Can’t Boycott a Top Level Domain Name — Sorry, You

Some adult operators want to boycott .xxx. Yeah, good luck with that.

I understand why some adult web site owners are upset regarding .xxx.

But trying to boycott the fresh top level domain name is a ridiculous idea.

Ahead of its rally at the ICANN meeting in San Francisco the Free Speech Coalition stated it would try to organize a boycott ought to .xxx pass. At the time I wrote:

If .xxx gets the green light anyway, Free Speech Coalition is calling for a boycott of .xxx. That would be difficult; surely competitors would snap up each others’ domain names.

Now Free Speech Coalition is following through with its boycott idea.

It won’t work.

It’s difficult to boycott a finite resource. It’s like American’s trying to boycott oil. What else will they turn to?

Scratch that. Boycotting second level domains under a fresh TLD is even more difficult than boycotting oil. It’s like your car can only handle one type of gasoline. If you don’t buy it someone who’s angry with you will, and then you won’t have anything to fuel your car.

Some types of boycott work. If I’m mad at a firm and I have alternatives to its products, a boycott might work.

But there are no alternatives here. A boycott is one big game of chicken. It’s just challenging your competitors to buy a unique resource that will give them a competitive edge. Or at least hurt you.

It’s time for Free Speech Coalition to think a little bit more strategically. Perhaps it ought to consider applying for an unrestricted .sex when the fresh TLD round opens. Or .porn.

That’s something it could rally its base around.