A Goodbye to .dotafrica Announcement by DotConnecAfrica

In a recent announcement, DotConnectAfrica has reported ICANN’s correction of its 6 string application for the .africa (pronounced as DotAfrica). The confirmation which was patiently awaited for amid serious fights that ensued after the ICANN reveal date on 13^th June 2012. According to DCA, the application correction comes as a

“a strong public vindication of DCA’s spirited defense of the .Africa string name that it applied for, thereby making any string confusion or a contentious objection procedure on grounds of string similarity completely unnecessary and unwarranted.”

DotConnectAfrica which was among the applicants that had applied to ICANN in the new Domain dispensation for the .africa string were perturbed when the reveal confirmed that the string applied for was .dotafrica. Apparently the whole world had awaited for the reveal date with baited breath and though mistakes always happen, but no one anticipated that the ICANN TAS system used for processing applications would have accepted a “.dotafrica”. Competing entity Uniforun Pty announced an early burial for DCA writing “ICANN Agrees…There Is Only One Applicant For .Africa”which was later confirmed to be a misleading statement.

DotConnectAfrica was relentless in its assurance looking to set the record straight at every available opportunity. Much as the .dotafrica reveal fuelled a tirade of the PR machine, it actually gave more publicity to DCA which has been credited for a positive pan-african campaign for continental tech advancement even as it struggled to answer millions of questions as to why and how that came about e.g. DCA’s Commentary on ITWebAfrica Story The 185,000 Misunderstanding on .africa

It seem also a good wake-up call for African government to notice the ensuing commotion behind the unborn project.ICANN’s delay in changing the error further left DCA powerless to a point where three pages closely related to the .africa subject that had been attributed to DCA and its supporters suddenly received constant attention with the editors grossly cannibalizing the content, a matter DCA complained crying foul of Sabotage on its Wikipedia pages. A credit to competition and fair play, as sabotage on the publicly edited Wikipedia continued, DCA were saved by the ICANNWiki versions, a knowledge repository portal that is maintained by industry experts.

DotConnectAfrica’s Trust believe they should pass the evaluation based on several critical factors that include having its users and registrants as first priority, by setting up an incredible registry then providing affordable , user friendly pricing. These are the issues that onwards would ensure a sustainable project that will continually fill the domain vacuum that now exits coupled by poorly performing ccTLD’s that DCA has pledged to support.

Owing to its deep trust in ICANN’s ability to arbitrate and set records straight. DotConnectAfrica also relentlessly maintained that only ICANN could answer authoritatively to the various issues that resulted from the application.

“DCA Trust has always been a strong supporter of the work of ICANN, and in its procedures and processes, and remains confident in utilizing the mechanisms within the new gTLD program to continue to make its case and justify “ Continued the statement.

Finally, DCA says that hopes that truth, justice and fairness will prevail at the end, against the continuous sabotages documented in a post they have faced over three years of their vibrant initiative that awoke active dialog.