TEMPE, Ariz. - The adult industry must step up to the plate and practice self-regulation, said several industry players serving on Saturday’s "State of the Industry" seminar panel.
"These are some of the things that you need to do if you’re in it for the long haul," National Net’s Tony Morgan stated, referencing self-regulation practices. "I like the industry, but as the saying goes, ‘a few bad apples can spoil the bunch,’ and I want to see those apples go away."
Moderated by Wildline!’s Web traffic consultant, Johnny V., the seminar proved to be a lively, topical discussion about issues pertinent to the adult Internet industry. In addition to Morgan, AdultFriendFinder’s Legendary Lars, Video Secrets President Greg Clayman, MojoHost’s Brad Mitchell, and CondomCash’s affiliate manager, Lee Windsor, served on the panel.
Self-regulation was, in fact, the first topic broached by Johnny V.—just one day following the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ decision to deny the formation of the controversial dot-xxx Top-Level Domain, which the adult industry rejected in favor of filtering systems and self-regulation.
"As an industry, we need to start grouping together more," Windsor stated. "People who push the envelope do it because it makes them money, but it also makes them a target—and it makes everybody a target."
"There are always going to be people who push the envelope," Legendary Lars responded. "It’s always going to be difficult to [contain extreme content]. But, as a father, it’s in my best interests to put those labels on my site and to protect children."
Clayman concurred. "Self regulation starts at home," he offered. "If you maintain high ethical standards for your own company, it pays off in the long run. Be a role model to our industry, and the bad apples will just fall by the wayside."
Johnny V. not only pointed to ethical reasons for self-regulation, but also financial ones. "Underage traffic is bad traffic, because it doesn’t convert" he said. "If you don’t put these [warning labels] up, you’re honestly part of the problem. This is a great place to work, and if we don’t take care of ourselves, someone’s going to take care of it for us. We need to be proactive in this industry."
Later, the panelists tackled content piracy ("As long as peer-to-peer networks are out there, piracy is going to continue until that’s regulated," said Clayman, "and we don’t know when that’s going to happen"), webmasters who use spyware and adware marketing campaigns ("You guys vote with your business," Mitchell said, "so don’t do business with those companies"), the continued practice of "shaving," and the usefulness of webmaster forums and message boards.
Of the final topic, Morgan said boards help to maintain transparency in the industry. "The message board is great for sunlight," he posited. "It gives somebody an opportunity to go public with something if they’ve been wronged, and it [makes business owners or program owners accountable]. That’s a checks-and-balance system. I can name you a laundry list of things I don’t like about it, but everything is out there for you to see. They want to put it in the light and let everyone see it. And, if you get called out, you have an opportunity to justify yourself. You either take the opportunity to make it right, bury your head in the sand and hope it goes away, or get called out for what it really is."
