For Sale Please Vote for Bill Karamouzis NOW in the Current CIRA Election!!!

[A D]

Bill Karamouzis is a long standing domain developer and domain investor that we all know or should know.

He is a current member of DNForum.com, Username Bill Kara.

As someone that's bought, sold and developed domains Bill gets what it takes to be in this business as well as the value of a good domain name. Bill is running for CIRA election on a platform that will include reviewing CIRAs cash flows, greater board transparency and more member engagement.

If CIRA is going to hold 20 million dollars of our money in its banks, Bill thinks we have a right to know what they are doing with it and why. I agree with this 100%!

It's well known how the board of directors is controlled by a small group of people. 3 out of 4 spots open this year will be determined by a nomination committee. Bill is running for the 1 spot fully decided by actual membership votes. He's running against 6 other people.

Please join me in supporting Bill because .CA domain owners need someone that lives and breathes domains like we do and not someone just looking to pad their resume.

Please Go vote now and post here if you have. Tweet it with hashtag #cira Help spread the word for Bill so we can finally get someone in CIRA that represents us all. Let's get one of us elected for once and have some say in how .CA is governed!

It will be a tight race, the difference of a few votes is going to decide who wins. I'd like to back someone that back the rights of domain developers and domain owners.
Here's the Link please vote now:
https://vote.cira.ca/IVApp/Voting/voter_authentication.aspx

Sincerely,

Adam Dicker

 

[madbigt]

Very well said Adam, I casted my vote for Billy!! Lets all do the same.

T

 

[TheLegendaryJP]

Will do!

 

[Bill Kara]

Thanks for taking the time to vote guys appreciate all the support I can get

 

[poing]

Thank you Adam for pointing this out.

If CIRA is going to hold 20 million dollars of our money in its banks, Bill thinks we have a right to know what they are doing with it and why. I agree with this 100%!

Please note that a lot of this is deferred revenue for multiple year renewals and it needs to be held in order to ensure operation for future years.

The campaign forum has a thread that details this topic a bit more: https://elections.cira.ca/2013/campaign/topic/60/en

This is one of the few moments of democracy that we have on the domain space.

 

[Bill Kara]

Deferred revenue, and capital structure are 2 issues. I think I needed to communicate better that these were 2 issues because I felt I spent most of my time reiterating my points.

But the 2 issues as I see them are:

1. Review capital needs of CIRA. How much capital is required for them to hold on the books. What does that number look like, why do they require that amount and what could it be used for? Review as a group and then convey that information to members. This number is around 5M currently. A review might show CIRA needs to have this size of a float always, but I think we need to find out why and share that information with our members. If you hold 5 million dollars and have never had to dip into it, don't have major capital risks then 5 million is quite a bit.

2. The deferred revenue, 15~ is currently invested at rates below inflation. Now if you have collected fees for services you must provide years down the road you need to take steps to ensure the money you collected now is enough to pay for those services you must provide X years from now. If a review has been made and members are happy with it then this would not be an issue. But many people don't know what is being done with that money or why.

Does anyone think investing into funds that are paying less than inflation is a good LONG term strategy?

I think a fund of that size should be scrutinized to maximize its value. When do those revenues get booked? How does that capital break down and are their ways to break it down into short,medium, longer term investments that would ensure when it comes time to provide the pre-sold services CIRA is able to without defaulting to the current standard of simply raising the prices of new registrations for everyone to make up for short falls.

If you review operating expenses they have gone up year after year. I would assume that trend would continue, combined with a lower than inflation rate rate of return this fund is simply being poorly managed. It's far too easy to say we need to be conservative when you are not required to put it into perspective or justify it because in 5 years when op expenses have grown by 10-15% and the fund is the same size that short fall has to come from some place. Which will be new signs up and renewals.

Im not an expert on these issues but I know enough to ask the right questions and ensure our members are provided with this information. I felt as if there is almost a do not question the existing board policy in place with CIRA were the only thing anyone was interested in talking about was security advocacy which is feel is only 1 of many issues CIRA members are interested or concerned about.

 

[Theo]

Maybe open the .CA namespace to non-Canadians, eh?

 

[Bill Kara]

Maybe open the .CA namespace to non-Canadians, eh?

If we did that .CA would become .CO's ugly kid brother

 

[Cyger]

If I could vote for Bill I would. I fully support Bill's candidacy and think he would be a fantastic representative for fellow Canadian domain name registrants.

Michael Cyger
DomainSherpa.com

 

[Theo]

If we did that .CA would become .CO's ugly kid brother

Is there a provision for tm holders regardless of locale?

 

[jaydub]

yes

 

[Theo]

yes

I could not find that here: http://www.cira.ca/assets/Documents/Legal/Registrants/CPR.pdf

 

[Bill Kara]

I could not find that here: http://www.cira.ca/assets/Documents/Legal/Registrants/CPR.pdf

Hey Theo I think it would fall under second 2q and 2r.

Thanks for the comments of support guys if you have any means of reaching anyone to vote would be greatly appreciated.