Overall, Caity McPherson was very pleased by "Integrity in Adult Entertainment Online," a daylong panel discussion her Bay Area Adult Sites networking and brainstorming group hosted last Wednesday. The hot topics: customer integrity, shying away from the notorious loops and popups, and keeping sound business-to-business relationships.
"That's really what we're all about (as a group)," McPherson tells AVN On The Net in a telephone interview. "Networking, learning about the industry, helping each other and protecting each other."
McPherson says the bottom line for the participants was customer relationships. "Without that, we're not going to have a business," she says. "And there's a lot we can learn from the mainstream of integrity, even as there's probably a lot the mainstream can learn from us. We're not exactly these black sheep that have this evil side. But they need some work on integrity and so do we."
Most panelists, she says, roared a thunderous "no" when asked whether what she calls "the notorious loops" - adult Web sites forcing surfers into seemingly endless loops of sites they didn't plan to visit, taking as many as twenty exits to break the loops - were ethical. Panelists didn't discuss the issue's legalities - the Federal Trade Commission has already announced a crackdown on the practice - but McPherson says the loops wreak havoc on adult entertainment's integrity and credibility, on or offline.
So does adult video star and Web site owner Danni Ashe, who was one of the featured panelists. "People get so pissed off about those things," she says, "you're just killing them but you're not only hurting yourself that way, you're hurting everyone in the industry."
McPherson also says businesses themselves have to look out for each other's strength and supports. "On a basic level, it's treat your workers well," she says. "And business to business is crucial, too. With the Internet kind of communication style we pick up, it's real easy to consider a business just another Web site or e-mail address and not really a viable relationship you can build and grow.
"Sites link together, we try to build traffic together, but do we really talk?" she continues. "Do we really share ideas? We have to have communication happening. We won't survive without it."
"I think what you see a lot of in the adult industry online unfortunately is the short term gain rather than the long term goals," says Ashe, who also wants to see more cooperation business-to-business.
BAAS's next daylong panel, also to be held in San Francisco, will cover intellectual piracy issues, a current very hot-button among Internet businesses adult and otherwise. That panel is scheduled for Dec. 8.
