LAS VEGAS - A panel of porn consumers addressed adult industry veterans and newcomers during the "Meet Your Customers" seminar, the first event at Internext Las Vegas.
Throughout the seminar, which was made possible in part by HotMovies.com, the panelists made one thing perfectly clear: They will hold purveyors of porn accountable on many levels.
Led by moderator MJ McMahon, publisher of AVN Online, the customers discussed everything from the quality of adult material they are looking for both online and in their local DVD store, to their preferences in joining, paying for and quitting paysites.
The panelists - representing a diverse age range with various sexual preferences and strong opinions for and against porn - agreed on several issues, including the need for quality content. The consensus? Make sure the models, sets and plots are up to par, and don't label content as something it's not.
"I don't like voyeur porn," said Patrick Connelly, a Las Vegas bartender and self-proclaimed fan of all types of porn. "Everybody knows it's fake. And don't say it's amateur porn when I've seen the girl in four other porns. If you're pushing it as something, be real about what it is."
Las Vegas hairdresser Stacie Sanderford, who admitted she doesn't buy or watch porn, calling much of it "ridiculous," said she doesn't consume much product, because of low-quality production values.
"I've seen some porn where it's like watching Oriental flicks," she said. "The lips are moving, but what's coming out doesn't match up."
All of the customers - Connelly, Sanderford, Nicholas Bauer, Michael Johnson, Elizabeth Adams and Crystal Jackson - told attendees they want to see good camera angles, beautiful models, quality sets and more. And when they look for porn online, they said, they want to find what they are looking for,
Most panelists said when searching for adult content online, they are specific in their searches with major search engines, but they agreed they would rather use sites they trust, like TheHun.com, to find what they are looking for.
"I don't want to fish through 15 sites to find what I'm looking for," Bauer said.
Connelly said he is more apt to browse a site several times before committing to join, in an effort to make sure he finds what he's interested in. But if he joins, he wants to be sure he maintains his privacy. His advice: Be vague about your company when it shows up on his bank statement.
And, if they want to quit, they want to be able to quit, they said. Adams related a story about joining a site, then never hearing from representatives when she repeatedly tried to cancel her membership. After having the charge recur month after month, she said, she felt forced to go to her bank, "and make up this fantastic story about how I joined the site with my boyfriend, and it was all his fault," just to get her bank to stop allowing the charges.
"And if you have one of those pop-ups that won't let me exit and just keep coming back up, I mark those sites and never go back," Connelly said.
"If there was a site where I could list you, I would and you would burn," he said to the crowd. "If I could, I would call a federal agent on you."
Internext continues its run Monday with seminars on "The Evolution of Affiliate Marketing" and "The Disruptors: Names, faces and technologies that are turning the industry on its ear."
