Why did it take ICANN 6 years to approve something like this?

so how long until some greedy a****** buys up all the domain names he can think of so he can sell them for a higher price? it took what 12 hours after the last domain they created?

Well that is good thinking, except cyber squatting, which is what sitting on domain names is, is now ILLEGAL, and was when the dot coms came into the fray.

Some people make big money sitting on popular names, like delta.com, not sure how much that guy made but Delta finally gave in. Remember they were once delta-air.com

A spam domain.. hmmm.. Let me look for somthing.. OHHHH.. I see nothing but credibility on this one.. Adds_R_Us.tel. BLA.. ok.. Could be wrong. but once again.. Bech. I'm sure some sucker will buy some domains on this one..

Well just who are those suckers? That's what I want to know.. who would need a .tel domain?

Verizon? Bellsouth? Would Earthlink qualify? I am perplexed as to what the .tel is supposed to represent.

But looking at the article, its like an official phone book, from what I can tell.. but who stands to benefit?

Funny how this is *only* going to affect companies trying to avoid someone else buying the domain.

Other than that...completely useless.

More money for ICANN/registrars though.

So, this is approved... tell me once again why .xxx wasn't?

Exactly. I understand that people will not use .xxx for some semi-legal and illegal pron ventures, but would be a great way to help separate porn from the rest - who cares if we openly embrace porn on the web with .xxx - it's there and we allow to be sold in store!

Why make a domain for porn? There's already porn on every domain, why add another?

IF all the companys involved in porn were 'encouraged' to move to the .xxx names ...

... then parents would be able to protect children by filtering .xxx names

just a thought

lol, that would happen. NOT!

And porn isn't the only bad thing on the Internet. Go to rotten.com or democrats.org for example.

Wouldn't it be better and easier if they came out with a .Kid domain and you only allow your kids to access .kid sites instead of trying to move all porn (only) to a new domain?

And don't get me wrong, the .Kid domain has its flaws too.

Well, if they were legally obligated to move to .xxx then it would have a huge impact.

No, of course you cannot put every bad site under a domain. This would, however, be an EXCELLENT way to help control the issue.

As for .kid domains: There are so many legitamite web sites out there housed under .com, .org, or whatever that it'd be a massive waste of time and money to move over to a new domain.

Then of course you get loopholes, like .com sites redirecting to .xxx... there's no porn on the .com sites!

But yeah... I don't see how .xxx was a bad idea at least. It was at least worth a try.

If they were to introduce .xxx then you'd want to force webmasters into buying .xxx if they want to display "Adult" material.

Some companies may be too diverse, and be well known for a .com domain, and actually venture into other media than porn. If they were to buy a .xxx then they'd have a hard time forming a new base, which could cost them a lot (all because .xxx was introduced).

.xxx would be ideal, but why introduce it if it's sole purpose was to distinguish "Adult" sites from other sites AND you don't have the money or resources to enforce that? If you come across another domain with "Adult" material other than .xxx then this idealistic creation would be wasted.

the way I understand it, the XXX domain would be like admitting there IS a porn sector on the net. Besides, what porn site in their right mind would broadcast the xxx domain, when they are trying to attract new comers? Think about it.

I am trying to attract customers to a world that is at best immoral, its not illegal (in most states) but if you are a domain administrator, you can simply block xxx sites. That would pretty much eliminate all potential porn right?

Wrong. What assurance do you have that a porn site, under the guise of singlesdating.com simply would weasel out of it, by saying they are offering a service. You can't be convinced that porn site admins would ALWAYS stat to stict code of ethics, at least in business. They want to make money, not be shuned, and therefore, having their own domain that can be easily blocked, wouldn't help.

from the ICANN perspective, WE know Porn exist, just like pediphiles and the like, but by setting up a separate domain as XXX would be condoning such behavior. They would rather simply ignore the issue, and hope that spyware programs, and antivirus will filter it enough, rather than placing the porn in their own group.

Its like when people complain about having a strip club, they know they exist, but no one wants to have one near their house. Having a XXX would be like giving the porn sector a place, but no one wants to give them a place. that's the problem.

Hookers, we know they work the street corner. Why do they keep coming back and risk getting arrested? Because there is a market for them, and they can make money. If you want LEGAL prostitution, you would need to go to Mustang Ranch in Nevada, but giving them a special place in every city (which is what xxx domain would be) would be somewhat legallizing a huge problem, so they can't come back and say "well they gave us a safe haven, we figured it was ok"

WE know they already have one, but OTHER people don't want to acknowledge it, they would rather simply not do anything special, especially when there is no guarantee they would keep their porn sites limited to only XXX domains.

So what qualifies as a .tel?

Yes, I would like to know also. Looked at ICANN's site with the latest news being about the .XXX domain extension.

My guess is any site where the owner is happy to pay for the domain.