Well, I apologize if it's felt to be over agressive.Originally Posted by Squirt
I don't simply think something is true without having evidence to back it up.
I got pissed off with the implication that I must not know what I'm talking about. To say that there aren't discrepancies between formal policies, and the reality of situations... THAT is naive.
Noah,
Patti has probably forgotten more about traffic than you, I, or a lot of other people on this board will ever know.
I agree that your response was a little over the top. When one makes sweeping statements, particularly ones that aren't completely accurate, one shouldn't be surprised to be called on it.
Marketing our content on MySpace gives me chills because of the age group the site appeals to. I like CorbinFisher's approach in the way their profile is carefully screened for friends ages, as well as limiting the content so that
it is not luring....
I am not comfortable with the "anything goes for a buck" way of thinking and I think in the long run this approach will result in problems either for the affiliate that uses these techniques or the program that allows them. This is dangerous from a chargeback, spam and a liability perspective for both parties but the heavy hand of regulation and penalty come down on the site of the program, which, as noted earlier, are being called to task for the actions of their affiliates. Anyone as an affiliate using these types of "anything goes for a buck" tactics may get away with it for a while, but eventually, will be found out and have their account closed.
I was reading a thread on another board where a site owner is having crazy problems with chargebacks and his processor is just about to shut off his account. One of the probable reasons for his chargeback ratio by some in that thread, is thought to be from bad affiliates using "anything for a buck" tactics.
I can't see any program with an eye on being around in the future condoning that type of activity...
Thing is, I'll be the first to admit that despite checking every single profile for the age they have listed, it's so far from a foolproof system that I'm still not entirely comfortable with it. People change their listed age left and right on that site. The 21yo you approved as a friend one day might adjust their age to under 18 (and possibly their actual real age?) the next day.
Just gives me the heebie jeebies.
So that's why the only link actually going to CorbinFisher.com in my CF myspace profile is a single little link hidden in the body text, no hardcore images are around, no full nudity, nothing but face-pics and at most, kissing. Nothing too graphic. Very PG-13.
I get a lot of messages from people on myspace saying "Wow you guys are hot! Are you all friends and where do you go to school?". They don't know it's a porn site and think the models' photos are just pics of guys. And I'm more than happy with that. It makes it clear it's not obvious from the myspace profile that it's a porn site, and the only ones aware that it is are people already aware of CorbinFisher, already aware of the name, and are already customers. Myspace is a great way to interact with that latter group of people.
On another note, one of the main changes that will take place when we shrink the CorbinFisher.com affiliate program down to 50-100 affiliates is we will be expressly getting rid of affiliates who don't use their own registered and owned domain as their primary source of promotion. One of the main things we are going for in limiting our affiliates to top and personally-known affiliates is to get rid of affiliates who use things like Blogspot, MySpace, LiveJournal, Yahoo! groups, etc as their primary means of promoting us.
We don't want an affiliate violating any 3rd party's TOS by promoting us. It's perfectly ok if an affiliate has their own myspace profile, or yahoo group used to direct traffic to their own site and, from there, out to sponsors. But if they use myspace or yahoo groups to directly send traffic to us, that isn't a good thing at all and something we don't want in the least.
I'm so looking forward to having only 100 affiliates at the utmost so I can more easily track stuff like that!
CorbinFisher's Amateur College Men
I had told myself that I was just going to abandon this thread, but I just can't help myself now.
I started this thread to be an open discussion about a marketing tactic. I am sickened by the abrasive responses I have recieved to this thread. I did not want to start an argument, and am disappointed by the members who are being argumentative.
Now on to why I responded to this particular post:
I agree with this, the people who recognize the guys are already customers.I get a lot of messages from people on myspace saying "Wow you guys are hot! Are you all friends and where do you go to school?". They don't know it's a porn site and think the models' photos are just pics of guys
I think one thing that some people responding to this thread may not understand is that I do not use MySpace as my main source of traffic. It supplements my other traffic sources.
I also monitor the ages of the people who submit friend requests, and do not approve anyone under 18. I have been doing this against Xenigo's advice. He thought I shouldn't worry about ages, and I'm glad others agree with me on this one.
Since you are saying that it's not a good thing to send traffic directly to you, I will remove all affiliate links / banners from the MySpace profiles I run. I'll just have links to my site. I wouldn't want to jeopardize my relationship with Corbin Fisher as an affiliate.
WTF?? I never said you shouldn't worry about people's ages.
You started a thread looking for justification for using a questionable marketing tactic (promoting using fake profiles on a site that prohibits doing so, and a site where better than 50% of the audience is under 18), bumped the thread when no one responded, and then you're upset/surprised when people responded honestly with their feelings?
This board is one of the friendliest, most helpful group of people you'll ever find in the adult industry. As a whole the business owners and marketers that participate here are successful people who run quality operations and market fairly and honestly. If you took the advice offered instead of being offended that things are occasionally a little abrasive, you will probably be more successful (and have plenty of people willing to help you) in the future.
Obviously there will always be people who just can't be pleased, no matter what is said or done. I AM abandoning this thread now.
Well said! It's good you took that lesson from the interaction in this thread as it shows you're attentive to the responses others have given.
You are not here to please anyone. You're here bringing to the table what you have and learning from others.
There are countless webmasters that lurk on this board and don't interact because they're afraid of the responses they might get. It shows a lot of character that you step up to the plate, with no apologies, and aren't afraid to speak your mind. :bunny:
yes, i HAVE reported webmasters for spamming - and seen instant results. twice from ARS, once from dollarmachine/python and also several other smaller programs. they termed the spammers almost instantly. even miore programs warned their affiliates but said they give a single warning.
and i expect that you'll see more and more programs terming for spam since two programs ended up paying big bucks to the FTC because of affiliate spam.
anyway, i do my best to follow the rules whether they are enforced or not - i do it because of who I am so what the programs do about these issues has nothing to do with why i don't spam. if there's a program with rules i can't deal with, i may contact them and talk about it but otherwise i simply promote someone else's program - one where i am comfortable with the terms.
Squirt- how can a person create a fake profile of someone else without pretending to be them?
I've seen MySpace profiles for companies and for directory sites that have hot guys in the profile with some arbitrary name for the profile, like the name of the site, company, etc. with links to blogs or directory sites in the profile.
I've also seen MySpace profiles with the name of a celeb, that were dedicated to that celeb, and not run by the celeb. So I can see how KissMe has MySpace profiles without pretending to be the models on the page, there are a few other methods as well and I don't know which method she uses, nor would I expect her to tell everyone on the board how to do it, like I just did :gossip:
This is a really good point. The adult business is a bunch of renegades. One cannot expect consistentcy, or even honesty... look at how many threads there are about shaving, the whole Zango thing, etc.
It's unfortunate that people are afraid to interact for fear of getting unkind responses. Ultimately, I don't think there are many responses here that are unhelpful. Some may be a little abrupt, some may express strong opinions, but nearly all of the regular posters offer helpful advice... and the people that "get it" realize that sometimes it's hard to hear something, but if you're smart, you'll take the advice and use it even if it wasn't what you wanted to hear.
I can't begin to describe how much I've learned (and continue to learn) from the posts on this board, and sometimes people strongly and vocally disagree with me... but hey, it's an Internet board. The people aren't yelling in my ear, or threatening to punch me, so I can just read, learn, use the info that's helpful and discard the rest. Anyone who can't do that either needs to get a little thicker skin or resign themselves to not having access to an incredible network of skilled people willing to offer up their assistance just to be helpful.
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