Mowse Bytes
Peer or Predator?
Written By Titmowse
As an adult webmaster, you're part of an Industry that is paving the way
for all others on the Internet. Many of the technologies and
advancements used in e-commerce, streaming content and site design are
directly a result of the input of online porn. Pop-up consoles, online
payments and digital video were all refined by adult web sites. If a new
way to see, read or experience entertainment via cyberspace comes along,
you can rest assured that it was probably developed and tested in the
adult market. You are among visionaries and pioneers. Your peers are
making the rules and shaping the future.
Unfortunately, one can only make the rules in an environment that is
unruly. Much like the Wild West in days of yore, the Internet is
populated with frontiersmen, prospectors and snake oil salesmen.
Especially in the adult Internet, there are thousands of prospective
moguls out there looking for anyway to make a buck in this virgin
territory. They've seen the articles and journalistic exposes on
ordinary citizens who became millionaires overnight because of online
porn. They want some of this juicy pie before it's all gone and they are
going to use any means to get a piece. Sadly, while the majority of
those dealing in online smut are good and honest souls, there are those
who are not honest and not good. There are bad guys out there and
recognizing them is even harder in the anonymity of the Internet than it
ever was in the real world.
There are large criminals like those who promote child porn. These
bastards are easy to define as evil and a good thing about your peers is
they do a great job of locating and reporting the sites of child
pornographers to law enforcement. The adult Internet is not only paving
the way for future technologies, we are also policemen by proxy for
cyberspace. If you encounter an illegal image on a web page an adult
webmaster can point you to the proper authorities. If you need to
identify an online business, rest assured your fellow smut peddlers
could deliver to you a name, address and phone number. Your fellow smut
peddlers on the whole are sincere and honest humans who simply want to
create their own future. Then again, there are some adult webmasters out
there who are not honest and not sincere. They may not be obvious
criminals like pedophilia pushers but nevertheless you need to be wary.
I'm not proposing you live in a world of perpetual fear. I'm just
reminding you of a lesson you should already know: Watch your ass.
Just because you've spent countless hours in ICQ chat with someone does
not mean you know him or her. Just because a webmaster is known by
regular members of a message board does not mean that webmaster is
honest. Just because a webmaster was virtuous when they had a TGP does
not mean they will be able to be virtuous as an affiliate sponsor. A lot
of adult webmasters have been cheated by those they considered friends.
You have to remember that the adult Internet is comprised of a lot of
people who have never owned a business. While they may have once been
exemplary employees, as business owners they lack a sense of ethics and
cannot handle true responsibility. They assume that because our
profession is looked down upon, it's perfectly okay to behave like a
criminal. They depend on the anonymity of the Internet to cloak them
from the law and their peers. They dip their hands in the till of their
business and when it comes time to pay the piper, they make up excuses
and beg for more time. They re-direct legitimately traded traffic to
their profit sources. They promise technical work in trade for content
and never follow through.
Not all adult webmasters are thieves and cheats. The majority of them
are honest and sincere. But money does strange things to people. The
fact that this new medium is being run by people who have never met each
other encourages and environment of secrecy and deceit. That college kid
in Milwaukee who steals content and then resells it on CD to the general
masses knows that it's going to take a good long while before the
authorities find him. He knows that if someone reports him to his host,
he can just find another host, change his nickname and reinvent himself.
He knows that the Internet is still vastly under-regulated. He knows
that there are many trusting and naive newbies out there for the
plucking.
To choose to be an adult webmaster means you have chosen to be part of
an exciting and revolutionary new medium. Because it is new, it is
unmapped and untamed. There are beasts lurking behind the bushes and
sometimes you are the one who discovers them. Just because it's scary
and there be monsters, doesn't mean you should stop exploring and paving
new roads. Keep moving ahead. Watch out for the bad guys and always
cover your ass.
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