From: Ben Giddings <bg-rubytalk@...>
Date: 2005-01-20T03:14:28+09:00
Subject: Re: Best ways to accelerate Ruby's popularity

Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote:
> In message "Re: Best ways to accelerate Ruby's popularity"
>     on Thu, 20 Jan 2005 02:04:42 +0900, Ben Giddings <bg-rubytalk@infofiend.com> writes:
> 
> |It may be that netidentity has nobody actually using the ruby.org 
> |domain, or at least so few that they might be willing to sell it.
> 
> It's no harm to ask them.  I had tried for ruby.net before, but the
> domain holder did not respond.  Maybe I was not too good at
> negotiation.  Is someone willing to ask netidentity?

Hi Matz,

Thanks for spotting my email.  (I was afraid that by replying in a 
semi-abandoned thread it might get missed).

I'd nominate the people who are behind the Ruby Central Inc. non-profit 
(Chad Fowler and/or David Alan Black).  I think being a certified 
non-profit gives them more clout, and might make netidentity more open 
to listening.

Before they approach netidentity, I'd suggest we come up with a strategy 
of what we're willing to offer in return.

It might be helpful for our bargaining position if we can try to find 
out if ruby.org is being used at all by anybody.  In my initial Google 
searches, I didn't manage to find anything, but google doesn't find 
everything.  Anybody want to explore the wilds of cyberspace to find out 
anything we can about the domain?

Once we have some knowledge, I'd open by explaining to them who we are, 
what Ruby is, and why we are interested in having the domain (but 
without making it seem as though we're desperate, since we're not).  I'd 
then ask them if there's any way they would consider giving up the domain.

I think initially it would be better not to offer money at all, but 
instead to offer them positive publicity.  The huge list of Ruby 
websites can actually work in our favour this way, if everybody who runs 
one of the aformentioned Ruby sites is willing to agree to place some 
kind of positive netidentity blurb on their site for some period of time 
(say 6 months or 1 year) and Ruby Central is willing to work together 
with netidentity to post a press release, that sort of publicity might 
be very valuable to netidentity.

If they are reluctant to work with us on that, I suppose we could try to 
buy the domain through the non-profit.  I'd imagine a few of us would be 
able to come up with some cash for that.

Chad, David, what do you guys say?

Ben