Here’s why Algorand Name Service didn’t reserve project names before mainnet launch
Domain Names are not Trust anchors
We’re thrilled with the high volume of name registrations on the Algorand Name Service but we want to take a moment to remind our users that registering .algo names does not replace plain old identity validation. Please beware of fraudsters and spammers trying to impersonate users and projects with a .algo name that isn’t their real name.
After careful thought and consideration, we decided not to support name reservations even for current projects or popular persons.
This was a hard decision for us and we wanted share key points that forced us to arrive at this decision:
Name reservation before the mainnet launch would have been a short-sighted solution to a long-running issue, domain names cannot be treated as Trust anchors.
- Names are not Trust anchors
Name reservation before the mainnet launch would have been a short-sighted solution to a long-running issue: domain names cannot be treated as Trust anchors. While reserving names for projects helps avoid scammers from impersonating those projects, the issue would nevertheless reappear for projects that begin after the mainnet launch.
Further, if a project with a reserved name decides to sell the name at a later point, it will only increase the chances of an under-informed user in assuming that the project with the right name is still the owner of the domain.
The way we see it, the term project applies to a large number of ongoing efforts and no matter how broadly we decide to define it, there would have been some efforts that fail to fit the definition.
- It is too much power
Registering names for projects would first of all require us to define the term project. Given the fast pace of development in the Algorand ecosystem and the crypto world, the key indicators (such as having a website or an NFT collection or a Twitter profile) may or may not be present or applicable to every project in the Algorand ecosystem.
The way we see it, the term project applies to a large number of ongoing efforts and no matter how broadly we decide to define it, there would have been some efforts that fail to fit the definition.
Moreover, reserving names for projects would have required us to act as sole arbitrators in situations where projects with similar names request for the same domain name. For ex: Rand Gallery and Rand Labs may request the same name rand.algo. We certainly did not want to play favorites let alone compromise the degree of decentralization we hope to achieve with Algorand Name Service. - Against the spirit of decentralization
To further Algorand Name Service’s core spirit of maximizing the degree of decentralization and remaining censorship-resistant, we decided to not let ourselves act as a centralizing authority that reserves domain names for projects. We were transparent about our timeline for the mainnet launch and development progress, and we gave sufficient notice (10 days) with the exact time of launch (Feb 25, 2022 @ 14:00 UTC) to give everybody the fair opportunity to register a .algo name of their choice.
We understand that although justifiable, this decision of ours has caused inconvenience to some projects that couldn’t register their project name. We recommend everyone keep an eye out on the name marketplace and we would appreciate any help we can get in securing and gifting the project names to their rightful owners.
We also want to reiterate to our community that the .algo names are in no shape or form validated identities. Please proceed with caution when interacting with domain names and please use a project/ person’s official channel to confirm their .algo name.
Did we do the right thing or did we shoot ourselves in the foot? Leave a comment below to share your thoughts on this topic.
