KiA2 MetaWho is behind .win tld

submitted by dittendatt from self.KotakuInAction

Since it occasionally happens that websites get deplatformed from their domains it's important to be aware of who run them and according to what policies. Especially when it comes to meme domains like .win Normally say .com or .net are safer bets. Some of the country ones are also good.

Information about .win is hard to come by. It's apparently owned by GRS Domains, who in turn are owned by Domain Venture Partners. There is some drama related to this. DVP first enlisted "Famous Four" to manage it's top domain portfolio (including .win), but then there was some kind of conflict and management moved from Famous Four to the DVP subsidiary GRS Domains.

There is also some talk about DVP being run by some guy from the PriceWaterhouseCooper consultancy. Potentially because of some bankruptcy proceedings

GRS domains is registered in Gibraltar.

http://domainincite.com/23284-famous-four-is-dead-new-registry-promises-spam-crackdown

http://domainincite.com/23302-i-was-wrong-famous-four-bosses-were-kicked-out

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[–]Unknownsailor 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

I don't really care so long as they are resistant to SJW pressure. Unfortunately this usually requires DNS registrars outside the US. I use OrangeWebsite out of Iceland, personally.

[–]dittendatt[S] 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

I don't really care so long as they are resistant to SJW pressure.

Yes, that was what I tried to find out. In this chain I think PWC is the weak link. I wouldn't be surprised if they did fold to SJW pressure.

[–]filbs111 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

At least this way (unlike with being on reddit) they own their database etc. If the domain registrar "deplatforms" them, they just find another. I'd imagine that was a more "problematic" domain than the Donald, KiA etc.

If all domain registrars are controlled, they can put it on an onion domain or something.

On the other hand, I understand all these moves involves some loss of userbase, so it would be better to reduce the probability of these things occurring.

Anyone know what happens if, say, thedonald.win gets binned off by the domain registrar, what happens to kotakuinaction.win? where do the user logins happen? I guess I'll sign up and have a look...

[–]dittendatt[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

There are two things here you are confusing. The registrar, and the registry. The registry is the final arbiter of which domains are allowed to exist. The registrar is their subordinate. It's a company you go to when you want a domain. If they kick you out you can continue using the same domain if you find another registrar for it.

For the big tlds like .com, the registry is usually very permissive. It's the registrar (eg godaddy) causing the problem. But for niche tlds, it's more unknown how the registry will behave.

[–]veus_dolt 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Unfortunately I don't know if anyone is going to be able to answer this satisfactorally. It's easy to imagine inscrutably dense nested management and holding firms, etc. where all required info isn't necessarily public facing.