.XXX Domain Registrations Begins

alphadogg writes "Registrar ICM Registry announced that the .XXX sponsored top-level domain for the adult entertainment industry is open for registration. The domain was approved by the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in June last year, and then finalized in March. The domain is made possible thanks to ICANN's rules for 'sponsored' TLDs, through which domains have been created by interest groups. Other examples include dot-coop, for cooperative organizations, and dot-museum."

Comments

I am all for it.

[jellomizer]

If we can get the Adult Industry to sell their .COMs and go to .XXX it would make an easier to manage Internet. Especially if you are searching for name of an old XWindows software you were looking for.

Re:I am all for it.

[pak9rabid]

If we can get the Adult Industry to sell their .COMs and go to .XXX it would make an easier to manage Internet. Especially if you are searching for name of an old XWindows software you were looking for.

I wouldn't count on it. The biggest issue being that people that run porn sites don't want to be able to be easily identified by firewalls and proxy servers.

Re:I am all for it.

[BenoitRen]

It sounds like a great idea at first, but think further. This is a perfect scheme for censorship. After all, who decides what is pornography?

That's it in a nutshell. The problem with the .xxx TLD has been explained so many times I'm not going to repeat it.

Re:I am all for it.

[johanw]

The adult industry won't be so stupid as to move to .xxx domains since there are fat too many prudes who would find this too easy to filter for others. My guess is that .xxx will be mostly registered by non-adult companies who want to prevent others from registering their name.xxx.

Re:I am all for it.

[Anonymous Coward]

They won't do that. .COM is where it is at brojangles. Ain't nobody gonna be goin to that .XXX

But seriously, most will probably just get some .XXXs as well as their .coms and probably .orgs and others.
If only the TLDs were actually enforced... this mess wouldn't have existed in the first place.
Most sites on any TLD aren't supposed to be there.

Hell, to be honest, the entire damn DNS system is broken as it is.
Usenet / Newsgroups has the right hierarchy. DNS is a flustercuck of abuse, misdirection and did I mention abuse?
Maybe one day we will transition to a newWeb where DNS is replaced with the Usenet organization. And the oldWeb will become an chaotic anarchy web with virtual wars and virtual dictators fighting over webpages, in FOUR-DEE.

Re:I am all for it.

[otdyn]

Not only that, but there's also another huge business issue. Adult websites gets insane amounts of traffic from search engines. It's almost given that Google and other search engines will put all .xxx domains under the safe search off -option, which many people either don't know how to put off or don't want to as it's categorized as "safe" instead of adult stuff. So if you put behind sites you're guaranteed to get filtered off safe search, while your competitors using .com and other general domains can do just fine within the usual search too. If you get lots of search engine traffic, you will kill your income by moving to .xxx.

Re:I am all for it.

[Anonymous Coward]

...with registars laughing all the way to the bank. Do you have any idea how many "big enough" companies there are that consider the fee trivial compared to the potential egg on their face over a ".xxx" site in their name.

Which is exactly why this was done. To milk money.

Re:I am all for it.

[Anonymous Coward]

And which business would want his site filtered by default? If moralfags have something again a legal business then they should say so and lobby for prohibition. Going through the back door to avoid been shamed for their disgusting anti sexuality believe is dishonest.

Re:I am all for it.

[compro01]

Easy. We use "community standards". Since the internet is global, we find the most prudish, conservative community in the world and have them decide.

Re:I am all for it.

[DrgnDancer]

Nah, The adult sites will keep their .coms and get .xxx domains too. They may even change their "official" name to the .xxx domain, but still keep the .com. Best of both worlds. It will make them easier for people looking for a .xxx site to find, but still keep the advantages of a .com and avoid breaking bookmarks. It's not like it isn't trivial to have more one domain for a site.

Re:I am all for it.

[pak9rabid]

True...that's actually the biggest issue for them I would think.

Re:I am all for it.

[Riceballsan]

what situations do you honestly expect them to be filtered by default? ISP's would know it would be suicide to do so to residential customers (well at least without assitance from the 2 other ISPs in the area to cut off simultaniously). There is no shortage of large well known adult sites that are not blocked under any normal situations (OK we do have to cut out tyranical dictatorships, and a handful of retarted governments like AUS). Face it if you are somewhere that can get to well known adult sites (youporn redtube etc...), then you can get to the .xxx domain. Someone earlier was mentioning google blocking them. Same rule, it will be blocked in safesearch for images, and it won't automatically show up in google instant unless you hit enter, but it will pretty much work the same way, most of the large adult websites, are already very well known. The only place I can see this being an issue is in company filters, which I can't honestly sympathise with, view whatever you want on your time in your house on your computer, companies have all the right they want to filter what happens on their own networks that they are paying for. The handful of people who can do their job well, and do other things between are not worth the virus cleanups and idiots who will flat out stop doing their jobs.

Re:I am all for it.

[billcopc]

I question that. Reputable porn sites usually want to help with filtering. Why shove your content down someone's throat if they aren't receptive to it in the first place ? Throwing off random porn results while I'm doing a screencast in front of a client is NOT going to get that site a sale. On the other hand, if someone explicitly indicates that they want porn, I say open the floodgates!

Re:I am all for it.

[otdyn]

The largest sites are well-known, yes. The smaller ones aren't and people looking for niche porn are doing it by searching. There is a huge industry optimizing sites for niche keywords to help users find the sites they're looking for. Many of those aren't usually put under the safe search off -results unless you really use much porn language on the site (therefore hitting the algorithm based filters). If they choose to use .xxx instead it's almost guaranteed Google knows it's adult content and puts you off the safe search results, therefore killing your traffic and income.

Re:I am all for it.

[billcopc]

Why would that kill your income ? If content is legitimately "unsafe", it should be tagged as such. Hell I think porn sites would voluntarily self-declare as unsafe, because then if someone goes through the extra 2 clicks to turn off the safe filter, it's a golden invitation to open the floodgates and show them adult content, which they've now officially indicated they want.

I think .xxx is a good idea. I even think it should have its own dedicated search engine, google.xxx! Seriously, if someone says they want porn, give it to them! You cannot ask for better targeting than that.

Re:I am all for it.

[aztracker1]

Couldn't get the Amish online to post comments...

Re:I am all for it.

[johanw]

Because the filtering is probably be done by someone other than the person who wants to see it.

Re:I am all for it.

[billcopc]

The problem is people create a problem out of it.

To anyone actually peddling porn, .xxx should be a proud statement. "YES! We have porn here! Come and git it!"

I'm not saying it should be mandatory, but it's kind of like a red-light district. Self identification. That's a good thing. If that results in easy filtering, then so be it. I would much rather make it easy for my fellow sysadmin to block .xxx where it is clearly not appropriate, like office networks and kids' computers. Kids don't have credit cards, and well the office jerker is a creep, I wouldn't want to be working in the next cubicle while Mr I-Hate-My-Job is having a session.

DISCLAIMER: I used to run paysites and freesites to promote the former. Well, okay, I still do so on a maintenance basis.

Re:I am all for it.

[billcopc]

alt.binaries.nospam.anonymous-coward.nudes.flonk.flonk.flonk ?

Re:I am all for it.

[billcopc]

If you mean the ISP, then it is a legal matter.

If you mean me, on my corporate network, then I cordially invite that person to go fuck themselves all day long because I'll be all-too happy to recommend termination.

Re:I am all for it.

[otdyn]

Most people don't know about safe search or that it's supposed to filter adult results. The thing is, it doesn't really work and people can find lots of adult content without going thru the trouble of changing the setting. This puts you in a really bad position, as your competitors will continue to be in the safe search results and you're voluntarily putting yourself out of there, missing 99% of searches.

Re:I am all for it.

[brainzach]

Why would any website go with .XXX over .COM?

Dot com is the gold standard for the Internet. Any porn website with a .xxx domain will be associated with spam and viruses just like all these other gimmicky TLDs

Re:I am all for it.

[Zerth]

Actually, the biggest issue is why any of them would switch all their domains to a registrar that charges 6 times as much?

If you have a few hundred XdoesY or FooXXXparody.com addresses, that is a lot of money.

If they really wanted porn sites to switch, they should've made it cheaper than .coms

Re:I am all for it.

[hedwards]

Well, the problem is that it makes it way too easy to filter for porn sites. Any reputable porn site is voluntarily listed by web filtering software, using something like .XXX goes way beyond that and makes it really easy to figure out if somebody has been looking at porn. Just type .xxx into the awesome bar and you'd get a concise list very quickly. And even without doing so, it's obvious just by the TLD that it's a porn site.

Re:I am all for it.

[Obfuscant]

It sounds like a great idea at first, but think further. This is a perfect scheme for censorship. After all, who decides what is pornography?

ummm, the guy who registers his site with a .xxx domain name?

The problem with the .xxx TLD has been explained so many times I'm not going to repeat it.

And I've found a solution to a famous mathematical problem, which the margins of this posting are too small to contain.

Re:I am all for it.

[kenrblan]

I don't think it would harm them at all. People that are trying to find porn aren't going to have any problem finding it. I doubt many people that do Google searches for non-porn terms but get some inadvertent porn links choose to bookmark those porn sites for later use. Likewise, if someone is searching for porn, and no .xxx sites are showing up in the results, that person is probably going to do a Google search for "Why aren't .xxx sites showing in my search results." Sand-boxing to a .xxx is a good thing for users who might be going to websites without thinking about alternative possibilities For example, "I was curious about running shoes, so I went to dicks.com thinking it would be the Dick's Sporting Goods site. Boy was I wrong." or a bigger issue in the US for a while "Went to whitehouse.com, but that wasn't the President's house."

Re:I am all for it.

[bolthole]

There is a difference between "people who want to see it", and "people who are willing to PAY to see it".

I wonder if the various for-pay porn sites, are really finding huge revenue from people who are looking at porn when they "shouldnt", and are committing the additional stupidity of PAYING for this time of illicit viewing, rather than doing it at a safer time and location.

Are people REALLY THAT stupid? is a significant chunk of porn revenue really coming from people viewing porn at work against company policy?

Re:I am all for it.

[atrain728]

I don't know what browser you use, but Google Chrome does a pretty good job at preventing that problem with it's "incognito mode".

Re:I am all for it.

[tlhIngan]

If we can get the Adult Industry to sell their .COMs and go to .XXX it would make an easier to manage Internet. Especially if you are searching for name of an old XWindows software you were looking for.

Why should they give up .COM? They can just redirect the .COM to their .XXX domain, and no one would be the wiser.

Anyhow, the problem isn't the reputable sites - they want to only show to those interested and definitely don't want to show it to those who don't (the parents and their "think about the children" crowd are politically powerful - so not showing up is a Good Thing(tm)), it's the disreputable ones that want to show you something every click and popup and popunder and hide in a sea of legit Google results that are the problem.

Heck, some sites can do it one better. The .COM version is the legit site, while the .XXX has the more risque photos. Sites like Playboy, for example. The .COM can show legit content, whil the .XXX version can be more free spirited on the photos.

Re:I am all for it.

[cheekyjohnson]

Why shove your content down someone's throat if they aren't receptive to it in the first place ?

They have an option: leave the website. It's quite simple, and it creates no hassle for people looking for the content.

Re:I am all for it.

[Capt.DrumkenBum]

I will be endlessly polite. Then send them to HR, or the CEO.
Did I mention that he is a passionately religious, born again christian CEO.

Re:I am all for it.

[otdyn]

The issue isn't about people having problems finding porn, it's about them having problems finding YOUR site. You have to think about it from the site owners perspective, because in the end they make that decision. And they sure as hell aren't going to move to .xxx if it means significant drop in traffic and customers.

Re:I am all for it.

[kenrblan]

My point is that the sites in .xxx will get indexed just like everything else. It will show up in search results just like everything else. Like another poster mentioned, .xxx would be targeted by users looking for whatever porn criteria they are trying to find. If you are concerned that .xxx doesn't show up when someone is using safe search, what do you think the intent of safe search is? Do you honestly think Google will avoid indexing the .xxx TLD and miss out on all of that ad revenue?

The primary place this move might affect porn sites is with people browsing for porn at work or at school, where those network owners might prefer to block it. That shouldn't affect the porn sites revenue greatly, as the location and time of porn access will get shifted to the home, etc.

Re:I am all for it.

[bbqb]

Do you honestly think Google will avoid indexing the .xxx TLD and miss out on all of that ad revenue?

Miss out on what ad revenue? Advertising porn in AdWords is against terms. The point is, if competitor sites come up in the safe search and yours doesn't, you lose those visitors. Users explicitly need to turn off safe search to see your results. They won't do that if they find competitor sites within the normal results. This means no site owner will do that, regardless if it helps work places or schools filter it better. They don't care about that, they care about visitors.

Re:I am all for it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why did you have to bring in payments, how is that relevant? Web porn obviously thrives with or without actual user payments, discussing only the pay-side is not logical.

Re:I am all for it.

[bsharp8256]

Don't worry, if you're not into shoving stuff down peoples' throats there's someone who is. ;)

Re:I am all for it.

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

"Hello, lucrative business! Why don't you crawl back to the ghetto we've designated?"

Trust me. The legislation that forces this move is not far behind - it will be modelled on the existing "asset-seizure" policies used to enforce "intellectual property" on the net.

It will also be used just as rationally, wisely and well.

The porn-tax registrars will get a windfall, backed by arbitrary prosecution and enforcement actions, with a presumption of violation.

Re:I am all for it.

[BenoitRen]

ummm, the guy who registers his site with a .xxx domain name?

The whole point of the .xxx TLD is that all porn sites will move to it under pressure of the law.

And I've found a solution to a famous mathematical problem, which the margins of this posting are too small to contain.

Now you're just being an ass. Just search Slashdot for similar stories if it interests you. Honestly, it's been mentioned pretty much every time.

Re:I am all for it.

[johanw]

I mean mostly parents censoring their children, or some xian fundamentalists here who have a social pressure to procure internet from a provider who censors (although this kind of censoring is being made illegal in The Netherlands due to a change in law).

Re:I am all for it.

[Kalriath]

Yes, but all the big, legitimate publishers already voluntarily shoehorn themselves into the "unsafe" results by declaring an ICRA rating, and all sorts of other wizardry to make it crystal clear to visiting individuals and search crawlers that they are an adult site. The only organisations that would choose not to shift to .xxx based on your reasoning would be the ones that are already dodgy.

Re:I am all for it.

[Kalriath]

Advertising dating sites isn't. And those guys pay big money for advertising.

Re:I am all for it.

[Kalriath]

You aren't allowed to register a .xxx unless you're putting porn on it. You can, however, blacklist the name so it cannot be used. But you don't have to pay annually for it.

Basically, you're arguing that .xxx will be a giant desert with nothing in it but blacklisted trademarks.

Re:I am all for it.

[Rakarra]

If we can get the Adult Industry to sell their .COMs

They won't.

From day 1, the .XXX domain was all about revenue generation for the registrars and domain name squatters.

Re:I am all for it.

[Obfuscant]

They have an option: leave the website.

After the images are displayed. You can't unring a bell. You can't unsee some of the things you find on some websites.

Re:I am all for it.

[Obfuscant]

The whole point of the .xxx TLD is that all porn sites will move to it under pressure of the law.

I've heard of no such law. Where is it written?

Now you're just being an ass.

No more so than people who say "we've already gone through the arguments" as if simply saying that was sufficient to prove their point.

Re:I am all for it.

[hedwards]

Which works well as long as you leave it on or don't accidentally forget to enable it. Ultimately, this isn't really an appropriate way of dealing with the perceived problem.

Re:I am all for it.

[cheekyjohnson]

That likely goes for any website in existence, not just "pornographic" websites. Anything can potentially offend anyone at any time (and, indeed, mere text can offend someone). I don't think things need to be automatically filtered (or something similar) because of that. I think those people should just get over it and move on.

Re:I am all for it.

[KingAlanI]

They've already decided to go fuck themselves. ;)

Re:I am all for it.

[KingAlanI]

or, get it and come. ;)

Re:I am all for it.

[1u3hr]

The whole point of the .xxx TLD is that all porn sites will move to it under pressure of the law.

"The law"? What law? What law that applies in every country in the world? That defines pornography in a way that everyone agrees? That outlaws anything someone thinks is porn from any other domain?

May work in North Korea. Rest of the world, not going to work.

Re:I am all for it.

[formfeed]

If we can get the Adult Industry to sell their .COMs and go to .XXX it would make an easier to manage Internet. Especially if you are searching for name of an old XWindows software you were looking for.

Not just old software, I have this problem constantly:

• Keep ass
• Clam ass, ass in
• Ball view
• The L.A. Stripper

Re:I am all for it.

[rs79]

No it wasn't. I was there on day one. You weren't.

I created alt.sex way back, and that filtered the sex of regular usenet, so there's precedent for this.

It'll work. You can make noise about it in a few years if I'm wrong. And suck up accordingly if I'm not.

Re:I am all for it.

[binkzz]

I question that. Reputable porn sites usually want to help with filtering.

And they make up, what, 1 percent of porn sites?

Re:I am all for it.

[Anonymous Coward]

This proposal only makes sense if all porn sites lose their rights to other TLDs, and are allowed just this one. The big, legitimate ones that already declare an IRCA rating and make it obvious that they are porn sites would have no problems adapting .xxx. The only ones who won't are the ones already trying to skirt the law and push themselves onto the 'safe' domain, but once they are found out, their TLDs should be re-directed to .xxx domains, and after a while, made unavailable to them.

Re:I am all for it.

[Joce640k]

I want to know when Google is going to implement "unsafe search" - filter out all the boring stuff for me.

Re:I am all for it.

[jawtheshark]

....and dating sites are often operated by porn companies. I know, I work for one. Those dating sites are mostly scams in the first place.

Re:I am all for it.

[jawtheshark]

Which means, he's probably the one actually surfing the porn ;-)

Re:I am all for it.

[jawtheshark]

Why would you let anyone use your account? That's also why you lock your screen when you leave your desk. Yes, I also do this at home. There is no reason for anyone to use my account. They have their own and if they have not, they have no business on my machine.

Re:I am all for it.

[Obfuscant]

That likely goes for any website in existence, not just "pornographic" websites.

That's true. There are, however, few kinds of websites where simply displaying an image can be considered a crime under certain circumstances. Nazi paraphenalia images in Germany, I think, is one. Pornography to a minor is another.

Anything can potentially offend anyone at any time

Oh, forgive me. I didn't realize that displaying porn to a minor was just a case of offending the minor.

I don't think things need to be automatically filtered (or something similar) because of that.

I didn't imagine that you thought I was saying otherwise. I was responding to the "stuff down your throat, just leave the website" comment. It doesn't matter if you then leave the website, the images have already been "stuffed down your throat", and into your cache.

For that reason, I think anything that can help those who want to filter such material is good. If a simple block on .xxx allows that, I'm all for it.

Re:I am all for it.

[cheekyjohnson]

There are, however, few kinds of websites where simply displaying an image can be considered a crime under certain circumstances.

I don't necessarily agree with those laws. Furthermore, I really don't think filtering the website and hiding it from view would do anything. If it is truly illegal, then perhaps shutting it down would be a better course of action. And if they isn't possible, then that is too bad for them.

I didn't realize that displaying porn to a minor was just a case of offending the minor.

Right. They might not even be offended by it. I don't really care if a minor views pornography.

For that reason, I think anything that can help those who want to filter such material is good. If a simple block on .xxx allows that, I'm all for it.

I think the .xxx TLD is a stupid idea, but as long as it is 100% optional, I'm not too opposed to it.

Re:I am all for it.

[Obfuscant]

I don't necessarily agree with those laws.

Irrelevant. What you agree or disagree with isn't how the local prosecutor will determine what to prosecute.

Furthermore, I really don't think filtering the website and hiding it from view would do anything.

Ummm, it would prevent such things from appearing without direct action to view them. You would not be fooled by a goat.se link in /., for example, if goat.se is filtered from your browser. Any web content from a .xxx domain would be essentially non-existant if a browser filters out .xxx requests.

If it is truly illegal, then perhaps shutting it down would be a better course of action.

Please confirm, you are suggesting shutting down websites based on the legality of minors viewing the content? Do you also believe that liquor stores should be closed down because they might sell something to a minor?

Right. They might not even be offended by it. I don't really care if a minor views pornography.

Well, again, your opinion of the laws isn't what is relevant, it is how the laws exist and enforced that matters. A parent of a minor may very well have a different opinion than yours, and her opinion counts when the minor is hers.

I think the .xxx TLD is a stupid idea, but as long as it is 100% optional, I'm not too opposed to it.

The only difference between us in this regard is I don't oppose it at all.

Re:I am all for it.

[Kalriath]

Obligatory "pics or it didn't happen".

But yes, the dating sites are usually populated by images of little known actresses pulled from porn sites and the like, claiming to be oh so interested in you but... hark! Thou dost not have a Gold Subscription in order to reply to the message! Oh, and Nigerians claiming to be hot women that would love to come to live with you but unfortunately they need $5000 to get through customs. Payable by Western Union plskthx.

Re:I am all for it.

[cheekyjohnson]

Irrelevant. What you agree or disagree with isn't how the local prosecutor will determine what to prosecute.

But I said nothing about that. The first post you replied to was just describing my viewpoint: if they don't like it, then they should leave, and then get over it.

Ummm, it would prevent such things from appearing without direct action to view them.

Please confirm, you are suggesting shutting down websites based on the legality of minors viewing the content?

No. I meant child pornography. I couldn't care less about the laws against minors viewing certain content (I don't think those should exist anyway, but that's not to say that I think banning the mere viewing of content should be illegal at all).

Do you also believe that liquor stores should be closed down because they might sell something to a minor?

Even if I did believe what you said above, this is a different matter. I could therefore believe that you should shut one down, but keep the other.

A parent of a minor may very well have a different opinion than yours, and her opinion counts when the minor is hers.

Well, yes. There's not much I can do about that. I was just stating that I don't really care if a minor does stumble upon pornography.

Re:I am all for it.

[jawtheshark]

I can't provide pics, but with a few clicks you find my CV and can find the company I work for. From there it shouldn't be all that hard to find out which company is the parent company and what exactly they sell. However, "pics" is going to be pretty hard to provide, especially I'm just a sys-admin.

Re:I am all for it.

[BenoitRen]

I've heard of no such law. Where is it written?

There is no law written. Yet. But as the entire point of the xxx TLD is to get all porn moved there, it has been argued that it won't take long for one to be written.

No more so than people who say "we've already gone through the arguments" as if simply saying that was sufficient to prove their point.

Every other article had comments explaining why it was a bad idea, so I thought it'd be silly for me to repeat that as people would know by now.

.XXX Suggestions

[Nathan Campos]

Google.XXX The ultimate porn search tool ever lol

Re:.XXX Suggestions

[Abstrackt]

If Google started tracking my porn habits they'd opt out in a hurry.

Re:.XXX Suggestions

[NatasRevol]

With a furry?

Re:.XXX Suggestions

[KingAlanI]

http://www.youporn.com/recommended
we can re-"build" "him". we have the technology. ;)

So, what are you going to do with

[Quila]

Slashdot.xxx?

Just a goatse link?

Re:So, what are you going to do with

[HexaByte]

No, it's all about 'tech porn'. You know, the sexy new gotta-have-it tech gadget that everyone it tweeting about. You know you're lusting after it right now. Look at it, lying there so sultry. It's calling your name. "Hey baby, ever had a go with an iPhone 6? I'm much hotter than that iPad3 over there, I've got all it's moves in a slimmer, more compact body. Yeah baby, just shell out some cash and I'm all yours!."

Re:So, what are you going to do with

[aztracker1]

been done

Re:So, what are you going to do with

[aztracker1]

link disappeared... http://revision3.com/unboxingporn

Re:So, what are you going to do with

[Anonymous Coward]

iCame

Can't wait...

[Capeman]

for slashdot.xxx

Re:Can't wait...

[Hsien-Ko]

Where CmdrTaco really commands tacos.

Re:Can't wait...

[cashman73]

So now we know why CmdrTaco just left and is working now!

dot museum?

[Osgeld]

when did these things go from simple 3 letter extensions to full words. and whats going to happen in the future? will we see

slashdot.newsiteoninternet.co.uk.com.html?

Re:dot museum?

[Anonymous Coward]

uh, other than the .html at the end, you could register that domain right now. You should also think about learning what the T in TLD stands for.

Re:dot museum?

[Anonymous Coward]

when did these things go from simple 3 letter extensions to full words.

2001.

Re:dot museum?

[Anonymous Coward]

I would rather see DNS mostly ditched in favour of the system that newsgroups use.
They are all neatly organised, easy to find, easy to filter things you don't want.

Something along the lines of flipping the current naming system in reverse, and expanding on the TLD system to make them more descriptive.
Global services could be placed under something like "web." or "global." or something like that. (or even ignored, and only require "local" or alternative TLDs for whatever content it is you are looking for)
So, examples could be:
search.
museums.
charity.
gov(ernment)
television.
and so on.

Or rather, I would just like to see newsgroups forked to allow web-like services to be hosted under a similar hierarchy.
An ordered web, it brings back memories of web portals, I know, but search engines are quickly becoming indirect web portals as it is.
Maybe even have some sort of public Web Of Trust where people can help to order sites. (with official changes happening on a set period, or sooner if it is a serious case, such as porn under a child / work-safe category for example)

I don't know. All I know is the DNS system we have now is terrible, chaotic and simply unprofessional in every sense of the word.
It needs to be ditched, or actually enforced.
But the web is too big to change now.
This is why I would rather see a whole new system take over from the web as a separate service.
Make them mostly seamless, but the new system is enforced, ordered and nice.
No barriers to transition to it, or even mirror your current site on it.
It is simply a secondary naming system running across the internet.
It'd be better than wasting time with adding custom TLD nonsense. Add a whole new web instead, one that is modular and extendable at all layers easily

Or we could hope those P2P DNS things take off and not have to deal with this crap at all.

Re:dot museum?

[tomhudson]

when did these things go from simple 3 letter extensions to full words

The original TLDs were com, org, net, gov, edu, mil, and - wait for it - arpa.

So even in the beginning, not all TLDs were TLAs.

Re:dot museum?

[tomhudson]

2001? The .arpa TLD was introduced in 1985.

Re:dot museum?

[dzfoo]

Tender loving... Domain?

Re:dot museum?

[geminidomino]

Sure they were. Some were just members of the ETLA subset. :)

Re:dot museum?

[rs79]

And the interesting thing about .ARPA domains is they never expire.

If you own any IP addresses, you own a .ARPA domain.

The hot tip is to put your nameservers under .ARPA simpy delegate a subdomain to yourself. They work just
fine as A, MX or NS records.

The problem is no ICANN registrar I can find will accept a domain ending in .ARPA as a nameserver. This is a bug and
should be fixed. I've had no luck in 3 years getting this to happen. It would be nice if it did though.

(as for the subject I miss http://swiss.frog.museum/

Re:dot museum?

[rs79]

Don't forget .NATO which was slipped in the root one day when a general called IANA ans asked for it. It was deprecated over the next decade and one day in 1996 or 7 Postel said "there's 7 tlds" "Uh, what about .NATO John? That's 8" (click click click") ok NOW there's 7 tlds, and he took it out of the root.

Things used to be a tad more loose than they are now. You don't want to know the story behind the Iraqi tld.

web host providers

[longhairedgnome]

Can anyone recommend good web hosts/registrars? XXX availabitlity isn't necessary, but I'm looking to start a personal page and know slashdot is a great reference for this type of info.

Re:web host providers

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, does anyone know how to burn an "image" to a CD?

Re:web host providers

[iggymanz]

you'd better damn well be planning on posting porn suitable for .xxx on that personal web page or we'll mod you "offtopic"

Re:web host providers

[Darkness404]

Carve a reverse of the image you are looking to burn onto a piece of steel attached to a long rod. Put the carved piece of steel where it will get very hot (in a fire or on the stove preferred) put the hot steel on the CD and press. The image should be burned onto the CD.

Re:web host providers

[longhairedgnome]

I'm thinking parody...

Re:web host providers

[lightversusdark]

LightScribe

Re:web host providers

[iggymanz]

just so long as it's pornographic

dumb.

[SCHecklerX]

If you need to filter, .kids makes a lot more sense.

Re:dumb.

[Anonymous Coward]

I doubt child pornographers would voluntary put their kiddy porn on .kids tld. Your idea is stupid as asking them to go to the police on their own. Yeah, that will solve the problem.

Re:dumb.

[vlm]

The idea of a .kids domain is it would be "approved" for K-12 viewing.
Cue the lawsuits when some atheist or islamic organization is forced off the 'whitelist'.
Cue the lawsuits when some sex education organization is forced off the 'whitelist'.
Cue the lawsuits when some political campaign site is forced off the 'whitelist'.

The whole idea that there exists one single objectively true "categorization" is about as stupid as thinking there exists one single objectively true "religion". And similarly the world is full of completely misguided morons who believe it despite it obviously being wrong.

Re:dumb.

[psyclone]

There already is a .kids.us sub-domain of the .US TLD. The managing company does content enforcement.

FredPhelps.XXX

[Enderandrew]

I'm just sayin'.

Re:FredPhelps.XXX

[logjon]

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Re:FredPhelps.XXX

[Anonymous Coward]

What is it you are just sayin'?

Re:FredPhelps.XXX

[crutchy]

who is fred phelps?

- my google button is broken and my computer is infected with the "w32.microsoft.windows" virus, and the drug store says there's no cure for it!

What About the non Obvious cases?

[wisnoskij]

What about all the adult, sexual oriented, material that might not be considered porn by most/some people?
Sure there are tones of cut and dry cases, but there is also tons of erotic art, erotic literature, softcore, movies with a 18+ rating that some conservatives would call porn and they even would have a case for it, but that does not mean that it deserves to be forced into .xxx.

Re:What About the non Obvious cases?

[MaWeiTao]

Outside of some vocal fringe groups I don't see any overarching push to label everything even mildly questionable as porn. By your rationale people would be clamoring to have much of the content of prime time television forced under an .xxx-like label.

I think it's rather obvious what would fall under the .xxx, whatever is currently considered xxx content; basically anything you might find perusing sites like Youporn. Everything else, novels, movies or whatever that wouldn't be considered hardcore porn would have no reason to be dumped under that domain. This includes softcore and even the occasional film that features actors who actually had sex during filming. Some of that content might fall into a grey area, but I think most people wouldn't consider it hardcore porn.

It's as simple as that.

Re:What About the non Obvious cases?

[wisnoskij]

What about sites that contain content that is undeniable porn, but also pander in a equal amount of completely non adult content.
4chan for example has places for porn and places for stuff that is absolutely not porn.
A lot of Anime sites include content made for children alongside of the most degraded hentai.

Well...

[WSOGMM]

I, for one, will be expecting a new Pavlovian reflex. Every time a man's fingers hit the keys, '.xxx', he will experience a rapid erection. It can be called "The Pavlovian Bonereflex".

Viagra sales will go down, Microsoft will patent the dot-x-x-x keystroke, and Vin Diesel fans will act like nothing happened.

Re:Well...

[kenrblan]

Microsoft won't patent the dot-x-x-x keystroke. They will add it as a new key on the keyboard next to the Windows button (and that would be patentable if not for this prior art).

AnonymousCoward.XXX ? Don't count on it.

[psyclone]

These are the current requirements for getting a working .xxx domain in either Sunrise or Landrush. (No mention of open registration once landrush is over, but the requirements will probably be the same.

Sponsored Community Validation Process:

      1. Person/company submits an application for a name in Sunrise A or Landrush with their registrar of choice — they pay their registrar directly for that.
      2. ICM sends the person/company an introduction email that includes a validation link — to the Registrant Contact email address provided with their application.
      3. The person/company clicks on the validation link in the ICM email and is directed to the ICM Membership Application.
      4. The person/company fills out the ICM Membership Application — free of charge. (Takes about 5 minutes to complete — only have to do this one time per email account, not per domain.)
      5. As a part of ICM's Membership Application, the person has to provide the following:
                  1. Address
                  2. Phone Number
      6. As a part of ICM's Membership Application, the person has to attest to the following:
                  1. Provide correct birth date information
                  2. Agree to ICM's Registry-Registrant Agreement
                  3. Attest to being a member of the Sponsored Community
      7. ICM will call the phone number provided during the Membership Application.
      8. In that phone call, ICM will provide the person with a PIN # (real time) and the applicant will input the PIN# in the designated area in the Membership Application process.
      9. Once the person completes the Membership Application, ICM provides the registrar a Membership Token thus allowing all of the .xxx domain names associated with that email account to resolve.

Slash.XXX

[Anonymous Coward]

porn for nerds

Obvious Problem

[lymond01]

I'm going to Godwin this and say that moving to an xxx domain is the same as getting branded, numbered, or badged. It's fine in the beginning, but wait until someone doesn't want you around. Same reason people have a problem with gun registration. Actually, same reason people have a problem with giving away any personal information that may categorize them -- and ALL personal information does.

1) I am white, african-american, mexican, asian, etc
2) I am Catholic, Christian, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, etc
3) My phone number is...
4) I use this ATM most often
5) I fly Jetblue, Southwest, American, United, most often
6) I donate to these charities
7) I voted democrat, republican, green, libertarian, etc
8) My website is a .com, .org, .net, .xxx, etc

There's always a chance that somewhere down the road, someone in power will change things, and not only will white-skinned JetBlue Libertarians be rounded up, but your name and address will be in bold in *their* never-deleted electronic files.

You just wait. :-)

Re:Obvious Problem

[crutchy]

xxx domains will be charged an "adult industry communication tax"

time to catch on sex.com

[Kildjean]

i just registered goatse.xxx and se.xxx

Re:time to catch on sex.com

[Lissajous]

se.xxx - Swedish porn?

icann running out of money?

[crutchy]

reeks of revenue-raising to me. why xxx over the myriad of other possibilities? of course its because sex sells.

This TLD is Just a Shakedown

[Pauldow]

The real reason for the .xxx TLD isn't to segregate porn sites. It's a money grab against other companies.
Now Disney, McDonalds, Pepsi, and thousands of other companies have to register their domains with the .XXX to be sure that no one else registers their names.

Re:This TLD is Just a Shakedown

[smellsofbikes]

The real reason for the .xxx TLD isn't to segregate porn sites. It's a money grab against other companies.
Now Disney, McDonalds, Pepsi, and thousands of other companies have to register their domains with the .XXX to be sure that no one else registers their names.

This isn't clear to me. If you're Pepsi, why not just wait for someone else to pay for pepsi.xxx and then sue them for cybersquatting and take it from them and get it for free?

Re:This TLD is Just a Shakedown

[Anonymous Coward]

indeed; i tagged this story shakedown

Re:This TLD is Just a Shakedown

[Anonymous Coward]

The real reason for the .xxx TLD isn't to segregate porn sites. It's a money grab against other companies.
Now Disney, McDonalds, Pepsi, and thousands of other companies have to register their domains with the .XXX to be sure that no one else registers their names.

Hah... That is actually what I am doing now... Buying them up presales and going to resale :P

The Adult industry doesn't want this

[Anonymous Coward]

The creation of XXX is something that most of the Adult industry doesn't want. ISPs may decide that their DNS isn't going to resolve XXX, the new TLD will get blocked in many places.

Most Adult sites are likely to retain a COM or similar address, making the XXX of limited use.

Re:The Adult industry doesn't want this

[Narcocide]

Have you worked in the industry? In many regions in the world the adult entertainment industry struggles for legitimacy on a daily basis. I am pretty sure this is a level of plausible deniability they are all for. I suspect that you underestimate how big of a gold rush this really is.

Re:See Spot

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

TSAGROPER.XXX

Get it while it's hot!

But did someone register /.xxx yet?

[Anonymous Coward]

If /.xxx was registered by Geeknet, then it would seem that ICANN got what they wanted (more money). If not, I'm curious to see how long it takes to get registered.

open4r.xxx

[Anonymous Coward]

wait, what?!

Amish pr0n == ASCII art?

[TiggertheMad]

I am going to register AmishXXXChatboard.xxx right now...

Of course, the whole .xxx domain is a big silly waste of time. The prigs want to control and sanitize the net, and we all know that is never going to happen. The fun will be when people go register .xxx domain names that aren't in any way adult related. You know, 'FuffyBunniesandFuzzyDuckies.xxx', a site composed of nothing but cute pictures of fuzzy ducklings and baby bunnies.

Whom is the whois?

[Nethead]

rosa:/home/joe>whois nethead.xxx
No whois server is known for this kind of object.

Superbowl.XXX

[bill_mcgonigle]

Ah, well, 1996 has come and gone.

Still, I might call it dot-thirty.

Fred Phelps

[KingAlanI]

Fred Phelps is in charge of the Westboro Baptist Church, a group of fundamentalists whose extreme anti-homosexuality makes them look rather ridiculous.

I think Enderandrew was referencing the supposed concept that homophobes are closet homosexuals themselves, and that it would thus be a gay pron site

Re:Fred Phelps

[jawtheshark]

Preferably something like lemonparty given the age of Fred Phelps... *grin*

What about the Pirate industry?

[bennomatic]

I personally would love to see a .RRR TLD. Or would it be .ARR?

Move all porn to this

[unixisc]

Excellent plan. All porn sites under other TLDs, like .com, .org. .us., et al should be moved to this, so that there are no porn sites under normal domains e.g. Whitehouse.com should become Whitehouse.xxx, while Whitehouse.com itself could re-direct to Whitehouse.gov. Just one example.

Under the IPv6 address assignments, assign something 2013::/16 to all xxx domain sites. Routers can then easily filter them either in, or out, depending on the wishes of their owners.

Re:Move all porn to this

[black soap]

What about things that are nude, but not porn? sexually suggestive, but not nude? What about erotic literature? What about the Bible?

Re:Move all porn to this

[Anonymous Coward]

Sexuallysuggestive.xxx. Notporn.xxx. Eroticliterature.xxx. Bible.xxx. Hadiths.xxx. Et al.

But, but, but

[spxZA]

http://xxx.xxx.xxx/ doesn't resolve :-( Damnit!

Already grabbed up names!

[jonnyf5ve]

Already grabbed up youporn facebook porntube playboy hustler I just HOPE that I beat the sunrise period... 22 more days!!!! THEN MONIES!!!!

.XXX

[black soap]

Still, I might call it dot-thirty.

Others might call it thought-dirty.

Re:.XXX

[bill_mcgonigle]

touche!

Better TLD would be .CUM

[Skeezix]

Just sayin'.

I just hope now....

[hesaigo999ca]

I just hope now that all adult content websites, will move over to the .xxx names, and leave all the other .com for real word companies....although I do not think girlswithbigbooty.com will be anything else other then Kim Kardashian at the beach...

XXX

[Anonymous Coward]

Did they put Vin Diesel in charge of the TLD?