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ICANN Approves Dot-XXX Domain for Porn

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Re: ICANN Approves Dot-XXX Domain for Porn

#11
post #9

Can someone explain to me how this helps the Internet ecosystem? If I were a porn site, why would I want this address? Filters, parental controls, etc. are most likely going to block the entire .xxx domain - this would limit page views. History has shown that .com is the most popular TLD - how is .xxx going to help? It seems like an attempt to drum up registrar dollars.

True, it would limit page views, but don't forget that (for better or worse) there are laws about viewing pornography across most of the country and much of the world as well. At least some of that traffic is coming illegally, and it may be only a matter of time before porn peddlers are held legally liable for that traffic. I think it makes a lot of practical business sense to be able to unequivocably categorize your…

I wonder if this would sponsor any relevant legislation. US based sites being forced to this TLD in order to place Liability for Minors on parents.

Re: ICANN Approves Dot-XXX Domain for Porn

#12

Can someone explain to me how this helps the Internet ecosystem? If I were a porn site, why would I want this address? Filters, parental controls, etc. are most likely going to block the entire .xxx domain - this would limit page views. History has shown that .com is the most popular TLD - how is .xxx going to help? It seems like an attempt to drum up registrar dollars.

.xxx helps because it allows easier segmentation. xxx sites will be considered "good citizens" for moving over. Filters will block all of them, which is fine because people who'd be filtered significantly (kids) don't have money to spend on this stuff anyway. Others may be filtered only at work but frankly that's a job-saving idea so it keeps money coming in.

If you want porn, you know just how to get it; go to any xxx domain out there. If you don't want it, you know how to avoid a larger part of it; don't go to any xxx domain out there. Sounds like it works well to me!

No mandatory compliance would ever work, and there will always be porn littered all over these many internets, but .xxx domain will make at least part of it easier to access/avoid, according to the desires of the user and/or its guardians.

Re: ICANN Approves Dot-XXX Domain for Porn

#13

Can someone explain to me how this helps the Internet ecosystem? If I were a porn site, why would I want this address? Filters, parental controls, etc. are most likely going to block the entire .xxx domain - this would limit page views. History has shown that .com is the most popular TLD - how is .xxx going to help? It seems like an attempt to drum up registrar dollars.

.xxx helps because it allows easier segmentation. xxx sites will be considered "good citizens" for moving over. Filters will block all of them, which is fine because people who'd be filtered significantly (kids) don't have money to spend on this stuff anyway. Others may be filtered only at work but frankly that's a job-saving idea so it keeps money coming in. If you want porn, you know just how to get it; go to any x…

"how to avoid a larger part of it"

not true though; most of the existing porn will remain where it currently is. New sites might choose to start up with .xxx, existing big sites might buy the .xxx counterpart and keep their .com.

The end result is no reduction in non-.xxx porn, and some extra porn on .xxx. Totally pointless.

Re: ICANN Approves Dot-XXX Domain for Porn

#14

Can someone explain to me how this helps the Internet ecosystem? If I were a porn site, why would I want this address? Filters, parental controls, etc. are most likely going to block the entire .xxx domain - this would limit page views. History has shown that .com is the most popular TLD - how is .xxx going to help? It seems like an attempt to drum up registrar dollars.

It could work like US film ratings. There was a time when film makers deliberately added elements to pull an R rating because audiences associated that with more enjoyable films.

Consumers might associate "a real .xxx grade site" with quality. But they will have to be trained.

Re: ICANN Approves Dot-XXX Domain for Porn

#15
post #2

I can only imagine the kind of domain name land-grab this will invoke. Squatters will be prepping their naughty keywords database in preparation, I suspect.

I think we can assume premium domain names will be sold in a land rush auction, not registered on a first-come-first-serve basis. Similar to e.g. .ASIA or .AM. There may even be different registration fees like .TV has.

Re: ICANN Approves Dot-XXX Domain for Porn

#16
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

.xxx helps because it allows easier segmentation. xxx sites will be considered "good citizens" for moving over. Filters will block all of them, which is fine because people who'd be filtered significantly (kids) don't have money to spend on this stuff anyway. Others may be filtered only at work but frankly that's a job-saving idea so it keeps money coming in. If you want porn, you know just how to get it; go to any x…

"how to avoid a larger part of it" not true though; most of the existing porn will remain where it currently is. New sites might choose to start up with .xxx, existing big sites might buy the .xxx counterpart and keep their .com. The end result is no reduction in non-.xxx porn, and some extra porn on .xxx. Totally pointless.

The other thing is, most responsible adult companies already work to make sure their sites are labeled clearly as adult-only sites. Parents have options to prevent their children from going to these sites. In fact, these sites are safer for children than Facebook when you get right down to it.

Re: ICANN Approves Dot-XXX Domain for Porn

#18
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

.xxx helps because it allows easier segmentation. xxx sites will be considered "good citizens" for moving over. Filters will block all of them, which is fine because people who'd be filtered significantly (kids) don't have money to spend on this stuff anyway. Others may be filtered only at work but frankly that's a job-saving idea so it keeps money coming in. If you want porn, you know just how to get it; go to any x…

"how to avoid a larger part of it" not true though; most of the existing porn will remain where it currently is. New sites might choose to start up with .xxx, existing big sites might buy the .xxx counterpart and keep their .com. The end result is no reduction in non-.xxx porn, and some extra porn on .xxx. Totally pointless.

Ideally, sites will eventually redirect the .com domain to .xxx.

Filters will filter it, well-behaving search engines will get rid of the old results, and human-generated links will slowly change over.

Re: ICANN Approves Dot-XXX Domain for Porn

#19
Seems to me that this decision just transfers $$$ into the hands of the TLD operator. Porn website operators will now want to buy example.xxx as well as example.com and example.net and so forth. Non-porn operators may want to buy anotherexample.xxx to protect their anotherexample.com name.

Re: ICANN Approves Dot-XXX Domain for Porn

#20
post #8

It wouldn't surprise me if the pornography industry didn't completely ignore this TLD. The nature of pornography means that it's possible to be very creative in naming your site. If you look at Alexa's list of the top adult web sites you'd see the following names: livejasmin.com, pornhub.com, xvideos.com, youporn.com, xhamster.com, tube8.com, ... It doesn't look to me like the .com namespace is running out of room fo…

I would be surprised if every site doesn't immediately get their .xxx out of nervousness. How long until someone puts laws saying porn must be hosted on .xxx "for the children"? Sites using .com could be accused of trying to hide instead of clearly marking their dangerous content. Idiotic, yes. So how probable?

Someone could avoid such a law simply by hosing their .xxx site in another country. And even if every national government agrees that segregating porn on the Net would be a good thing, you’ll never get them all to agree on a standard. In some countries topless women are no big deal, and in others an exposed elbow is obscene.
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