Should we be concerned with the TLD .XXX?

[Thos003]

Should brands be concerned with registering or blocking the .XXX TLDs? Should individuals care about .XXX registration? Will links from .XXX be helpful? Will a 301 redirect from a .XXX be harmful?

Bonus Question added:

Should .XXX's show up in safe search results?

[deltasystems]

Should brands be concerned with registering or blocking the .XXX TLDs?

Reputation management is one of your strong suits, or so your profile says. You of all people should know that registering all relevant top level domains is necessary in a situation where a business is serious about their reputation.

Should individuals care about .XXX registration?

Some will be interested, some won't. Not everyone wants to develop a .xxx domain. Maybe I don't understand this question?

Will links from .XXX be helpful?

Matt Cutts has stated on more than one occasion that the domain extension does not matter. Yes.

Will a 301 redirect from a .XXX be harmful?

It would be too easy to register .XXX domains and redirect them to your competitors. No.

[EGOL]

XXX means different things to different people.... in Appalachia it means "been through the still three times".  So, someone should register moonshine.xxx and build a site.

[ShaMenz]

LOL..nice suggestion EGOL, although I fear there might be some pretty significant Bounce as a consequence of disappointed surfers not finding what they were expecting.

oops...did I say that?

[RyanKent]

Bounce rate on a XXX site. I foresee an endless supply of innuendos....

[KeriMorgret]

Remember, the moderators are watching (and laughing).

[Highland]

There are some people who swear that a link from a .gov or a .edu site is worth more than a similar .com or .whatever. I've never seen any proof that the extension alone carries more weight just by itself. I think there are other factors that make .edu and .gov valuable (unique content, natural inbound links, not many outbound links, etc)

1. Should you block .xxx? Depends what the content of the site is. The idea behind .xxx is to make adult sites but that's not going to stop an adult site from buying a .com or a car site selling cars from buying cars.xxx
2. If I were starting a website I would be careful. The .xxx extension is known to be for adult sites (as in X rated, or, in 'net lingo, NSFW) and it makes for easy filtering for some people (I guarantee you that some people will think that they can block .xxx and be safe from unwanted adult sites). If you buy one, some people might avoid you solely on that basis.
3. Any link can be helpful but you need to consider that Adult sites can have difficulty in gaining traction and that is undoubtedly going to play against any .xxx site, adult or not (remember, porn sites are also notorious for hiring spammers). If you already do due diligence on your links (which you should be doing anyways) then I don't think there's any special warnings warranted here.
4. Unless you buy some previously adult domain I don't see why it would. Same rules as discussed apply.

@EGOL not a bad idea. Maybe someone should buy dosequis.xxx, just for the irony

[Thos003]

Yes... I have actually thought of all the viral funny stuff that could be done with .XXX sites, hence the questions. What good is a .XXX if it's not going to show up in the search? Or what value or de-value will a .XXX link have? Heck, I really like the possibilities, but at $99/year the cost for humor takes on a higher risk.

I know it's pure speculation at this point, but since the landrush is on, my domaining addictions are coming full swing... Did I tell you about www.IamAdomainJunkie.com?

[Thos003]

@Zachary

Hmm... good strategy on the redirect them to a competitor. I think I shall buy some just for that laugh!

... Thanks for reading my profile. I understand as a business owner that insurance is both good and necessarily. But I don't particularly like extortion, which is what this feels like. I hate malpractice insurance and I'm not even a doctor.

Further, I have a feeling that the .XXX's won't be showing up in safe search. Still have not got response from Matt Cutts on that but Duane Forrester believes that Bing will not be showing them. So why should I bother? What good is a viral piece done on a .XXX if the links are worthless and the domain doesn't show up in the searches?

[Thos003]

I'd go with TresEquis.xxx

[mickey11]

It probably will not help or hurt google looks at each site on an individual basis - tld is not important unless you are talking at about country specific google websites like google.ru for example and having an ru tld.