Well, I for one feel a mini rant coming on... sorry in advance... :uhoh:
I have to agree in principle with Squirt on this. It seems to me that in times of fear mongering, especially by the opponents to our Industry and Lifestyle that somehow we could rise above using the same tactics. I suppose its flattering that they feel they need to stoop to that level to gain support, but frankly a program and/or business should be fully capable of being self sufficient based on its program/product and not on its tactics.
In this current climate of fear, this organization along with the ASCAP who are pushing the xxx TLD, make me cringe each time I see them defended and mentioned. Fear is a wonderful weapon and to use it so unwisely makes one think back to the old fable of the boy who cried wolf. Each time we surrender a piece of our freedom, we weaken ourselves.
There are enough enemies to go around, to try and do this but when it comes from within, well to me it just seems all that much worse. The use of fear is an age old tradition by those whose only goal is domination, control and they have little if any regard for freedom and all that it involves. To use that weapon so carelessly at a time of intense emotional unrest is in my mind, worse than criminal. It lowers the standards for everyone and frankly, there is enough of that happening without needing to add to it.
The goal of the FSC as I understand it, is to protect the rights of people to free speech. That should be the focus and not increasing membership. There is more reasonable approaches to use to gain support than trying to frighten me out of my hard earned cash. I also understand from somewhere I believe on this forum where the fee has suddenly jumped from $50 to $300... whether true or not, it is the fear tactics use that give rise to these types of claims.
If the stated goal of this organization is to support free speech, then surely that is the message that should be pounded out, not that you need to be a member to gain some measure of protection. I'd have considered a donation if those tactics had been used instead of what was used. Fear has never been something I succomb to. It isn't in my nature to give in, and when someone tells me I must join for my own protection, I become leery, cynical even. I see friend set upon friend because of this and I wonder then if this isn't doing more to aid the common enemy than any law or regulation ever could.
Another thread here talks about the gay side of the adult industry, how fragmented it is, and yet here we have a group that drives a huge wedge between friends all for increasing its membership take. That is what makes the industry so leery, so fragmented unlike the mainstream area. That is also why many webmasters of any repute are leery of partnerships and joint ventures. They are afraid and when support organizations foster that fear, it only widens the gap for co-operation. Least in my opinion.
People's livelihoods are at stake not to mention their actual personal freedom. Federal jail time looms before many and yet all we can do is bicker about who is covered and who isn't. Frankly the goal of any free speech society should be to cover all citizens, and that should mean a class action suit and not limiting. Clear definition of their goals should be plastered all over the place and yet they remain ominously silent. That only heightens my wariness of them and their purposes. Call it paranoia if you will, but if you have nothing to hide, then why hide?
Yes money is always one of the major driving forces behind ones actions. However I would say that an organization essentially established to promote an industry, to protect that industry needs to be held to a higher standard than its financial statement or membership list. I don't see that in this instance which troubles me.
If the FSC is so focused onto insuring free speech for everyone, then why aren't they out long before this urging for webmaster support? Why aren't they trolling the boards asking webmasters to link to them, to get the word out about them instead of waiting for a shoe to drop from the sky and scare everyone?
There are enough large operators in this industry that a simple approach of hey Mr Paysite Operator... donate 50 cents for each sale to us and advertise it to your affiliates and we can help promote the industry and protect it. Good PR starts with having a long term goal, not short term knee jerk reactions. 2257 isn't new and this organization isn't new either, but how many paysites are there who now suddenly have signed up for protection when they could have done so by clearly showing support thru a simple scheme like each sale gets FSC a half a buck? Where was the FSC then? Why haven't they been actively pursuing webmasters from the moment the new regs were even first known to be in the works?
Instead we are all scared into action, forced at gun point to choose either some measure of possible protectin versus going it alone. Only when the hue & cry from many came out did the FSC back off the statement of only members get some protection, only when people began questioning the ethics of their own agenda, did they begin to even mention how in all likelihood no one would be prosecuted if an injunction was successful.
When so much is at stake for so many, it just out and out pisses me off when someone or some group who professes to be an ally uses fear to try and wrangle some extra cash out of me.
Sorry, but I am more and more skeptical of these groups as I read more and more about the tactics being employed to gain membership. Too much secrecy to me implies there is something to hide. I more than likely am wrong on that, but it only makes me want to know a damn sight more before shelling out any cash, whether it be $50 or $300.
Again, sorry for my mini rant, not even sure I should be saying a word, given that 2257 really doesn't effect me in the least, being a foreign webmaster in all aspects nor being a producer. Still it seems to me watching all this that there is something fundamentally wrong here, where you can't tell friend from foe. Stooping to fear is just plain wrong. It may galvanize some in the short term but it doesn't make for long term associations. Just how many sign ups that have occurred today will remain next year when things are quiet? Do we then see another panic attack or what?
I build my own business based on long term objectives, surely an organization that is professing a moral standard should do the same. Surely there will be other attacks on everyone's freedoms, so doesn't it simply make more economic sense to use less fear and more common sense to gain support?
Just my opinion, hopefully I'll escape with my hide intact after some get through with this rant, but hell, I been skinned before and the hide can take it. :cry: I hope... :thumbsup: