18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

Prototypical answer:

18(a) dotRIP Limited (“dotRIP”) has a clear mission for the .RIP TLD -- to expand the Internet by establishing a dedicated TLD for death and remembrance. The .RIP TLD will contribute to human understanding of the complex, philosophical event of death using the distributed nature of the Internet and related technologies by promoting social sharing and connecting in ways not possible until now. The TLD is intended to benefit anyone with an Internet connection by providing a designated namespace for people to memorialize the dead and for perpetuating the memory of the person in whose name the memorial page or tribute is established. Through contributed content, engagement and expressions of remembrance, the .RIP TLD will promote mourning and reconciliation for an event of high emotion, across a global landscape. First inscribed in Hebrew and Aramaic tombstones as early as the first century BC, today the term “RIP” is recognized in most of the world’s religions and has analogues in every major language. As the name suggests from its Latin origins “requiescat in pace”, the .RIP TLD will be a new digital epitaph for people to share in ways not possible prior to the Internet.

To promote the mission of the TLD, dotRIP will operate a (basic) free platform for .RIP registrants who choose to build a memorial or tribute site; registrants can also purchase a premium level of service with added features and tools. Once a .RIP domain is purchased, a registrant can create, distribute and exchange digital content, tributes and messages in a structured environment that allows for a wide variety of content creation and features depending on the user’s desires and technical background. This way, the TLD will cater to a broad array of users by providing the tools to build a memorial site that reflects the user’s tastes and mores. .RIP will take advantage of recent developments in easy-to-use web publishing technologies that allows for rich curated content to be rendered digitally by users with little or no background in website creation tools. While it will be possible to purchase a .RIP domain for use as a traditional stand-alone web address, .RIP believes most registrants will elect to use its exclusive platform for building a memorial site.

.RIP’s financial partners, Instra Corporation Pty Ltd (an ICANN-accredited registrar) and Domain Directors Pty Ltd, both related entities, have more than ten years’ successful experience in the domain industry and an existing customer base of more than one hundred thousand domain and telecom customers that dotRIP access for early promotion purposes.

In addition to website creation and communications features, dotRIP’s platform will contain resources related to the emotional needs of users who are coping with the loss of loved ones. dotRIP’s contributed content and design elements will have no cultural or religious affiliation; however, .RIP intends to create segregated parts of the site platform (chat rooms, blogs, etc.) for others to contribute content based on their own religious or cultural background. This way, users can share among themselves on a self-selected basis with no affiliation to .RIP. However, each registrant who buys a domain or builds a site on dotRIP’s platform will be subject to dotRIP’s Acceptable Use Policy concerning appropriate site usage and content. dotRIP’s Acceptable Use Policy is fully described in Question 28.

Today, there are many narrowly focused memorial sites that mainly target the United States market. Legacy.com is reported to be the largest commercial provider of Internet memorials. Tributes.com is reported to be the second largest memorial site. Both companies are vying for a leadership position in the race to monetize death notices that have traditionally appeared in print.

dotRIP’s purpose is to promote healing and understanding around the event of death through sharing, communication and memories in a new digital format. The TLD will reflect the personality of its users and will serve user’s specific needs for expression, remembrance and condolence. As such, dotRIP intends for .RIP domains to be registered and used by people with an exclusive interest in memorial, remembrance and condolence. Any person will be able to register a .RIP domain name, provided that they represent that they will use the domain name for legitimate purposes involving and⁄or related to memorial, remembrance and condolence or related services.

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