Members Area Updates - Which Is Better?

[Lee]

For those of you who do operate your own paysites i wondered if i could get some feedback from you in this thread as to which of the following to options you thought was the best and, why.

Option 1 -

Using a script to update your members area.

Option 2 -

Manually updating your members area.

We currently use the first option on the Stud Money sites however, im considering going with option two even though its going to take a little more time to do with each update it should, in theory give the members area a more 'personable' feel to them.

So what do you folks with your own sites think about the two options?

Regards,

Lee

[DigitalJay]

It all depends on what script(s) you are using in your members area. I personally do everything with Notepad and Wordpad, with Find/Replace and Copy/Paste it isn't hard at all to add, change, or remove content.
It really depends on how cleanly you setup the site. If pictures are in uniform directories with uniform names (ex: c1.jpg-c50.jpg in directory name1/ c51.jpg-c100.jpg in directory name2) It's always pretty easy to manually update anything.

I can't think of a lot of pro's or con's to doing it either way, it really is a matter of personal preference. It all depends on your design skills, but sites I code by hand come out looking a lot more personal and unique than script produced sites, and there are more opportunities to tweak html, alt tags, etc for SEO. (or are you using scripts for that too?)

The only script i've come across that could make me switch is PHPNuke. I think if a dedicated webmaster found a seemless way to integrate a members/guest setup with PHPNuke on a porn site it would be revolutionary. No more ill-concieved "glossy tours", people can see what they are getting from the main page, and are just restricted to what they can or can't do/see until they join. In my mind that is absolutely the way adult sites should be; WYSIWIG from page one.

If I had hosting that supported PHP i'd already be using it. It allows for the simple integration of member signup/login, HUGE movie/photo galleries, member uploads, message board, polls, detailed stats for admin, news/updates post, tons of other shit I can't think of. It comes with these features standard, and hundreds more that do anything and everything are available as plug-ins. It's basicly an all in one members only site script that is so extremely customizable you won't feel like the site was spit out by a script.

For a somewhat decent example of what someone has done to use a portal script (PHPNuke in this case) to create a good WYSIWIG adult site check out:
http://www.livecamboy.com

[Dawgy]

i wrote my own stuff that updates daily. its easier than doing it manually, but it doesnt look automated, because i built it from the ground up rather than trying to make templates for an existing script.

[Chilihost]

I think automation is important for time management and to ensure that your members actually do get to see new content on a regular basis, I have part of my updates automated (the pic galleries) but I always make sure to manually update the videos and include a wee bit of info for my members, I find this lets them know we are not a huge corporation but we actually care for our members enough to take the time to do this.

cheers,
Luke

[Lykos]

I always liked "nature things"...so i would say option 2,i am sure your members would be more happy in that case,but it all depends how much time u have to do somehting like that:howl:

[james_clickmemedia]

All our sites a updated by custom written scripts. However we also have a voting system so members go vote for their favourite model & we also keep the vital stats of the model in a database which gives it a bit more of a personal feel..

[Bec]

So along this same line of questioning - how often do you guys update a paysite, and did you try different update amounts/days before using whatever you do now?

[james_clickmemedia]

All our sites update every monday, wednesday & friday.
When we first started back in 1997 we used to update once per month however times have changed.
My thinking is that a surfer joins on a three day trial so you need to update within those three days. You also need to show a regular update pattern (this is where a script helps) as members get used to seeing somthing new.