On 6 July 2012 12:40, McTim <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> the outreach program was certainly pathetic, though it attracted not one
> but two applications for .africa --
>
> one actually
>
> and one for .DotAfrica.
>
> a clever way to avoid name collision.
>


From
http://www.biztechafrica.com/article/dca-partners-set-dotafrica-registry-kenya/3278/

*DotConnectAfrica Trust said in a statement on 14 June that it had applied
> for the same geographical string name for ‘Africa’, pronounced as
> 'DotAfrica'.  It said: “It is important to note that the initial evaluation
> process will also consider string similarity - and all strings applied for
> will be reviewed; and applications for the same or similar strings will end
> up in the same “String Contention Set”. The prescriptions of the ICANN new
> gTLD Guidebook (Section 2.2.1.1) are quite clear in this regard.
> *


When I first saw the application list I also never thought that .africa and
.dotafrica would survive the contention process as separate strings.
Apparently this was by design, though I'm not really sure of the rationale;
I find it one of the more fascinating quirks of this application round.

- Evan