2002-05-09 02:09:35+00 by TC 2 comments
What will the future of online entertainment look like? Perhaps we can look at the online porn industry for some answers. A well written short article, talking about how online porn is the group that has been blazing the trail. I'm not sure I agree with the prediction of user class stratification but most of what is said seems plausible.
[ related topics: Erotic Games Sexual Culture ]
comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment made: 2002-05-09 13:45:06+00 by: starbreeze
Interesting that you mention that... the next Pittsburgh SAGE (System Administrator's Guild) meeting is focusing on the online adult industry. I know you're not from the area, but it's pretty much open if anyone is in the area and interested...
july: july 11th, 7pm, the social room at mellon institute topic:Succumbing to the Dark Side of the Force: the Internet as seen from an Adult Web site speaker: Daniel Klein, Erotika
summary: The adult industry is by far the biggest consumer of net bandwidth. It is arguably also the largest cash source for content providers. Without getting into the politics or "political correctness" of the industry as a whole, this talk will examine the many facets of this much maligned (and hugely subscribed) dark side of the web. And politics aside, there are many valuable lessons to be learned that apply to more "legitimate" web sites.
We will examine what it means to be in a service industry (attitude, customer satisfaction, customer turnover, etc.), advertising (unlike other media, the web provides immediate and direct feedback on the efficacy of an ad), site scaling and bandwidth, monitoring, load sharing, load shedding, and load stealing. We'll look at issues of security, payment methods, billing, theft, and risk. We'll also see how data mining can be a boon (when you're the one with the pick-axe) and a bane (when you're being mined or otherwise hoisted on a petard), as well as issues of copyright protection and abrogation. Issues of spamming, being spammed, and even being targeted for an FBI sting operation will also be raised. And of course, the issues of site automation, what kind of people run adult sites, and "just how much money can you make doing this, anyway" will be explored.
While the entire adult industry is controversial at best, I believe that you will find the talk itself amusing, insightful, and thought provoking. And you will almost certainly walk away with information that can be applied to any web site, be it on the good side or the dark side of the force. This talk is gender neutral, and is rated PG-13. And yes, my Mother knows what I do for a living.
#Comment made: 2002-05-09 14:59:59+00 by: Dan Lyke
Dang, that sounds interesting! I know I've wondered why Homeclips seems to be able to survive on $30/year (or whatever it is they charge) and AdCritic![[Wiki]](/adbanners/lookingglass.png){kind=small}
didn't. Or how RedClouds manages to support both itself and VoyeurWeb when so many other sites appear to be crumbling under the bandwidth charges.