18(b) How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

Prototypical answer:

i.) What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?

.Wiki will have an open registration policy targeted at wiki owners who use wikis as a way to create and disseminate sector specific information. We hope to attract both groups and individuals to develop wikis about their favorite hobby, cause or other passion. We believe that the term “wiki” and what the concept entails are widely understood, and that the average Internet use will understand that the content of a .wiki domain will be largely populated by this innovative presentation of open, editable information.

We hope to quickly become a reputable and desired TLD for wikis and wiki users by working with prominent companies in the wiki engine and wiki content space, well-known wikis, and all the various wiki-related websites to ensure that they feel comfortable and are excited about the possibilities presented by the .wiki TLD. While we firmly believe that these endorsements may help our marketing efforts, what ultimately matters most is the reputation created within the Internet community as a whole, and not with specific well-known members. Thus, we will focus on creating a safe and secure space that all Internet users can rely on and choose to join; we believe that pursuing this bottom-up model is not only in the best interest of the productive development of the .wiki TLD, but also that it further underscores the importance of the bottom-up, multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance.

ii.) What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of areas of competition, differentiation, or innovation?

It is our goal at Top Level Design, LLC to create a competitive, specified alternative to the popular but more generic TLDs available today. It is a commonly accepted notion that the Internet’s biggest TLDs are reaching a point of saturation, and that the best, most marketable and memorable domains were registered years ago. We believe that implementing a .wiki TLD will bring greater attention and market success to all kinds of wikis. At Top Level Design, LLC, we believe that the .wiki TLD is an intuitive top-level domain that represents a progressive development in how end-users share information via the Internet. Wikis themselves are a revolutionary innovation, so creating a dedicated space for them will not only allow the technology to continue to change the way we share but also help us find information via the Internet.

We do not expect that all wikis will want to move to a .wiki extension. Many wiki owners may think that their wiki is better hosted as a subdomain, or are satisfied with their current TLD. However, by adding a .wiki 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 for those who want to clearly label their website as a wiki. This will certainly facilitate more TLD competition, and allow the current offerings to become significantly more differentiated than they currently are. Implementation of .wiki will be due recognition of a technology that allows any individual to add value and knowledge to the greater Internet, and it will allow the medium to continue to flourish and innovate.

iii.) What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?

Top Level Design, LLC believes the .wiki extension is largely self-explanatory and its content readily apparent to both potential registrants and end-consumers. Registrants will have the opportunity to clearly identify themselves as a site using a wiki platform, and Internet users browsing and using sites with a .wiki extension will know that the website they are visiting is a site built upon peer production principles. We hope that the Internet experience of both types of users will therefore be enhanced and simplified by the implementation of .wiki into the root zone.

We will create a safe and secure TLD, and believe that this is the most important way to ensure that our users have positive experiences when using .wiki.

iv.) Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

We intend to implement an open registration policy offered through ICANN-accredited registrars. There will be no proof of legitimacy required for registration, although we will encourage that the domains utilize wiki software. 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 relevant sites.

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.

Similar gTLD applications: (1)