If You Thought .XXX Was A Major Headache

[Bec]

.... then you're in for some mind numbing business and financial decisions with roughly 700 new TLD extensions expected during 2013. Just a quick run down in the Lifestyle and Identity categories show domain extensions like

.men
.gay
.lgbt
.latino
.black
.adult
.porn
.love
.dating

.... you can see the other categories and even sign up to be notified when something that interests you becomes available here

[longboardjim]

I can't see anything beyond ".com" for myself ... of course as domain registrations increase to almost $15.00 each I could be pursuaded otherwise.

- jim "Escort Services will cost 23% more if you hire me through my ".xxx" website! , there also is no "In Service" or "Massage Only" available!" - LOL

[Mansized]

I'm waiting for them to get rid of extensions altogether.. all websites will just have one name..like "Be sure to check out "Doug" for all the hot men!"

[Evil Chris]

This is probably good news.
Hopefully the major SEs will wake up and and give equal time to sites all over the map and not just the major tubes.

So if it's something that levels the playing field and does a little re-distribution of the best traffic, I'm all for it.

[dirtyratstudios]

At least .gay is short. Unlike .restaurant! But like Jim I'm very happy with my .coms.

.gay is going to be easy to block.

Are there limits on how the annual cost of these new TLD extensions could increase in future? I would be worried about buying a $10 domain then the price shooting up to $100 a year.

[Lykos]

Fuck .... I guess time is changing

[Bec]

oh and .sex and .sexy .... boggles the mind on all the domain names that can be created. As to price, I haven't read anything yet about them costing more than a regular dot com. If I do, I'll keep ya posted

[dirtyratstudios]

Thanks. I had a quick look and .xxx seems to be the second most costly at $84.89 per year at Namecheap. And .cm is $98 per year.

I think the days of people trying to buy up every version of their brand name are well and truly over and ultimately that will reduce traffic to these new TLDs because the public will know that trying the .com is the best way to find the genuine business.

[Bec]

I think the question that begs to be asked is: did those that setup the domain run and price gouging for .xxx know about this upcoming massive TLD release? Don't new TLD's take several years to get approved?

I don't know much about the whole selection and approval process, but it just seems strange to now have a ton of various sexually related extensions to choose from that weren't there a few weeks ago, and right after the .xxx domains came down in price ...

[HunkyLuke]

This has been in the works for years and years, I believe .xxx was the first true vanity TLD so they "broke ground" but ICAAN has had a plan for years to allow anyone to buy a new TLD, then run it themselves. Buying it does cost $$ and has some solid management contracts to ensure that it actually works, but the private company is fully responsible for running it and ensuring it works.

here's an article from 2011 when it was actually approved, but I believe it was planned for several years before that:
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Cloud-Compu...omains-775234/

"There is no limit to the number of suffixes that can be created, but the process for applying for one is both expensive and complex. It will cost $185,000 to apply for a custom suffix and applicants would need to show they have a legitimate claim to the name they are buying. ICANN will keep the application fee even if the application is rejected, the non-profit group said. It will also cost about $25,000 a year to run the registry after it's approved."

[HunkyLuke]

oh, further on this, .xxx pricing is fully at the discretion of ICM Registry LLC, and they charged exorbitant prices BECAUSE THEY COULD!!! (and they did end up making record amounts of profit for a new tld)

[dirtyratstudios]

Good question Bec...

These days so many people find sites using search engines and don't look at the domain, let alone the extension. I guess one good thing is that it lets businesses get all sorts of new short domain names and if you get something snappy and then market the hell out it, it could be worthwhile: gay.sex and so on.

But I'm not sure of the benefit of something like pizza.restaurant. Assuming people can spell restaurant, they have to know that there's a "restaurant" TLD and how long will that take to become known? I guess the idea is people will type in burger.restaurant or chinese.restaurant to find what they want. But what are the chances of it turning up a chinese restaurant in your town? Isn't it easier to put "chinese restaurant london" into Google?

[Bec]

So basically you're saying that the private company garnered enough funds from .xxx to put up the cash for all these others?? Should that be worrisome about eventual pricing?

And how do these new extensions play out in the G**gle returns? Seems anything to do with Adult is having a hard time getting listed, regardless of the extension it is on.

And where does that put us with possible country based internet bans? Are some extensions vague enough to slip through the net?

[dirtyratstudios]

My reading of it is that any company can apply for and run a TLD extension. I assume they can then sell domain names on it? But what would happen if that company went bust?

[Evil Chris]

Regarding the price of registration of these TLDs, I'd venture to say that the owners of the TLDs will determine the prices themselves.