Quote Originally Posted by gaybucks_chip View Post

Forgiveness happens after someone has asked for it, or when there's some indication that they've done something to deserve it, and usually implies that whomever is being forgiven wants to change/improve.
James,

I BELIEVE you made a post about Sen Craig on another board and asked if webmasters would "forgive" him if he admitted what he did. Well, he did the exact opposite. Claimed he did nothing wrong. Said he "intended" to resign (hoping that charges would be dropped and he wouldn't have to), then went on to say I am staying in the senate after he admitted he couldn't effectively serve as a senate. All against the wishes of his peers.

I don't even want to talk about "forgiveness" at this point. Making assumptions that someone is going to apologize is crazy. One can look at previous actions of Cyber Socket and "expect" that silence will be the ONLY answer.

Here are some issues -

1. They insulted their competition on a public board (some say they accused them of fraud) and asked them to "show us the numbers". JUB did. What did CyberSocket do? Hide behind an audit that never took place and remain silent,

2. The awards show. Where do you vote? They supposedly began Nov 1. Rumors have been floating around for a while about those. I think they are questioned even more and I would say recent events give the rumors some credibility.

3. Shows. Rumors about Cyber Socket putting pressure on Sponsors not to advertise at certain shows has been going on. I am NOT just talking about the Gay phoenix Forum either. Are they true. I have no idea.

4. Look at the bad taste that webmasters still have w/ Epoch concerning those rumors as well. Hell, i have at least three clients that I have advised to put Epoch at the top of the cascade instead of Ccbill. All have said they don't fell good about it in light of what they feel happened in that case. So much for an easy way to get in the gay market as the rumors suggested.

5. Will the real Dirty Tony please stand up. Now, I am hearing webmasters talk about that and some shady stuff going on. I have no idea what it is, but it's out there.

6. "This is an announcement to let you know the party has not been cancelled". Some will know what I am talking about.

Do you really want more examples? Yes, many are "rumors". But I haven't seen a company have so much bad publicity amongst webmasters and rumors in a long time as I have had about Cyber Socket.

One should look outside the box now. The time has come. In an interview w/ AVN on the question of a "gay mafia". (just the fact that there is a term gives the sense of credibility to shady business practices IMHO), Morgan replied,


"
No. It was a joke made by Aly [Drummond] years ago at the Phoenix Forum. It sort of snowballed thereafter. People are way too busy worrying about their own business to do anything as a connected group. I think there is a perception that there is a closed circle of people who are doing business with each other and have been for a decade. That is not a mafia, it is a group of people who have figured out ways to promote each other and profit. That is going to occur in any industry as it matures. That does not prevent a new innovator from coming into the market at any time and becoming equally or more successful than anyone who has been around longer. I think the belief in a mafia that is somehow manipulating things is a severely defeatist and irresponsible thought. It justifies not trying and seeks to blame someone outside of ourselves for lack of success. "

http://www.avn.com/index.cfm?object...4F51EF512068C05

I have added emphasis to part of the response, as I feel it is appropriate. There are companies now that are innovators coming to the market. Just Us Boys is one such company. Other companies like gaydemon are getting a good amount of consumer traffic (as jub is). The tubes are pushing traffic. Some blogs are really pushing traffic. The industry is changing folks.

A new breed is being born. This new breed has a chance to make a difference in the market and the way we do business. They can do it in a positive way.

Who knows what JUB or any of the other companies are doing?

The bottom line you have to ask yourself is does an apology from Cyber Socket REALLY matter. Cyber Socket runs a website that is lower on alexa than many gay traffic sources, has a magazine with high ad rates and God only know how many copies reach the consumer (when I say consumer I am still confused - webmaster or porn surfer?), and from what I hear about GAYVN was responsible for a show that had less attendance than GPF and from an operator of another board said, the GPF was much better, hands down (or words like that).

Maybe this is the beginning of a change of guard in the gay industry. Out with the old ideas. In with fresh new ideas that unite rather than divide.

Lloyd