As the name suggests, the “middle ground” fallacy (logical error) is basically the assumption that the truth is *always* in the middle or that a compromise *always* represents the best solution. Since it makes you sound “reasonable” rather than a person with extreme views, this fallacy is unfortunately widely used but just like the other ones, it’s a logical error that should be avoided.

People hear things like “the truth is always in the middle” so often that it’s easy to understand why it frequently ends up deeply ingrained in their subconscious. Now I’m not saying you should never compromise, not at all.

A lot of times, a compromise represents the best solution but *not* always and therein lies the lesson we have to learn. Let me just give you an extreme example:

Person A: do you think rape should be legal or illegal?

Person B: well, the truth is always in the middle.

As I’m sure you agree, this statement is ridiculous because if we were to apply Person B’s logic, we’d end up saying something along the lines of “a little bit of rape should be allowed” or “a little bit of murder is ok”… you get the point 🙂

Now of course, the example above is extreme but the principle I wanted to refer to should be obvious: don’t make the mistake of thinking that the truth is always in the middle or that a compromise always represents the best solution. Analyze each situation on a case by case basis and avoid generalizations.

In the domaining industry, the “middle ground” fallacy is dangerous because it encourages you to spread yourself too thin. For example:

Person A: should I buy some .gTLD1 domains?

Person B: never heard of .gTLD1 but still, it would be a good compromise to at least buy some.

Does this sound like a good idea?

I hope not 🙂

After the first round of new gTLD releases, there will be approximately 1,000 extensions to choose from (excluding the dot brands) and such a “compromise” could prove to be quite costly.

No, you don’t *have* to buy some domains in each and every new gTLD as a compromise, that would be an awful idea. If an extension is just plain bad or poorly promoted, why should you spend/waste your money? Wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on just the options which you consider have a good risk/reward ratio rather than spread yourself too thin?

A compromise is not always the best solution, the truth is not always in the middle and all in all, I hope today’s article about domaining industry fallacies helped you understand that sometimes, not being “reasonable” is the best approach 🙂