In the words of someone or another of great intellect — “No — Duh!”
That has been one response to the reaction pervaders of Internet porn have had to the suggestion that all web sites that are distributing smut should have “.xxx” in the place of “.com” or “.org.”
To the rest of us, the suggestion just makes a lot of sense.
Then you consider what the impact could be on the money that the Internet porn industry — and INDUSTRY is the correct term —  would be, and you understand why those selling porn would be upset.
You can’t link to a Betsy Homemaker recipe website with one or two letters different, or copy — almost — the address for a popular history or entertainment site if you can’t have .org and .com on the end of your address.
So much for snapping up would-be viewers while they are looking for something completely non-porn. Believe it or not, by the way, there are some uses for the World Wide Web that do not involve naked people pretending to have incredible sex for the benefit of other people.
If the address itself clearly contains .xxx you certainly are not going to dissuade anyone who intentionally turns to such content, so what’s the problem? Come on. It clearly is a problem only if you are hoping to get people onto the porn site by accident, to be kind, or by trickery, to be more accurate.
According to the Associated Press, representatives from “the industry” argue the change will “cost website operators millions in unnecessary fees and make porn sites easier to block by governments.”
Meanwhile, the change would make it clear to everyone what is being searched for.
If everything is running on the up and up, what can be wrong with that?
If everything is on the up and up, of course.
Maybe that is the “No — Duh!” issue in this whole situation, after all.
— Chuck Smith