.XXX is on its way and there seems to be no way to stop it.
So what to do, accept it or ignore it? There are probably more reasons to register a .XXX domain than the three I’m proposing, but these are the only three that make any sense to me: First reason, you’re in the porn business; reason two, you are looking to make an investment; Three, you’re looking to protect your brand.
At first glance, reason number one seems like the best reason to register a .XXX; After all, if you’re in the porn business and these domains are officially for porn sites only, shouldn’t you have one? Interestingly, one of the business sectors that most fervently opposed .XXX was the porn industry. Porn traffickers felt that creating an official porn domain would only further stigmatize and ghettoize them. Not only would porn filters find it easier to keep them out, but paying customers would stay away to avoid being stereotyped as dirty old men (or women) by search bots and cookies; all industries have dot-com, but only one will use dot-xxx.
Reason number two, buying .XXX as an investment, looks like a loser right now. For one, they are expensive, selling in the $100 range; for another, how popular can they be if their own industry isn’t thrilled with them? Most of the porn sites are still happy with their dot coms; they have no intention of handing them over or allowing them to be taken without a fight. Also, with ICANN’s recent announcement allowing unlimited generic domain names, how long do you think it will be before someone with money decides to subscribe to .PORN, or even better, .SEX? Which do you think will bring a better price, .XXX or .SEX? The only thing that could change this equation is the growing opposition to ICANN’s new plan; if groups as powerful as the Association of National Advertisers have their way, the idea of unlimited domain name proliferation will be strangled in the cradle.
Reason number three, protecting your brand, is perhaps the best reason to register a .XXX domain. Existing porn sites, as well as registered heavyweight companies and national organizations of all stripes are already doing exactly that. Bet on the same people owning the “sex” dot-com and the “sex” dot-xxx; while .XXX dots for “IBM” or “NCAA” will never see the light of day. The real question for each of us lesser luminaries is: can our brands withstand the existence of a porn site with the same second-tier name and a .XXX? That’s a question every individual domain name registrant must ask. Most likely they can; chances are most registrants don’t own all possible domain extensions like “net”, “org”, “info” or “co” for their trademarks now. Why worry about one more? And for those who think they have to, they better wait for ICANN to stop before the floodgates open for new domains because they will never stop paying.