What happened with the .SI extension just a little over two weeks ago was a domain industry earthquake. The ground shifted under us without warning. The game changed. .AI had a cousin and a rival at the same time: .SI. Most of us didn’t see it coming. Kudos to those who did. I believe that earthquake is going to have major casualties. Between .AI and .SI, the new gTLDs & the ones coming online just got a gut punch. Who knew 2 long shots, ccTLD's, could emerge to challenge the alternatives & stand alongside .COM? For years, I described what was going on as a stampede.1500+ horses in a race where only 3 could finish in the money. Right now, .COM, .AI and .SI are the 3 I’m watching. Whether .SI earns lasting standing is still an open question. Here’s what I’ll be looking for: @DNJournal’s next sales report. I want to see what the numbers look like. What is this new shooting star made of? You can already see the results @NameBio Nobody can say with certainty how this will unfold. But there are clues. Weigh the evidence. Stay objective. Pay attention to the market cuz the market will decide. None of us gets the deciding vote. Our job has always been to get ahead of the market. We don’t chase markets. We anticipate them. That’s what investors do. They get ahead of the tide. They get ahead of the wave. They get ahead of the future. But let me say this as clearly as I can: marginal domains will not cut it. Focus on meaningful, 1-word domain names. Why waste your time with silly stuff at the beginning of a gold rush? A gold rush doesn’t guarantee gold in every shovel. We’ll see how much lasting value emerges when these names get to market. That’s still unknown. Is there a need? Is there want? Is there desire? Is there use? Is there a benefit? For the right domain names, I believe the answer is yes. But you still have to pick the right names. That goes for every extension. That IS the game. I expect this shift to put downward pressure on marginal names in other extensions. To me, we’re watching attention & speculative money consolidate in real time, whether people like it or not. SURPRISE! Do you hear that sucking sound? That’s the sound of money flowing through fewer funnels than it did just days ago. Many domainers will drop whatever they’re doing &, for better or worse, spend their time digging for .SI. Money & attention redirected there are money & attention unavailable somewhere else. That’s where I see pressure coming for other extensions. This happens in every industry. Marketing & business evolve. New alternatives change where people spend their time & money. Regardless of the long-term outcome, this looks like an immediate & sharp turn. Will many .SI registrations simply be protection for existing .AI businesses? Of course!! It was the first thing I did. I bought Betty .si because I had to protect what I already had in Betty .ai. That was a business decision. Leaving that opening was a risk I wasn’t willing to take. If I own the .COM, I don’t feel the same need for other extensions. If I’m building a business on .AI, however, I have to consider what a competing name on .SI could mean for my brand. For my business, owning both made sense. The headwinds facing other extensions could become stronger than anything they’ve experienced before. That’s my take. It doesn’t mean I’m right. But that’s what I see unfolding, given the circumstances. Now we watch what the market actually does. I speak earl & I speak clearly. I don’t wait for the outcome to show up with an opinion. Read what I said in 2013 & 2014 about the stampede. Read what I said in 1996 & 1997. And perhaps more importantly, read what I wrote last year. I said 2026 would be a monster of a year & 2027 would be even bigger. I’ve always taken a strong stand while explaining the pros, the cons & what could change my mind. 30+ years of putting my judgment on the record. That’s how credibility is earned. On the record. For the record.