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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I have actually seen Arabic URLs posted in public areas in the UAE, yet it is not gaining the marketing advantages it seeks.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>There have been discussions within New gTLD applicants on whether to encourage New gTLD registrants (once these new gTLDs are delegated and are generally available) to advertise their online presence using “www” in front of the URL or not; i.e. <a href="http://www.menog.anything">www.menog.anything</a> vs. </span><span class=MsoHyperlink><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>menog.anything</span></span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>. For those who might not know, the inventor of the term “www” in front of URLs has admitted that such an addition was a mistake in the first place. Yet, after thorough discussions, those involved have concluded that in order for people to understand what </span><span class=MsoHyperlink><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>menog.anything</span></span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> is, it is best that “www” is added in front of the URL for advertising purposes. I believe this to be the case for IDNs we well; i.e. some just don’t understand what </span><span lang=AR-JO dir=RTL style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>مثال.اختبار</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span> is.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>My 2 cents.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Fahd<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> menog-bounces@lists.menog.org [mailto:menog-bounces@lists.menog.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Ahmed Abu-Abed<br><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, October 27, 2013 9:51 PM<br><b>To:</b> Tom Paseka<br><b>Cc:</b> menog@menog. net<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [menog] New Arabic TLD and idea's popularity<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Hi Tom,<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Country code TLDs have been available since 2010 for 4 Arab countries at least. Unfortunately its not on most peoples priority list for implementing, and I have not noticed any advertising for an Arabic URL over the past couple of years (I live in the MENOG region).<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>As for CloudFlares IDNs, it would be good to filter out which are using the Arabic alphabet and know how many Arabic IDNs are actually out there. That would require a good understanding of Punycode used to translate an IDN into Latin characters.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Regards,<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>-Ahmed<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> <a href="mailto:tom+menog@cloudflare.com" title="tom+menog@cloudflare.com">Tom Paseka</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>Sent:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> Sunday, October 27, 2013 7:20 PM<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>To:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> <a href="mailto:ahmed@tamkien.com" title="ahmed@tamkien.com">Ahmed Abu-Abed</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>Cc:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> <a href="mailto:menog@menog.net" title="menog@menog.net">mailto:menog@menog.net</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'>Subject:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:black'> Re: [menog] New Arabic TLD and idea's popularity<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Hi Ahmed, <o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>I've had a look through CloudFlare's customers and we see thousands of IDN's, but this is nothing compared to what exists in pre-existing romanized domains. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>For a pre-existing company to move to a IDN, or any new domain in general, they have to revamp their presence, re-market to everyone to make sure they visit the correct address. I assume this isn't an easy task. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>I suspect you'll see new starters coming out from the get-go with an IDN, but it'll take a while for the existing content to start adoption.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Cheers,<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Tom<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>On Sun, Oct 27, 2013 at 1:54 AM, Ahmed Abu-Abed <<a href="mailto:ahmed@tamkien.com" target="_blank">ahmed@tamkien.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>ICANN is in the news with the new </span><span lang=AR-SA dir=RTL style='color:black'>شبكة</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span> TLD, see <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24637673" target="_blank" title="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24637673">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24637673</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>I am yet to see Arabic TLDs widely implemented, although most browsers are ready, even on iOS and Android which I tested with an Arabic URL. Any idea on why is the delay in implementing Arabic URL by content providers (newspapers, etc.) ? People in the region prefer Arabic websites, so I am wondering what’s stopping content providers from having Arabic URLs.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Also, anyone know if major portals, like Google or Yahoo, have implemented IDNs in any language for their URL ? Something like </span><span lang=AR-SA dir=RTL style='color:black'>ياهو.شبكة</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span> (which translates to Yahoo.net , as I cannot find an equivalent to .com as an Arabic TLD).<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Best Regards,<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'>Ahmed Abu-Abed<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><br>_______________________________________________<br>Menog mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Menog@lists.menog.org">Menog@lists.menog.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.menog.org/mailman/listinfo/menog" target="_blank">http://lists.menog.org/mailman/listinfo/menog</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>