In my last article I spoke about all the different types of content, their uses, and the good and bad points of using each type. This week I would like to approach the topic of 2257 from a practical standpoint and not a legal one.In my last article I spoke about all the different types of content, their uses, and the good and bad points of using each type. This week I would like to approach the topic of 2257 from a practical standpoint and not a legal one.
First, the disclaimer. I am not a lawyer; I am a Webmaster and traffic specialist dealing mainly with free sites, including TGP galleries, standard free sites and AVS sites. My article this week is my opinion and not to be considered legal advice.
For those of you using adult content on your tours and free sites, the latest proposed 2257 rules could make your job a lot more difficult, but this doesn’t have to be the case. It’s time to revisit the whole idea of using softcore content to promote pay sites. In order for the 2257 rules to apply to you, the content you use needs to show actual sex acts. Remove those from your sites and you no longer need to deal with 2257.
No matter how the ruling goes, with regard to the proposed new amendments to 2257, the reality is that most foreign Webmasters probably will not comply with our laws. On The Porn Professors a couple weeks ago (my Internet radio show on YNOT Radio), attorney Eric Bernstein talked about these new rules in great depth, and the one thing that he made clear is that we need to be responsible in the design and production of our Web sites.
I see two reasons why a Webmaster might get in trouble while really not doing anything wrong. First is the issue of young models. I design mostly gay sites, and when I first started I used to pick the youngest looking legal-aged models I could find. That is what sells, right? But with new laws being passed, and after much soul-searching, I had to rethink what I was doing. Why did the “look 16″ guys sell so well? Was it because of their great bodies and handsome looks, or was there another reason? Honestly I hid from that answer for a long time because the answer was what I did not want to know. Fact of the matter is that I was catering to the one group of people that I deplore the most – pedophiles. I know that everyone will jump all over me for this thought, but I think if you honestly ask the question, you too will come up with the same answer that I did.
When designing now I do not push the envelope. Yes, almost all of my sites are of younger guys, but now “younger” is defined as the college age look. They have some muscles, they have some hair on their bodies, and you know what? They sell too. Being part of this industry is rewarding, and in my opinion a responsible Webmaster can make a difference. Sure, some people will always hate us, but we don’t need to push the envelope and make mothers around the world agree with those who think porn should not be available to anyone.
The second reason a Webmaster could end up where he or she really did not intend to be is the free hardcore issue. Pure and simple, don’t show it and you will not need to worry about 2257.
I have heard the argument so many times. I have to show hardcore because Site X in the Netherlands does and I am competing with them. This argument drives me nuts. Following that mentality, if they started videotaping rapes and other stuff and plastered them on their free sites you would have to do that too. If they show 16 year-olds, will you do it too? People, I have been building sites for six years, and on a lot of my most successful sites the guy never gets his underwear off. How in the world do you expect to sell anyone anything if you provide them with this gorgeous model start to finish, showing the money shots and all? They do what they need to do and then they go to bed, cuddle up to the wife and have pleasant dreams. Now you don’t have to go to the extreme of showing nothing, but find the poses where the action is implied, and leave something for the fantasy. Let the mind work and create a need in that person strong enough to entice him to get his credit card out. That is the goal of a free site, not to give everything away.
Attention newbies! Do not fall into the trap of needing to compete with the extreme. It will do you no good, and you will just become frustrated. You will get clicks but few sales. A couple more sites like that and you may say, screw this, I can’t make any money doing this, and give up. I watch this happen over and over, and the only ones who are really smiling are those who believe this industry has no room for newbies. They are wrong, but that does not change their way of thinking. I say all the time that a steady, methodical and well-planned set of sites designed properly to convert will win out over the guy who throws up hundreds of sites showing it all. Ask him to honestly tell you how much he made. The answer may surprise you if he’s honest.
Being “King of Clicks” is about the same as almost getting off. You can’t take the clicks to the bank. Clicks from people looking for tons of free “good stuff” are costing you money. They are burning your bandwidth, wasting good content and even stealing your sales right from under your nose… and worse, you built your site to encourage this!
Before I get off my soap box, I’d like to ask each and every Webmaster to honestly answer these questions. First, do you think that you have a responsibility to the young and the parents who try to shield their children from adult entertainment? Second, do you think as a Webmaster that you have a responsibility to not provide images that can, even if it is not real, help a pedophile get off? Third, are you in this industry to make money or just give away free stuff? And finally, would it really hurt to honestly, and with a strong plan of action, attempt to make free sites that do not push the envelope or use hardcore images?
I hope that many of you will answer yes to these questions, except the last one, and that in the end you are making a ton of money and you, all by yourself, will have started to make a difference. Don’t be the blind sheep, aimlessly following those in front. Be a leader and move to the front in what is right, what is just, and what is still able to make you a great profit while you sleep soundly at night.
Again, these are just my opinions and do not necessarily reflect on those associated with me or YNOT News, which graciously publishes my articles. I look forward to comments and debate both on the boards and in email. I strongly believe that if we as Webmasters do not find a way to police ourselves we could find a whole different world in the not-too-distant future. As always, good luck to each of you in your endeavors. I look forward to many more articles to come and look forward to my readers’ comments as well.
Peace Out.
Tony Davis can be reached at tony@aytd.com. Interested in owning your own gay porn site without the hassle of building it and paying for all that content separately? Here’s a deal that you definitely should consider: check out GaySites4Sale.com – you won’t believe this offer!
