[LAJ]

Can we discuss that here? I'm wanting to help keep this place drama free but with each passing day I'm getting more pissed off. People are determined to sell us out... both outside AND inside our industry.

[Tigger]

yeah but all the time we have the wording "voluntary" it will never get off the ground -

I don't see how the industry can force webmasters down this road - the only way would be if the SE's stepped in and refused to list adult sites that don't use the xxx domain, but thats something I could never see happening

[VoyGeorge]

With ICANN basically opening the door to arbitrary TLDs I don't see this as nearly as divisive as it was. When you've only got a couple of TLDs to go around, then .XXX meant something. Now it's pretty meaningless. You could easily do .sex, .adult, .redlightdistrict, .laj, you name it.

[LAJ]

Originally Posted by Tigger

yeah but all the time we have the wording "voluntary" it will never get off the ground -

I don't see how the industry can force webmasters down this road - the only way would be if the SE's stepped in and refused to list adult sites that don't use the xxx domain, but thats something I could never see happening

Well... it's not an issue of being forced anymore. But it IS an issue for a money grab. The people behind it were unsuccessful in selling us all out but that isn't stopping them from trying to profit off of people's stupidity.

There will be plenty of people buying up .xxx domains... worthless or not... and lining the pockets of Lawley and those IN our industry who get a cut of each sale.

[VoyGeorge]

Well I understand, though it's really no different than pressuring people to buy stupid .info or .biz or (my favorite) .mobi domains. All are equally useless.

What I'm more concerned with is TLD misspellings, such as ynot.cum. People are more likely to type this in, and possibly get directed to a phishing (or worse) site. It'll be an issue for the larger sites to be sure.

[LAJ]

Originally Posted by VoyGeorge

Well I understand, though it's really no different than pressuring people to buy stupid .info or .biz or (my favorite) .mobi domains. All are equally useless.

What I'm more concerned with is TLD misspellings, such as ynot.cum. People are more likely to type this in, and possibly get directed to a phishing (or worse) site. It'll be an issue for the larger sites to be sure.

I actually think it is different from those other useless domains. Because people in our industry can often be of the mindset that they NEED a .xxx domain, just in case or for whatever other reason.

And let us not forget that Lawley and company pushed for YEARS AND YEARS to make it mandatory. Their motive is still money at the expense of naievity.

[gonzogone]

Originally Posted by LAJ

Can we discuss that here? I'm wanting to help keep this place drama free but with each passing day I'm getting more pissed off. People are determined to sell us out... both outside AND inside our industry.

no worries about what to discuss, some topics are simply more drama packed than others and this is one of them. .XXX has been a cluster fuck from the start, and simply an attempted money grab by a small group of people. As you said, they are both inside and outside the industry.

Anybody who has read the proposals over the years can see what's been going on and who's been behind it. When specific groups are looking to get even a small portion of the sales from a potentially HUGE market space, they could make many millions very easily. From where I'm sitting, it's that profit motive that has been behind it from the start. It has nothing to do with protecting kids or any of the other garbage arguments that have been going around.

Last time it came up, and I think you could actually buy one for a short time, a single domain was going for $100. WTF?! I can only see three types of people actually going for that.
1) newbies who just don't know any better
2) pirates looking to grab traffic from known domains if they can get the .XXX version of the URL
3) people desperate to protect their current brand

The whole concept stinks and if it ever goes through for real, will just open the door to a chaos of domain name grabbing and law suits as people try to protect their brands.
</soapbox>

and for the record, I think we should work up a proposal for the new TLD, .LAJ !!

[LAJ]

Originally Posted by student4ever

from where i'm sitting, it's that profit motive that has been behind it from the start. It has nothing to do with protecting kids or any of the other garbage arguments that have been going around.

Last time it came up, and i think you could actually buy one for a short time, a single domain was going for $100. Wtf?! I can only see three types of people actually going for that.
1) newbies who just don't know any better
2) pirates looking to grab traffic from known domains if they can get the .xxx version of the url
3) people desperate to protect their current brand

the whole concept stinks and if it ever goes through for real, will just open the door to a chaos of domain name grabbing and law suits as people try to protect their brands.

exactamundo!

[gonzogone]

Originally Posted by LAJ

exactamundo!

now... if only a LOT of other people could see it as easily...

start mixing in the people outside the industry who actually think it would somehow protect kids or make filtering work and you have a whole lot of people that don't know what they are talking about, who have some pretty loud voices...

[VoyGeorge]

Originally Posted by LAJ

And let us not forget that Lawley and company pushed for YEARS AND YEARS to make it mandatory. Their motive is still money at the expense of naievity.

I always chuckled at this attempt (and then the backpeddling that they weren't attempting it) because such a thing can't be done through ICANN or registrars, and must require an act of Congress. They're not going to do it, because it legitimizes online porn. There are enough anti-porners on both sides of the aisle (though most are on the Replublican side) that I doubt such a law will ever get traction.

Or look at it this way: Suppose all adult sites in the US *do* go over to .xxx domains. That takes a whole lot of wind out of their anti-porn crusade. They can no longer go after the COPA and other laws to try to muzzle online speech in the name of protecting chillens (I don't use the real word here because of context association for the SEs).

I'll be pissed if it ever happens .xxx is required, but I just can't imagine it will ever be.

[VoyGeorge]

Originally Posted by student4ever

The whole concept stinks and if it ever goes through for real, will just open the door to a chaos of domain name grabbing and law suits as people try to protect their brands.

That's going to happen when ICANN releases in full the ability to set up arbitrary TLDs. This isn't something restricted to .xxx or .adult or .sex or any other TLD that suggests pornography. Many people were against the ICANN decision to allow (basically) unlimited TLDs for this reason. I predict a madhouse, with tons more phishing sites and knock-offs. The .xxx TLD is just the tip of the iceberg.

[gonzogone]

Originally Posted by VoyGeorge

That's going to happen when ICANN releases in full the ability to set up arbitrary TLDs. This isn't something restricted to .xxx or .adult or .sex or any other TLD that suggests pornography. Many people were against the ICANN decision to allow (basically) unlimited TLDs for this reason. I predict a madhouse, with tons more phishing sites and knock-offs. The .xxx TLD is just the tip of the iceberg.

very, very, very true... in the end, we have to remember - all this crap is about somebody trying to line their pockets...

[Tigger]

Originally Posted by LAJ

Well... it's not an issue of being forced anymore. But it IS an issue for a money grab. The people behind it were unsuccessful in selling us all out but that isn't stopping them from trying to profit off of people's stupidity.

There will be plenty of people buying up .xxx domains... worthless or not... and lining the pockets of Lawley and those IN our industry who get a cut of each sale.

whilst you say its not a case of being forced but the SE do control how people find porn and if they wanted only display adult sites that used the xxx url we would have no choice but to follow there lead - after all whats the point in having a site that gets no SE traffic, but I can't see this happening

[VoyGeorge]

Right, this won't happen. There is no single body that can require "adult" on .xxx TLDs. That would have to come from laws in individual countries, and the SEs know that if one or two countries ever do require it (highly unlikely, even in the US) there is content on sites from other countries.

It could certainly mean search engines in China and other places where porn is illegal will not index .xxx sites. It could also mean mean people could opt-out of any results from .xxx domains, on top of any other content filtering the SE is doing. These aren't easily convertible customers anyway, so it's not a huge loss.