Keep Registries and Registrars Separate

CircleID:

"Since 1999, when Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) and ICANN agreed on the separation of NSI's combined registry and registrar functions, the market as grown from about 5 million to over 100 million domain names in the generic TLDs. The registrar companies grew from a solitary one to over 900 (500 active) strong, and retail prices of registrations plummeted from $35.00 per year to an average between $10.00 and $12.00 per year."

Seems like a no brainer to me, then George Kirikos drops more wisdom in the comments:

"The solution is to reframe the issue from the point of view of maximizing consumer benefits through tenders, and ignoring both the registrars and the registries. Indeed, reframed in this manner, the strongest case can be made that there should be no new gTLDs, at least until such time as a proper economic study determines that they would add value for consumers that exceed the negative externalities."

Agreed.