The .XXX Domain Arrives, to a World That Has Moved On

[Cartoonz]

The adult industry players, for the most part, do not support the .xxx extension at all. That won't help it much.

The biggest problem ICM is going to have is defending the lawsuits that are coming over the protection racket / extortion marketing that is being done for the .xxx domains. "Protect your brand by registering the .xxx version..." THAT is going to get some major heat. Registrars are going to get sued for this as well.

Not only is that going to be a problem but it is also going to blow back on ICANN's plans for rolling out untold numbers of new extensions.

No telling how it will turn out... but it will be interesting to watch.

[moniker]

In my humble opinion, Frank will lose on his XXX bet. But I think lucky for him he bet less than 1-2% of his net worth on it.

[katherine]

I did a survey of the .xxx zone recently and the initial figures are not too encouraging.
See the Advertising section or my blog for a pointer to the study.

[fpforum]

No Risk = No Reward

I've invested in a small amount of .xxx domains and already received 1 sedo bid for one...So..in less than a month I've registered close to a half dozen and already received an offer on one..

I don't know that this extension is worth investing much in...But if you got in early and got some gems then there is definitely money to be made here IMO.

[richface]

So many disputes at the moment though
check this story below

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16599474

[radioz]

"Protect your brand by registering the .xxx version..."

The reason for new extensions are:

1 - Sell domains to businesses and TM holders for primarily defensive purposes. .XXX may be the absolute worst example of this.

2 - Sell names to 'domain investors' of which there is always a group that delude themselves into thinking that .whatever is the new .com.

3 - Sell names to a very small number of actual end users who build websites.

4 - Meet a need or a supposed one, at least.

All of this is designed to make ICANN, the registries who auction off the relatively decent keyword names, and domain registrars who usually act like .whatever is the new .com rich. Act NOW!, Bid NOW!, Buy NOW, Get Rich NOW!, (and make us very rich NOW!) You'll NEVER have this opportunity again, EVER!! All of this becomes more obvious with each new offering but there is always a continual stream of people to fall for it and, yes, a very few successes to feed the whole damn thing leading people to renew useless domains.

Look up your favorite keyword on Google. Also, put a www. in front of it and look it up as an exact term ("www.whatever"). Then see how many non-.com uses come up. Usually it is all .coms (or near it). Real end users, stupid or not, would seemingly rather have 'BillsFloristInc.com or "BillsFloristBigburg.com' than 'BillsFlorist.biz' even if it has never been registered. No ones dream domain ends in anything other than .com with the exception of a few notable country codes and, for some applications, .org. Even .net, while the next most accepted extension is not really loved. Did I mention that even .biz is a lot better than most (if not all) of the new, new extensions?

The primary buyers for these names are very deluded, usually newbie, domainers with some money who decide that they are '.whatever specialists'. For God's sake, sell your 'wonderful' .whatever 'gems' to them. I made the mistake of thinking one of my .mobi's was a worth a lot and didn't sell it for a good deal of money back when. That may sound dumb now but, frankly, a couple of years from now, your soon to be moldy but 'too good to drop' .xxx or .co 'find' will be in the same category.

No Risk = No Reward

ICANN, the registries, and the registrars love you to death! They might even give you a renewal coupon to show their love! And, yeah, maybe you will be the one to sell 'ObscureCrummyName.whatever' for $80K. Maybe.

[Wot]

So many disputes at the moment though
check this story below

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16599474

Australian owner- currently.

Hopefully he will get royally screwed by RB.

[DaddyHalbucks]

.XXX -- ::

[stock_post]

http://www.dnforum.com/f208/looks-li...ad-465088.html

This is what I was talking about - long back.

No one cared when I said that - or I may not have made it clear..

.xxx is just a Blackmail (Universities are forced to buy - when they don't have any interest)

It is a bad business..

The adult industry players, for the most part, do not support the .xxx extension at all. That won't help it much.

The biggest problem ICM is going to have is defending the lawsuits that are coming over the protection racket / extortion marketing that is being done for the .xxx domains. "Protect your brand by registering the .xxx version..." THAT is going to get some major heat. Registrars are going to get sued for this as well.

Not only is that going to be a problem but it is also going to blow back on ICANN's plans for rolling out untold numbers of new extensions.

No telling how it will turn out... but it will be interesting to watch.

[premiumtap]

Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black. Wired hasn't been relevant for a decade either.

It sure is, but I can't recall reading that mag since the late 90's.

.xxx has cost millions in defensive registrations to colleges, schools, and companies to protect their images.
the porn industry is well entrenced on .com, no reason for them to rebrand but they will probably have to pony up to protect their com brands.

It's that kind of thing that has and will continue to cast a dark shadow over the entire industry.

[NostraDomainus]

Seems like .XXX was set-up as a cash-grab prior to the floodgates opening for .anything - which in itself, imo, will water-down .xxx (and many other boutique TLDs).

What will happen when .porn, .sex, .porno, .pornstars, .pornstar, .oral, .anal, .milf etc are launched?

I guess just buy low, sell high and get in front of the wave before the bubble bursts - like every other extension ever launched.

[katherine]

You're already disappointed ?

[jmcc]

Apart from some initial visibility, there really doesn't seem to be much interest in the TLD in some ccTLD positive markets in Europe. It really should have launched about five years ago and it may have missed its window of opportunity in the market. In terms of daily growth, it is now closer to that of a small ccTLD.

Regards...jmcc

[Wot]

BlackTube.xxx $3,250 sedo

About the only sign of any interest.Must be one happy seller!

[brian1234]

To be frank, I don't like the .xxx TLD and think it may fail,
but what I really don't like to see is all this trying-to-beat
-up-on-fellow-domainers kind of behaviour.

Domaining is a crap shoot to a large extent, so why not
wish people well?.. EVEN IF their DN 'holdings' are different
than yours??

[katherine]

I don't think members take fun at bashing the choices of their peers.
Personally I'm just being honest. If I feel like people are crashing into a wall, I am not going to sugarcoat my thoughts. Yes, it hurts. But not as much as renewals and wasted reg fees
Mind you, at least one person spent 40K+ on a worthless portfolio of 500 .xxx domains, some of which are even available in .com and all other extensions.
This is very sad and you just cannot keep silent
People have made the same foolish mistakes in other extensions like .me (toyota.me) .tel and .mobi domains.

You can read my posts back from 2006, I basically said .mobi has no future and the hype will only last so far.
And I'm not optimistic at all about .xxx. The naysayers are more often right than wrong.
But good luck anyway

Member Ulysses seems to be developing his domains so whether the market takes off or not it won't affect him much.
But for pure play domaining there are much better and cheaper extensions available. No need to take unreasonable risks