UGAS vs GMP vs ManCheck

[studpuppy]

I know a lot of you guys have aen (avs) sites and was wondering which of the top three aen's do you use and why?

I use all three. However my best avs sells history was actually with FNP before that when to crap due to its changes as a result of the VISA changes.

I have never had any problems with all of the aforementioned aens in regards with checks etc. However when it comes to site approval, listing, and customer service there IS a TREMENDOUS difference.

UGAS - takes a bit of patience with these guys. There are rules and regulations, however, they never seem to be applied equally. Plus new policies are created on the fly depending on how much sex or little of it the reviewer had the night before or whatever the reason. Initally years back it was rather simple but to get a site approved for listing in their link listing has become a complex process. I was very willing to go through all the hassle, just as others, because getting my daily quota of sites on the link list guaranteed me a minimum of $1800 every period just in middle page and signup click bonuses. Then, of course, the sells used to be rather regular also. Then the middle page bonus was terminated. The long process of submitting (each by separate action) a preview picture URL, request for a Preferred Status, waiting for a response and hopefully the new script, uploading the new script to the site, testing it, then resubmitting the site for final approval just sometimes became a tedious exercise in EXCESSIVE REDTAPE MANAGEMENT. More frustriating to me was that the policies were applied only to most webmasters while a select few were EXEMPT. I had a rather great following years back in a group of sites called Bad Boys. This was included in each UGAS site title. My branding. Well somewhere someone (probably a member of the UGAS clique) got a hair up their ass or their panties in a twist and I was informed that all sites must be unique titles. Well I just started using an aliasname as the title and that worked for a while but soon the sites were declined due to non-unique titles. Slowly over the past year and even more aggressively, I have noticed that the long time "UGAS forever" banner wavers (clique) have started to list sites with both GMP and ManCheck. Guess after years of loyal exclusive patronage to one avs and now they are "expanding" their assets speaks for itself.

GMP -- I really don't have much to comment on with this avs/aen. When I first started in the gay website business, the staff was very helpful and taught me a lot. Seems like it takes forever to get a site approved these days. Last time I submitted one for approval it took over a week. Haven't submitted or updated anything with them since then and that was months and months ago. Sells never have been that great for me.

ManCheck -- By far I have found this one to the best in customer service and site approvals. When ever I had a question or thought, my emails were always promptly and swifty answered. They are the easiest to work with also. Only problem was that I wasn't making the sells I wanted with them so I just listed with them on occasion. I haven't done anything recent with them in a long time.

---

I read a similar thread about UGAS vs GMP and just wanted to throw Mancheck into the pool. Now I know that the main reason that my sells problems with GMP and Mancheck were based primarily with the fact that I was making over $5000 in sells a month with FNP. It was like taking candy from a baby. But times have changed and I must settle down to business once again. I just haven't decided which aen to use as my primary aen -- GMP or Mancheck. I might comment that I have been had access to their premium members areas. GMP's is a special page and endup.com and well that sucks. (However I have a site with GMP that only had 1 sell - however it has had 25 months of a $2.00 bonus - I am assuming it is the upgrade bonus). Mancheck's videoPlus member's area -- well the staff really needs to work on this. Many of the plugins are really SHIT and haven't been upgraded in a long time. There are so many great plugins available that do update weekly, have original and HOT content. Might be worth the bit of extra expense for Mancheck to drop the TRASH and plugin in the NEW. Would make rebills and sells easier. I have to agree with a comment I read in another thread that it was much easier to sell Mancheck rather than Mancheck Plus. My sells dropped to ZERO when I went exclusive Mancheck Plus. But then I was raking in the bucks over at FNP and just didn't care.

Oh I am beginning to ramble - enough!

[Lee]

Well im about to start using Mancheck again for the simple reason that i know if i need any help Michael (Dzinerbear) will be posting on here or can be reached on AIM if i need help.

They also seem to have some good quality sites in their system unlike the other two you mentioned who just appear to let the same old low quality templates get used, used and overused again and again

If someone is submitting 100 template based sites a day it does no good to webmasters who do build based on quality and content instead of flooding the AEN's list to get the free traffic.

Regards,

Lee

[studpuppy]

I agree 100% with you over the quality of sites at the other avs systems. Mancheck sites have always seemed to be of a higher quality. Occasionally some leeches slip in but they don't last for long.

Just waiting for a new more comments before I reveal what the "surfer" feel about each of these avs as obtained from the completed survey.

[jIgG]

on the site approval - it's generally harder for someone to approve sites who isn't working in the adult industry and hasn't been a webmaster, especially if that person is straight and has to approve gay sites. hense why they wobble with the rules.

for me personally i always bend the rules depending on the site. of course popups, banner farms and trickery won't pass my mustard test

[studpuppy]

From the nature of your response, may I assume that you are an UGAS employee?

I agree with you that "straight" individuals might have a bit of trouble in reviewing gay sites. However not when it comes to rules and policies. While it might be a personal challege to them to have to see thousands upon thousands of images of nude men and gay sex, can't find a connection with the rules. Perhaps they just look for the script and approve the site. I know that in the past I applied for one site approval and the reviewer approved a whole block of sites that I haven't even built yet. This has happened on numerous times. But times and employees have changed. Let me point out that I have NEVER had any problems with Robs. He always approves and lists my sites (that is when I very infrequently build them).

[jIgG]

no im far from being an UGAS employee
I was referring to the two link lists in my sig.

i was just trying to make a point, reviewers who've never been webmasters aren't familiar with what to look for in a site, they just approve or disaprove. and if they aren't gay even more so they don't know what to look for in a site, what makes a site good or bad not just based on all 100 rules they have.

it's like me calling my cable company to set up my internet connection, the woman on the phone got mad at me for saying I can replicate my MAC address on my router. impossible, can't happen. to her it can't because it's not in the script she's reading.

same with the reviewers they just go by the rules on the sheet of paper and it means nothing to them at all if they've never been webmasters

[studpuppy]

Sorry - shouldn't have assumed!

Let me explain a bit more in detail or specifically some of the rules that I am referring to here to clarify. I guess I just assumed (bad habit) that many of you would know what I meant. You can find some older threads over at www.avsprograms.com concerning some of this.

For one thing - certain groups of webmasters are permitted to reuse their existing sites as a new site for link site purposes. This a strict NO-NO but yet even when webmasters complain in the forum, on the chat, in emails and directly to Dave or Gary, nothing is done. If you are not a member of the "group", a webmaster would be summarily and severly dealt with by TTI. I know as a friend tested this theory. If interested on this specific complaint and can't find the thread then done a search on their link list using "!" and you'll find many sites with the same title, same url, but different site ids.
If memory serves me correctly, I think it was Xstrguy that originally started the thread over there concerning this issue!

Another is templated sites and a limitation on them. The older circle of UGAS/Cyberage clique society has been permitted to build sites - some cases thousands of them -- all with the same templated front end and content area.

Just two examples of how UGAS does not treat their webmaster's equally. Basically they're policy is if you been around awhile, build hundreds of sites, get sells, make me bundles of cash -- then do as you please as long as you don't violate any federal laws.

[Lee]

Originally posted by studpuppy
If you are not a member of the "group", a webmaster would be summarily and severly dealt with by TTI. I know as a friend tested this theory. If interested on this specific complaint and can't find the thread then done a search on their link list using "!" and you'll find many sites with the same title, same url, but different site ids.
If memory serves me correctly, I think it was Xstrguy that originally started the thread over there concerning this issue!

You know being part of the 'clique' is something that happens everywhere in adult and i agree with you that it sucks.

It just seems that to some individuals and companies the 'you scratch my back and ill scratch yours' mentality goes a little to far especially when 'hardworking' webmasters start to feel the strain because of the underhand deals being made

Regards,

Lee

[basschick]

studpuppy - the people at ugas don't know me. i am far from being part of any clique, but i have never had a problem in having a site approved that followed their rules. and now i'm only making premium sites, i have never had a problem at all.

maybe we've just had good luck, but they've always treated us fairly, if not very personally.

their support guy on the phone doesn't know a thing about our business (he had never heard of acacia, for goodness' sake). i'd rather talk to someone who knew about sites, but i still make good sales with ugas.

[gaystoryman]

Interesting, I haven't used an AEN (AVS) for a long time, never really had much success myself but then I wasn't exactly savvy about things then either.

Why would UGAS though have non gay personnel doing gay site reviews? I always thought UGAS was just that, gay only while cyberage was their hetro section?

Personally, I never had any real problems with UGAS, Cyberage, Mancheck, Sexkey at all, only one I had a headache with was Adultcheck that definately followed the 'if you kiss ass you get preferred treatment' adage, least in my opinion.

just a pennies worth.
Ian

[Xstr8guy]

Originally posted by studpuppy
For one thing - certain groups of webmasters are permitted to reuse their existing sites as a new site for link site purposes. This a strict NO-NO but yet even when webmasters complain in the forum, on the chat, in emails and directly to Dave or Gary, nothing is done. If you are not a member of the "group", a webmaster would be summarily and severly dealt with by TTI. I know as a friend tested this theory. If interested on this specific complaint and can't find the thread then done a search on their link list using "!" and you'll find many sites with the same title, same url, but different site ids.
If memory serves me correctly, I think it was Xstrguy that originally started the thread over there concerning this issue!

Yep, that was me... a very frustrating experience, to say the least. I did receive responses that amounted to "shut up and quit making trouble". They did make a half-assed attempt to remove duplicate sites... but soon after, the same webmaster was pulling the same shit.

Although I still submit to UGAS, I have pretty much given up hope on them for several reasons.

They are too hetero-centric (I honestly don't think they have any gay employees).

UGAS doesn't appear to be important to them... the site hasn't been updated in over 3 years, while CyberAge has had 2 or 3 redesigns in the same period.

Most of the sites they approve are absolute shit... old content, minimal designs, etc.

My sales have fallen 50% in the past 2 years... The Platinum program was great when it started, but it is over priced and under-value, so rebills have become crap.

Traffic from new listings has fallen drastically.

Their stats are very "iffy". I have a Platinum site that has had "17 rebill customers" in the stats for several months, but I only get 2 or 3 rebills a period. Strange! The stats do not allow you to track trial memberships, so they use that as an excuse. "You only have 6 rebilling customers, the other 11 rebilling customers are trial joins."


I have recently started to mirror all of my new sites on ManCheck, mostly because Michael (Dzinerbear) is so great to work with. My sales are ok, but I need to reach a critical mass of sites before I can pass judgement. I agree that their Plus site members section needs work and Michael said that he is working on it right now.


GMP just doesn't work for me... never had any luck with them.


A question to ponder... If a company has a gay AVS/AEN, why the hell aren't they posting here on the premier gay webmaster board? My answer is simple... the gay market is not important to them!

[Dzinerbear]

"Mancheck's videoPlus member's area -- well the staff really needs to work on this. Many of the plugins are really SHIT and haven't been upgraded in a long time. There are so many great plugins available that do update weekly, have original and HOT content. Might be worth the bit of extra expense for Mancheck to drop the TRASH and plugin in the NEW. Would make rebills and sells easier."

Hey Studpuppy,

First of all, thanks for your kind remarks regarding MANcheck. The support staff here work really hard to ensure that both customer and webmaster e-mails are answered promptly. And they also work hard to try and get webmaster site submissions approved within 24 hours of submission, after all those sites aren't doing anyone any good sitting in a queue.

Studpuppy, I joined MANcheck two months ago and one of the things that I've been working on is revamping the MCPV product. I'm in the process of adding content to the outside areas of MCPV, and that should make it easier to sell.

We're also in the process of looking at
our existing feeds and determining which ones should stay and which should be replaced.(If you have some particular favourites that you'd like to see added, please drop me a PM or e-mail) We've already dropped three feeds and we're in the process of reviewing several for addition to the network. And we've got a team heading to Florida in August to look for more, new content.

So, look for exciting things from MANcheck and MANcheckPlusVideo in the next few weeks. I'll keep you all posted.

Also, one of the other things that I do at MANcheck is webmaster support. So, if you'd like to e-mail me and talk about your sites, I'm always happy to look over your network of MANcheck sites and make suggestions on how you might boost sales. (That goes for anyone out there, not just Studpuppy.)

I hope to hear from you soon.
Cheers,
Dzinerbear
aka Michael
MANcheck.com

[basschick]

Xstr8guy - i also don't think anyone at ugas is gay. no one i've talked to on the phone there seems to be gay nor comfortable with gay content (judging by their discomfort of looking at the pics on my sites).

also when i wrote to them one time asking for help improving one of my sites, the only advice i got - although very pleasantly offered - was that my site was fine and to make more of them. since this was a premium site, i was really hoping for more guidance.

i am more concerned with initial sales than rebills when i start with a new avs - how do ManCheck's initial sales stack up for you guys as compared to ugas'?

[Xstr8guy]

Originally posted by basschick
i am more concerned with initial sales than rebills when i start with a new avs - how do ManCheck's initial sales stack up for you guys as compared to ugas'?

I would say that Mancheck is easier to sell... less exposure means fewer ID's already owned. I would probably be doing better with MC if I would update my pitch text.

If there is anyone familar with Mancheck's programs, I will pay for some new pitch text for MC and MC Plus. Hit me up on PM if you're interested.

[studpuppy]

Dzinerbear thanks for your comments and offers to help with my sites. But I don't think that is necessary. The problem with my sites or sells with Mancheck really isn't more than lack of effort on my part. I did quite well with Mancheck in the beginning. However well I started making really good money on a free avs, my efforts, of course, went there. Several events have limited my ability to build avs sites over the past year, but now my schedule is freeing up and I am totally retiring to work on my own efforts. I will do some consulting in the programming and internet security areas but that will not involve my full time involvement.

Perhaps some of the gay reality plugins offered by Topbucks and some other webmasters that frequent this board would be nice for Manchecks VideoPlus area. Like I have previously mentioned, I haven't paid much attention to video feeds so I don't have any suggestions on those.