Inside the mind of Brad Shaw

[BradShaw]

http://adultbeat.com/article.php?id=852

Luke did a good interview.

[sarettah]

Damn Brad...If you want people to read it, do it Duck style...

just cut and paste the whole fucking thing.....


The Ultimate Brad Shaw Interview
by Duke Floored

I email Lensman before I begin the giant task of transcribing my 40-minute talk with Brad:

The nastiest thing he said about you was:

* That you had a nervous breakdown last night when you banned him and posted on his board (I explained that "Lens" on JBM was not you but he did not believe me)

* He says you are mad at him for employing Cheshire, who used to work for you.

...............

Lensman replies:

There are over 60 other adult webmaster boards out there. GFY doesn't spam on other boards and doesn't allow other boards to spam themselves on GFY. That has been GFY's #1 rule since day one. Other boards respect that. If someone repeatedly ignores that rule, their posting privileges on GFY will be disabled.

There are only five basic rules on GFY.

http://www.FuckYouLensman.com/gfy_faqs.html

Basic Rules of GFY

1. No spamming other boards! We don't spam other boards about GFY. We need the same courtesy!

The rest of his ramblings you mention below are nonsense.

..............

I emailed Cheshire for comment and she did not respond. But her picture looks hot.

I just died in your arms tonight. It must've been something you said. That's a much maligned song.

..............

Brad: "The timing of your interview turned out to be good."

Duke: "What was the inspiration for starting up www.justblowme.com?"

Brad: "I've supported so many other chat boards over the years and made so many other people money, that it just seemed like a natural progression to open up my own board. I've been asked 50 times to do it. Finally, someone came to me with an idea that I wanted to do. There's money in chatboards, traffic you can put into your programs. With all the hours I was spending a day on GFY and Oprano and other boards, it just made sense."

Duke: "Do you think anyone is really making any money with chatboards aside from GFY?"

Brad: "GFY is obviously the 10,000 pound gorilla. Yet a few other people make money."

Duke: "How is Justblowme any different from the other chat boards?"

Brad: "I'm there. We have a private strictly-business password-protected forum. The main board isn't that much different from GFY except we're trying to moderate it more and make it a better read than GFY. We didn't start this up to compete with GFY.

"I want to make money. I want to control the webmaster traffic. I want to have a forum to promote my programs. We have a rewards program for posting."

Duke: "What's the nature of your relationship with Lensman?"

Brad: "He and I don't know each other that well. We've never done that much business. He never appreciated that I posted on GFY. Then I stopped posting on GFY. He would go out of his way to get me to come back there. I don't have anything against the guy. We were supposed to have dinner next week when I was in Lake Tahoe, but he seems overly sensitive. I don't know why he took things so hard. His history shows that he's overly sensitive."

Duke: "What's your critique of GFY?"

Brad: "It has the most webmaster eyeballs. It's a busy place. Unfortunately, the past weeks it seems to have gotten out of control. That he had this huge cash-cow that was going downhill, he decided to take a more hands-on approach.

"I think the job he's done as a moderator speaks for itself. I'm not a good moderator. He hasn't done a good job. I think he's done us more good than harm because of all the free publicity. Banning me from his board... I don't need GFY and GFY doesn't need me. I think him closing any threads by anyone questioning what he did last night shows paranoia on his part.

"I've never been about being number one. I'd be happy to be the number two chatboard."

Duke: "What else are you launching?"

Brad: "We just launched a new version of SICCash.com, our webmaster program. We have better stats.

"I haven't pushed our webmaster program much. It's done its own thing the past few years. My staff takes care of it and I make private deals. With the changes going on in webmaster programs [lower payouts], we'll pick up more traffic because we're maintaining the higher payouts."

Duke: "How have the VISA/MC programs affected your business?"

Brad: "We're less aggressive with our cross-sells, which has cost us money. To stay under 1% chargebacks on a monthly basis is tough. It takes resources, thinking, planning."

Duke: "David van der Pool?"

Brad: "He's a brilliant businessman. I don't think he's going to pay me ($100k Brad claims he's owed). He won't come to the boards like KB."

Duke: "Has speaking out on the chatboards made you or lost you money?"

Brad: "It has made my business from the start. I dropped off the chatboards when I got engaged and married. My focus wasn't into business. Since I've come back to the boards, I've made a lot of deals and made a lot of money. Just being around more, on ICQ more, being more vocal, has helped me do more business. Just opening my own chat board for a week has open up doors. People want to do business. People want to be seen on Justblowme. For every one who hates me, there are five people who love me.

"This new chat board is a challenge. Other than that, this business is boring."

Duke: "You enjoy the controversy?"

Brad: "It is boring to sit in front of a computer all day. Controversy spices things up, and 98% of the time I am able to take the controversy and turn it into business. I'm not here for the attention. I'm in this business to make money. I didn't seek to have controversy with Lensman. He brought that on himself.

"We still have a shooting studio in Vancouver. We're shooting reality video for a lot of the big players. We shoot 30-50 hardcore scenes a month."

Duke: "What happened to your feud with KB?"

Brad: "I haven't seen KB (Kevin Blatt) around. You can only beat a dead horse for so long."

Duke: "Why were you buying a mailing list in the first place?"

Brad, pauses. "Is that a rhetorical question?"

Duke: "No."

Brad: "I was buying a mailing list to mail."

Duke: "But isn't that spamming?"

Brad: "It was supposed to be an opt-in mailing list [bought from David Schlesinger at Vivid, the sale brokered by KB, for a crappy mailing list]. The first time we mailed it, we found out it wasn't an opt-in mailing list."

Duke: "What sort of mail programs do you have? How aggressive are you?"

Brad: "We do little mail. The only mail we do is off the bottom of our boxes on our paysites that collect email addresses. With all the new legislation and mail blocking. It doesn't matter how legitimate the mailing address is, it is still a pain in the ass to get it through to Hotmail, AOL..."

Duke: "Do you stay in touch with JoeE [Joseph Elkind]?"

Brad: "We send emails back and forth a couple of times a week. He says he will announce some exciting news on Justblowme.com tomorrow."

Duke: "Doesn't he owe you money?"

Brad: "We had a misunderstanding and we worked it out. He paid me everything."

Duke: "Did John Bennett (J and JoeE work things out?"

Brad: "I try not to get involved with that because I have business relations with both of them."

Duke: "What do you love and what do you hate about working in this business?"

Brad: "I love the money. I've made some good friends. I hate the anonymity of the business. It is too easy for non-businessmen to come into the business. The level for entry is too low." Duke: "Are you around porn models?"

Brad: "Never. I haven't attended a porn shoot in 18 months. I'm a businessman. I try to distance myself... I don't have the patience to deal with talent."

Duke: "Are you monogamous?"

Brad: "Absolutely." Five second pause. Brad: "That was an interesting question. I wasn't expecting that."

I have the feeling throughout the interview that Brad is prepared for whatever I will ask him, and if he is not prepared, he's going to keep his tongue on a tight leash. So I threw this in to see what would happen.

Brad: "I don't do drugs. I don't live the crazy lifestyle. My wife and I. We stay. We watch reality TV. We go to the lake. We travel. I live low-key. I'm public on the chat boards but at home I'm low-key. I'm in this business to make money to support my family.

"If you were to talk walk into my office in Dallas, you'd have a hard time telling what we do. I like to run a professional business."

Duke: "If you're running a professional business, isn't it dangerous to become romantically involved with the people who work for you?"

Brad: "It's probably not a smart thing but how else are you going to meet people? It just so happens that I met someone who came to work for me. I fell in love and I got married and I couldn't be happier. I'm not going to make any excuses for that. I don't think it is a good idea to make a habit of it. I plan on sticking with this one for a long time."

Duke: "There seem to be some people who sleep their way in and out of jobs."

Brad: "I don't care to comment on that."

Brad says VISA/MC are of more concern to webmasters than prosecutions for obscenity. "If VISA/MC decided to make the chargeback limit .75%, I don't think I could get under that. And I run a clean operation.

"When I started going after David van der Pool, I got a lot of emails telling me to watch my ass. If someone owes me money, I am not going to shut my mouth."

Duke: "Even if a person is alleged to have organized crime connections?"

Brad: "I could care less. It takes two seconds to find where I live and where I am every day.

"People joke about me going to conventions with bodyguards. I don't need bodyguards. I walk around by myself."

Duke: "Did you see traffic to Crescent back in the day?"

Brad: "I didn't send one hit to Crescent. I was so high on my own horse, I wouldn't send traffic to Crescent. In hindsight, I probably should have. I was brokering a lot of traffic then and I sent it to my own sites. I could've made a lot more money sending it to Crescent. My morals were so high back then but I didn't do it."

Duke: "What's happened to your morals?"

Brad: "The business has changed. Would I send traffic to a scam now? Probably not."

Duke: Did you send traffic to John Atherton's Paris Hilton thing?"

Brad: "I can't say we didn't because I don't control the traffic directly. Would I? I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't because I know he'd pay me."

Duke: "Have you done business with Greg Lasrado, Scott Phillips, and the other webmasters out of Brisbane?"

Brad: "Yes. Several years ago, some of the Australians felt like they didn't need to license content. I was able to work that out with them. Now all the big Australians own all my content properly licensed. I went at it on Netpond with Scott Phillips and we worked out our differences. These days, those guys aren't around much. They've made so much money...

[Buff]

That was lame. Let me interview Brad. I want to ask him about his not having the patience to deal with talent comment.

[Carrie]

Thanks, Sare. I tried getting there earlier today and kept getting page not found.
I was able to get there just now, though. Here's the rest of your post, I guess it got chopped off.

Brad: "Yes. Several years ago, some of the Australians felt like they didn't need to license content. I was able to work that out with them. Now all the big Australians own all my content properly licensed. I went at it on Netpond with Scott Phillips and we worked out our differences. These days, those guys aren't around much. They've made so much money..."

Duke: "How do you feel when you find out the people you do business with spam bestiality?"

Brad: "I'm not a fan of bestiality but it's legal in Europe."

Duke: "Have you sent traffic to bestiality sites?"

Brad: "Never."

Duke: "Credit card processors like CCBill have had no problem with that stuff."

Brad: "People in the past have done things they wouldn't do now. Everyone has skeletons in their closet. Fortunately, I have few, because if I did, they would all be on the chat boards. People try to dig up dirt on me but they fail to realize that I've had people who've worked for me and left and are public people. If there were dirt on me, it would be out there."

Brad says he has 13 employees. "I don't even keep track. I'm trying to outsource a lot of stuff. I would like to have two employees and outsource..."

Duke: "To India?"

Brad: "Works for me."

Duke: "What are the limits you place on the people who shoot your content?"

Brad: "We shoot no bondage. We have a lawyer who advises us on what to shoot up there. We're more on the conservative side. I don't want to test any legal boundaries. The guys that do are freaking idiots.

"I could give a damn about 99% of the video side of the business. I could give a damn about First Amendment this and that."

Brad says there is no organization that represents the interests of the porn web. "I've had people ask me to try to organize something and I'm not into doing it at all.

"I wish that I would've pushed more boundaries a few years ago but there were lines I would not cross. In 1997, I sat in a $400 a month apartment with $300 in the bank. I've done all right."

Duke: "How many hours a week do you work?"

Brad: "It varies. I probably worked more last week than I have in two years because I'm trying to get this new venture going [www.justblowme.com]. Normally I will come in to the office about 10AM and leave about 5-6PM. I'll work a few hours at night and on the weekends too. My wife and I are traveling a lot this year. When I'm in Dallas, I work a lot. When I'm traveling, I touch base via email. I have good people working for me. I can enjoy life. I'm not a micro-manager. You ask me where we send traffic to. I give that liberty to my employees. They get paid based on how much we make. I get reports at the end of the month."

Duke: "Do you think Quincy Carter will be back next year as starting quarterback for the Cowboys?"

Brad: "I sure hope not."

Brad and Meni attended the Dallas vs Buffalo game last year. Shaw's also big into college football -- rooting for the Oklahoma Sooners.

"I'm a newlywed. I can't go to that many sporting events any more."

Duke: "Anything else I should ask you?"

Brad: "Let me look and see. I made a couple of notes. Let me see if we covered everything."

Brad reiterates his views on Lensman and GFY. "You didn't ask about... We hired one of Lensman's ex-employees, Cheshire. She was a cute girl that helped get GFY off the ground. She's a marketing person. I guess they [Cheshire and Lensman] had a falling out. That's where the bad blood stems from. I hired her to work in advertising and marketing for justblowme.com."

Duke: "What's her email address?"

Brad: "Don't interview her. I'll tell her not to do the interview. She's young."

I email her about why she left Lensman. She does not reply.

Brad: "She's a cute witty girl who attracts webmasters.

"The main thing is, I didn't start any of this stuff to compete with Lensman. There's no reason for there to be bad blood between us. I don't need to kick his ass. I've always had respect for Lensman as a businessman but what I saw last night were signs of weakness and him questioning himself. It was disappointing. I think he cost himself money last night. I've already picked up a couple of advertisers just over last night.

"He came over to our board..."

Duke: "But he says that wasn't him."

Brad: "I know that when he is in Tahoe, he uses satellite Internet. The IP goes back to satellite Internet access. The email address goes back to his email. To get the account you have to have access to that email address. I say there is a 99.9% chance it is him."

Duke wonders if that is true. I got a dukefloored justblowme.com account immediately without an email check.

Brad: "I hope it is not him because Lens made some off-color remarks. He came over to say his piece and then he realized he was giving me ammunition, so he tried to make it look like it was not him. So he made some off-color remarks. I think he had a breakdown last night. A very public one. It's just another day for me. I think last night was more than just another day for him. He blocked my IP.

"GFY's been getting hacked a lot lately. I think there are people who are unhappy with him who have absolutely nothing to do with me. He's just censoring."

................

Deeprub writes on Justblowme.com: I personally dont know the guy, but seems he has worked for a few big players in his time. But Duke's stated "For the record, Lensman, the owner of this site, has never told me how to report the news, or who I may link to. I frequently go to Oprano and link to news stories on this site, owned by adult.com, which owns GFY. I have good relations with Serge and with Brad and I plan to interview Brad Shaw Monday and I will report every word he says, however negative it is about my boss."

What you think?

Will Duke post a true report?

Brad Shaw writes: "Luke and I have a special relationship. We go way back. Go to lukeford.com, click male porn stars, Brad Shaw. The interview with me today was done well."

Deeprub writes: "Thats all fine and danny....hell I dont care if you 2 have rubbed peters lol

Question is....does he have integrity? Will Lensman let him send out your website to all the registered members of GFY again? I bet it gets duke or luke whatever his name....got a ass chewing."

Duke Floored says: The first day I am ordered what to write, who I may or may not cover, who I may or may not link to, who I should treat favorably and who I should rip to pieces, is the day I quit. I haven't had an ass chewing yet. I believe I deserve one whenever I get important facts wrong and I welcome factual correction from anyone, including my boss. The only criticism I've received yet is for only producing three stories one day. Six is the expected minimum.

I worked for Ron Levi for almost a year and he never once told me what to write. I had another sponsor for almost two years and I was never told what to write. I bridle at being told what to do.

I worked for Serge Birbrair twice and he never told me what to write.

Very few people in the industry like me but I can communicate with all the players when I need to. Or they pay $400 an hour lawyers to communicate with me on their behalf. That's always fun.

[Peaches]

IMHO, Brad controlled the interview completely. A 13 year old could have pulled off the exact same interview - I didn't see any creativity or journalistic abilities on the part of Duck.

[sarettah]

Things that make you go hmmmm.....

Carrie, what I posted was the entire article at the time I posted it.

Must have caught them in between an update to it or soemthing....

[sarettah]

Originally posted by Peaches@Feb 24 2004, 09:45 AM
I didn't see any creativity or journalistic abilities on the part of Duck.

Did you expect to ??

[Peaches]

Originally posted by sarettah@Feb 24 2004, 11:08 AM
Things that make you go hmmmm.....

Carrie, what I posted was the entire article at the time I posted it.

Must have caught them in between an update to it or soemthing....

You are correct - that extra was NOT there when Brad originally posted the link. Methinks Duck forgot to turn the page on his interview notes.

[BradShaw]

Originally posted by Buff@Feb 23 2004, 08:25 PM
That was lame. Let me interview Brad. I want to ask him about his not having the patience to deal with talent comment.

Buff, you had your chance with Pure Cash TV.

And BTW, you are the exception to my comment.

[Buff]

Quote:

Originally posted by BradShaw+Feb 24 2004, 11:17 AM-->

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