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Been waiting a VERY long time for my application to join their program to be accepted (going on 2 months at least).
Would be nice to know what has happened with it or is this just another of those companies who cant be bothered with webmasters?
Regards,
Lee
you may recall me asking you if you know them a little while back. after i signed up, when i didn't receive our linking info, i tried to contact them a couple times with no result. they did finally send me my stuff, but i was unimpressed with being ignored for so long so i have not added them so far.
i always wonder when people are that hard to reach - will i be able to get hold of them if i don't get my check?
Aren't they the same people as DirectSex ?
I gave up on them LONG ago after about 10 weeks and 10 emails.
:wacko:
Patti i do recall yep :)Quote:
Originally posted by basschick
you may recall me asking you if you know them a little while back. after i signed up, when i didn't receive our linking info, i tried to contact them a couple times with no result. they did finally send me my stuff, but i was unimpressed with being ignored for so long so i have not added them so far.
i always wonder when people are that hard to reach - will i be able to get hold of them if i don't get my check?
Im just amazed it has taen over 2 months to send me a simple fucking linking code.
They obviously dont need any new affiliates.
Regards,
Lee
I just moved my office on Friday from the third to second floor and discovered one of their t-shirts in my new office. I think it was brought back from Internext last year. Maybe I'll donate it as a prize to the first one of you who gets a response.
:)
dzinerbear
holly r. from naked sword used to work for him...when she left, i don't think he ever replaced her...
i used to work for 2000Charge.com, and the owner was close friends with the DirectSex.com/DirectStuds.com morons. they are unreliable and unprofessional.
I don't know about their program details, but I did get this message from them a few days ago.
From: dan@directsex.com [mailto:dan@directsex.com]
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2004 3:17 AM
To: andrew@spankycash.com
Subject: Important Direct Studs Announcement!
Dear Webmaster,
After 3 years of providing quality live content, Direct Studs regrets to
announce that we will be closing our live, gay streaming feeds this
Friday, December 10th, 2004.
Thank you for your kind support over these many years and best wishes to
you and yours over this Holiday Season!
Sincerely,
Dan Winston
Webmaster
DirectStuds.com
Thanks andy guess that solves the mystery :)
Regards,
Lee
I second the thanks.Quote:
Originally posted by Lee
Thanks andy guess that solves the mystery :)
Regards,
Lee
Makes me rethink now the DirectSex feeds we use on straight stuff....
I would suggest they will soon be a memory from our perspective.
:biker:
You guys are welcome. They sent it on the 6th, and closed on the 10th. Nice warning. lol
i was officially signed up with linking and everything, and i didn't get this email. thanks, andymike.
Actually in defense of the owner of Direct Studs he is probably one of the nicest people in the business and has met Rainey and Lee and Gary Alan several times LOL... I guess he didnt make an impression...He is always at the Cybersocket parties... and just a nice guy sorry you all had a hard with him...
Well 'nice guys' generally dont tend to get bills paid Holly.Quote:
Originally posted by Direct Holly
and just a nice guy
A 'nice guy' would have bothered to help his affiliates when they signed up for his peice of shit program, perhaps if the 'nice guy' had an ounce of business sense his program would still be up and running.. dont you think?
Regards,
Lee
The straight DirectSex feeds do extremely, extremely well from what I hear. Though DirectStuds obviously didn't materialize in to a successful venture for them or their affiliates, there are still a great many people making a tremendous amount of money with them.
It's unfortunate how DirectStuds didn't work out - for both them and their affiliates. Call me crazy, though, but I think every now and then someone's entitled to a failed venture amidst a resume of success.
Whatever Lee ... You also knew I worked there I could have and would have helped you out.. I wasnt defending his actions just saying he is a nice guy.... And who are you to judge.. Actually he has been in this business longer then most people on this board and quite successful and tried the gay market without success and realized he wasnt quite as good at it as he is in the straight so he stopped the site... he actually did the gay market a favor as to many sites that are not good stay open... I dont defend the way he did but I will not judge him for it and by the way you had an account since last Internext you never used...
in his defense, dan is a nice guy. I've had many dealings with him in the past 7 years and he's always been a stand-up guy. I wasn't involed with direct studs at all, so can't comment on that.
I am amazed at the tone of some of the posts here. I have known Dan Winston for several years and consider him one of the kindest and most intelligent people I have ever met. He has been talking about closing down the Direct Studs feed for about a year. Ever since Holly worked there. He is most certainly not irresponsible and has always been reliable in business transactions with my companies.
Morgan Sommer
Holly. you worked there, past tense. Why should i have to go to a former employee of a company i want to do business with for customer support issues?Quote:
Whatever Lee ... You also knew I worked there I could have and would have helped you out..
Oh i dont doubt he is a nice guy but as i mentioned, being a nice guy and being a guy running a business are two entirely different things, if a nice guy screws me over, to me, he isnt a 'nice guy' no matter who he has had working for him in th past.Quote:
I wasnt defending his actions just saying he is a nice guy.... And who are you to judge..
Well he did everyone a favor in the long run by closing the program down however, you do have to wonder if he had actually answered support emails and activated affiliate accounts if Direct Studs woul have actually been successfull.Quote:
Actually he has been in this business longer then most people on this board and quite successful and tried the gay market without success and realized he wasnt quite as good at it as he is in the straight so he stopped the site
Oh i dont judge him for it either, he did do everyone a favo in the end there is no doubt about that.Quote:
he actually did the gay market a favor as to many sites that are not good stay open... I dont defend the way he did but I will not judge him for it and by the way you had an account since last Internext you never used...
Perhaps we have had an account but, how were we to know about it if we never got sent link codes and no replies were sent to support requests asking for the link codes?
Regards,
Lee
Morgan,Quote:
Originally posted by Cybersocket Morgan
I am amazed at the tone of some of the posts here. I have known Dan Winston for several years and consider him one of the kindest and most intelligent people I have ever met. He has been talking about closing down the Direct Studs feed for about a year. Ever since Holly worked there. He is most certainly not irresponsible and has always been reliable in business transactions with my companies.
Morgan Sommer
No offence man but, just because he has treated you and your business right, oent mean he has treated others with the same respect.
Again, just because someone is kind, intelligent etc etc, that doesnt mean thy have a clue how to run an online gay business, as we have found out already in this situation.
He may have been talking about closing the site down for a year but, during that time, unless he actually did close the site down, do you not think he should have hired someone or, answered support requests of his apparent affiliates during this 12 month period?
I would also like to say im not the only person on GWW who has had issues with Direct Stud, im sure if you do a search youll find the countless other posts about their lack of professionalism.
You had good result from the guy.. good for you unfortunately, your business and my business are two completely different things.
Regards,
Lee
This is the last I will say about this... As you cant argue with someone who thinks they are right... I sent the linking codes several times to Gary Alan and was told you would put them up ... As far as asking me people as me all the time for help with Python because I know who to talk to same in this case....
I don't think failing to respond to affiliate account signups to enable people to activate their accounts constitutes "screwing people over".
If there are webmasters here who actively promoted DirectStuds, referred transactions, but never received payouts that is one thing. But if someone attempted to sign up, didn't get their affiliate account activated during a period in which the program itself was shutting down, and never sent DirectStuds any traffic or sales... ya didn't get fucked over. Nothing happened. Good or bad.
Sure, it's not the ideal method of correspondence and customer service but it's also not maliciously negligent, nor does it really seem to cause anyone financial harm.
Again, if someone here sent them traffic, sent them signups, and didn't receive the money they were owed, that's another thing entirely and if that happened to someone they have every right to be quite peeved.
But to go unanswered and get fucked over are two very different things.
I experimented with DirectStuds for about a month. Sent them some traffic. Got no signups. Pulled the links as I do with any affiliate that doesn't work out with my traffic. Does it mean I feel slighted and screwed over? No.
But just as I feel it's unprofessional and unbusinesslike to not respond to customer service inquiries - for which DirectStuds no doubt is at fault with regards to that particular situation - I also think it's a bit unprofessional to make such heavy and generalized accusations. There are webmasters out there who occasionally drop the ball, sure. But to color them the same as the ones who go around stealing the ball from others isn't fair.
DirectStuds was an idea that never materialized. So be it. It wasn't some fraud mechanism that fucked anyone over.
Thanks for putting a good final point on that one Brian.
Morgan
Oh i agree Brian and wasnt trying to imply that they were going out of their way to screw webmasters over.Quote:
Originally posted by BDBionic
I don't think failing to respond to affiliate account signups to enable people to activate their accounts constitutes "screwing people over".
If there are webmasters here who actively promoted DirectStuds, referred transactions, but never received payouts that is one thing. But if someone attempted to sign up, didn't get their affiliate account activated during a period in which the program itself was shutting down, and never sent DirectStuds any traffic or sales... ya didn't get fucked over. Nothing happened. Good or bad.
Sure, it's not the ideal method of correspondence and customer service but it's also not maliciously negligent, nor does it really seem to cause anyone financial harm.
Again, if someone here sent them traffic, sent them signups, and didn't receive the money they were owed, that's another thing entirely and if that happened to someone they have every right to be quite peeved.
But to go unanswered and get fucked over are two very different things.
I experimented with DirectStuds for about a month. Sent them some traffic. Got no signups. Pulled the links as I do with any affiliate that doesn't work out with my traffic. Does it mean I feel slighted and screwed over? No.
But just as I feel it's unprofessional and unbusinesslike to not respond to customer service inquiries - for which DirectStuds no doubt is at fault with regards to that particular situation - I also think it's a bit unprofessional to make such heavy and generalized accusations. There are webmasters out there who occasionally drop the ball, sure. But to color them the same as the ones who go around stealing the ball from others isn't fair.
DirectStuds was an idea that never materialized. So be it. It wasn't some fraud mechanism that fucked anyone over.
I just feel the implementation of the support side of things could and should, have been done a whole lot better than it was, perhaps if it had been, this thread wouldnt even have materialized :)
Regards,
Lee
Thank you, Brian, for taking the emotion out of this and making a sensible statement.
i signed up for directstuds over a month ago. when i didn't hear from them, i sent emails. no word. then they sent me the linking codes after three weeks. i had a question and emailed them. never heard back.
now i have linking codes, and you guys tell me the program is going under. i have never received an email from them telling me the program was ending but i DID just receive the linking codes in the last ten days. so they sent me links to a program that they are closing, and did not send an email letting me know they were closing.
lee could have been more diplomatic, but ignoring repeated emails and sending links to a program that is closing doesn't seem like the most responsible way to do business :-(
True but then im sure everyone in this thread would agree, ive never been one to play the political games that go on in the adult industry :)Quote:
Originally posted by basschick
lee could have been more diplomatic
Regards,
Lee
Well said Lee, Amen on that ! :santa: hey Lee where is the Menorah icon, lol