to move to a .forum extension. Many organizations and individuals may think that their current website is better served by .com, or that their non-profit forum website is at home in .org. Consequently, by adding a .forum to the root zone, ICANN will be improving existing TLDs by allowing them to become more focused on their intended significance, while simultaneously providing a differentiated and specific extension.

iii.) What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?
Fegistry believes the .forum extension, though broadly defined by the wide spectrum of what constitutes forum, is largely self-explanatory and its content readily apparent to both potential registrants and end-consumers. We hope that the Internet experience of both types of users will therefore be enhanced and simplified by the implementation of .forum into the root zone. Internet users browsing and using sites with a .forum extension will be confident that the website they are navigating will be related to a forum. We hope that this interaction between content providers and content consumers will allow the Internet's userbase to work in greater concert and to strengthen their connections globally.

iv.) Provide a complete description of the applicant's intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.
Given that we recognize the expansiveness and diversity of what constitutes forum, we intend to offer .forum domains through ICANN-accredited registrars, using an open registration policy that requires no verification of any certification, training, or other quantifiable measure of merit. Additionally, it is our goal to remain in compliance with typical registration policies used by the domain name industry. Through targeted marketing efforts and niche pricing levels, we expect to see that a large majority of the domains registered will be by those with plans to develop sites related to forums. Companies that wish to be identified as a forum may want to own and operate a .forum domain in a dedicated way.

We will fully implement the requirements made by the ICANN Board with regards to the Trademark Clearinghouse, the URS, Trademark PDDRP, the RRDRP, and the UDRP. We believe the these measures have been suitably developed to prevent defensive registrations, bad faith registrations, and other malicious registrations.

v.) Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures.

As per the current requirements in Section 4 of the Registry Agreement, we will implement all necessary thick WHOIS services. We recognize how imperative it is for each registry and ICANN-accredited registrar to be in full compliance with ICANN's current WHOIS standards, and we plan to update our policy in accordance with any future measures taken by the ICANN Board in regard to the continuous work by the GNSO's WHOIS Task Force and other recommendations from the SOs. We have no plans to implement any privacy or confidential measures other than fully implementing any and all such measures required by ICANN.

i. How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come/first-serve basis?

During our sunrise and landrush periods, which we anticipate to begin 4 months after the signing of the registry agreement and lasting for a period of some 2 months each, we will accept applications for second-level domains. Following standard procedure, the sunrise period will be reserved for those entities with appropriate IP and Trademark claims, while the landrush will be open to the public. At the conclusion of each period we will hold closed auctions for the domains that have been applied for by more than one party.

For general availability of the .forum TLD, following the sunrise and landrush periods, we will be operating on a first-come, first-served basis. However, we reserve the right to create a list of domain names within our .forum TLD to be set aside and then sold or auctioned off to interested parties, which we have included in the revenue for the second year of operations.

ii.) Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g. advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).

We have no plans to implement any cost benefits for registrants at this time. However, we have discussed the possibility of promotions, such as bulk registration discounts and advantageous pricings, should they be necessitated due to currently unforeseen circumstances or become part of a targeted marketing campaign during any part of our launch.

iii.) Note that the Registry Agreement requires that registrars be offered the option to obtain initial domain name registrations for periods of one to ten years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten years. Additionally, the Registry Agreement requires advance written notice of price increases. Do you intend to make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation? If so, please describe your plans.

Price increases may be necessary due to inflation or other unforeseen circumstances. However, we recognize that it is important to protect registrants from unreasonable price increases, and therefore plan not to exceed the industry-precedented reasonable maximum annual wholesale price increase of 10%, and to give written notice of at least 90 days to our registrants of such increases. We do not anticipate the need for significant price increases and are equally likely to lower the price in the future. We have no plans at this time to make further contractual commitments to our registrants regarding wholesale price escalation, but do intend to follow the best practices set forth by the industry and treat our registrants with respect, both financially and otherwise.

We intend to fully comply with the provisions in the Registry Agreement stating that registration being made available by our registrars for a period of one to ten years, while not exceeding ten years.

Fegistry has considered the relevant provisions of the new TLD Registries Agreement, the GAC Advice ʺGAC Principles Regarding new TLDsʺ and the procedures adopted by other gTLD registries and intends to use the procedure described below with regards to protection of geographic names in our Registry.
Prior to its launch Fegistry will compile a list of country and territory names that are subject to reservation on the second level.
Pursuant to the specification provided in ICANNʹs Applicant Guidebook, the list will include country and territory names based on the following internationally recognized lists:
- The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list;
- The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World; and
- The list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names;
As the above documents get updated from time to time, the exact list of reserved names will be compiled shortly before the TLD launch to account for any updates. The list of reserved names will be published on the Registry website.