Democratisation of Media

[Toby]

This all became a critical issue for Internet porn when the rate of new customers entering the market slowed to well below the rate number that they were being driven away by 'unfriendly' biz practices. I can't say for sure where that tipping point was, but it's been on a downhill slope for quite some time. The difference now, is that the economy has made more people on the business side stop and take a serious look at things. Some have turned back to delivering a product with more value, but far more have turned to feeding on others in the industry rather than on customers. Every time I think maybe this industry is going to finally grow up and become more of a business I'm disappointed at the result. Still far too many in this biz that never had any experince in doing business. {heavy sigh}

[Hell Puppy]

Like Toby, I'm not seeing a lot of reasons to be optimistic.

The industry as a whole wont mature on it's own. It's been over a decade now, and you still best be careful where you surf without protection or use an actual credit card versus a virtual.

You cant really force it to be fixed.

Governments dont get it, and the net is international. The FTC moves so slow they're easily chalked up to 'cost of doing business' if you have a good scam. Visa has some teeth, but they're also slow and are essentially playing whack-a-mole.

The processors are in a position to do the makeover, enforce some decorum when dealing with customers, and brand sites they process for as "trustworthy". But I dont see it happening. Why? Simple economics. More work for less transactions.

I've often thought a coalition, cartel or something similar, branded around customer experience, trust, truth in advertising, etc could work. Think of it as the "good housekeeping" seal. Way way back in the day, Ynot actually did this with some success with "Ynot member" sites. But sooner or later when you try to organize a bunch of rebellious personalities, it's doomed to break down, and it did.

Basically the largest obstacle to any of this is overcoming the fact that trying to organize webmasters is like cat herding.

[tony404]

Originally Posted by Hell Puppy

Like Toby, I'm not seeing a lot of reasons to be optimistic.

The industry as a whole wont mature on it's own. It's been over a decade now, and you still best be careful where you surf without protection or use an actual credit card versus a virtual.

You cant really force it to be fixed.

Governments dont get it, and the net is international. The FTC moves so slow they're easily chalked up to 'cost of doing business' if you have a good scam. Visa has some teeth, but they're also slow and are essentially playing whack-a-mole.

The processors are in a position to do the makeover, enforce some decorum when dealing with customers, and brand sites they process for as "trustworthy". But I dont see it happening. Why? Simple economics. More work for less transactions.

I've often thought a coalition, cartel or something similar, branded around customer experience, trust, truth in advertising, etc could work. Think of it as the "good housekeeping" seal. Way way back in the day, Ynot actually did this with some success with "Ynot member" sites. But sooner or later when you try to organize a bunch of rebellious personalities, it's doomed to break down, and it did.

Basically the largest obstacle to any of this is overcoming the fact that trying to organize webmasters is like cat herding.

I think a big problem is too many things fall under the online adult industry umbrella and most of them dont have the industries best interests at heart. There was time a it was the producers,the distributors,the retailers and that was about it. it was more pure.