Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

Hey - saw you on Greenguy's board... thought I'd pop by Oprano and say "hey" to the family.

Coming back to the "Dark Side" after a couple years immersed in mainstream, so looking around and trying to find all the cool kids again. Glad to see a bunch of names I know - was worried you'd all taken your millions and moved on to the Porn Retirement Home or something.

:waving:

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

What makes you think this isn't the porn retirement home? ;)

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

welcome back to the dark side :-)

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

Haha you know we arent the cool kids here looking for the homie hookup.

You havent missed much. Its not as fun as it used to be back when all of this was new. And enthusiasm for a new venture has been replaced by new entries into the business to get rich quick and be a rock star or guys that have been dingleberries for 10 years trying to pass themselves off as pioneers of the genre.

Most of us here are just still working hard... glad to have work and making a living. Glad to see your back. What ya into now?

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

Hey Alex - would be nice if this WAS the Porn Retirement Home... I'd see if I could pull up a rocking chair and we could chat about the ole days.
:wnw:

Thank you for the welcome back... I keep thinking I want to put adult behind me but it keeps pulling me back - and I do miss it a lot. The Wild West Days were fun, but we had a lot of great times between then and now.

Gonzo - right now I'm working on AdultWebLife.com with MikeB (also formerly of Klixxx). We launched a b2b side to the project earlier this year with a print publication and so far it's doing fantastic. Working the blog/free site/LL thing and trying to sort out what's going on there with the SEO and stuff. Just plugging away and trying to get back in the groove. I still have 2 of my mainstream gigs that help pay the bills but you know how it works, there's always someone else with their hand out for more $$$, so it's time to make some real money.

I see a lot of things have changed in the resources/community landscape... weird to see sites I put so much time/energy into now closed, abandoned or worse... heartbreaking even...
:(

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

Get used to it. Its probably the tip of the iceberg. Personally, I would think more about expanding in the real world, not in porn at the moment, but that's just me.

What is interesting is who is left standing. A lot of hares bit the big one and a few tortoises are still crawling along nicely.

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

kath, a lot of things have changed just in the last 12 months. The business became very fractured along the lines of "bros / not bros" and "cross billing / not cross billing" etc. Unlike in the past where people would stand up for the ideas, the majority of the playahs in that sort of stuff pretty much ignore comments, deal with their "bros", and don't really do anything in public. Many programs have also gone down the line in in house traffic generation, although many of them aren't doing very well with it.

Many people have burned out and died off. Webmaster resources have sort of become an oxymoron, because most of them ended up filled with misinformation, "bros lures", and all sorts of other tricks. As the money became a little thinner, the more desperate ones did some pretty desperate things, and disappeared. Many of the marginal players are gone. Even CE, which always played the webmaster card pretty much dumped their chat system and went quiet, no longer seeming to want to be part of the social fabric.

Margins shifted, consumers have become more and more wise to fraud, and are less likely to pull out their card to buy. Selecting sponsors and programs to work with is more key now than it ever was.

Welcome back, it ain't the same old place that we use to laugh about, but we try to have a good time at it anyway.

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

And that right there is the best reason for staying connected with people you know and can trust to share information on who is doing the shady stuff, who is selling out to the content thieves, or even ARE content thieves themselves.

Knowing who NOT to do business with has become even more critical than ever.

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

And the best place to find out that is here.
No one is paid to post and we dont have any point system to redeem for trinkets.

While other people are trying to pay for activity - Oprano remains about business discussion.

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

Hiya Kath. I was thinking about you the other day when we had snow flurries and remembering you were living in sunny California. Funny what your thoughts drift to sometimes.

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

Hi Kath :waving:

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

Wow. I can always count on you to "tell it like it is" Alex - I've always admired that about you.

Yeah, CE is the one that surprised me the most - being there @ the beginning of ANS, coming over from the Pond, I know that webmasters used to be an integral part of the organization - newbies, specifically. I remember writing an article titled, "The Webmaster is King" - it was the first one I wrote when JoeD came on board to Klixxx. It was filled with all the ways that affiliate programs work to attract webmasters - not just payouts, free content, prizes/incentives, but access to parties and events @ the expos. They really went ALL OUT back in the day to "court" webmasters into their programs. The in-house thing is interesting because I think one of my last articles @ Klixxx talked about that possibility, it seemed even back then that some companies were "pulling back" from webmasters.

Would love to write about the change in the landscape for our new publication - would you be interested in an interview? I could use some "raw" quotes (pardon the pun) and I think a lot of others here @ Oprano would be good sources as well. Glad to see SOME things haven't changed.

:okthumb:

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

VERY GOOD POINT Toby... VERY GOOD POINT :okthumb:

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

OMG - we must've been on the same wave length... was thinking about you & Drav awhile back and was wondering how things were going. How ARE you?

Snow flurries? *sigh* I really wish I could see snow! My wussy family (all California natives) was freaking out last week because it got down to 35 degrees and they demanded I put the heater on. That's what blankets, sweatshirts and a fireplace are for!!! They call me the "Heat Nazi" around the house, but geez - 35 isn't THAT cold! lol

:rolleyes:

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

:waving:

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

35 IS that cold LOL I've had my heat on all week and its been between 35 and 45 degrees. I was born in a nice moderate climate...cant stand extremes whether its heat or cold. The weather people are trying to trick us at the moment..the sun is shining but they are saying its like 25 degrees out. I think all weather forecasters should be chained together and dropped in the deepest part of the ocean.

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

Okay... it's a little cold and yes, I'm a bit of a heater nazi. I just finally got electric bills in the $100-150 range after $450 bills all summer long (it gets to about 120-125 out here mid-summer and in the 100's the rest of the time). It's been about 65-70 during the day here so this is MY time of year. I can actually go outside and not melt - I certainly don't want to put "heat" on at night - lol

:okthumb:

Re: Saying "HI" to Gonzo...
 

65-70 is my kind of weather. I would like it to be about that all year round. As far as the bills go..my electric bill and gas heating bills even out with maybe the winter gas bill being a little higher. When its the summer I wish for the fall and when its winter I wish for spring. LOL. Its supposed to snow here over the weekend. I suppose we will all have to be outside shovelling again.