Originally Posted by minusonebit

Funny, I just mentioned this same sentiment over in the maddawgz thread.

Business as usual is what is causing the industry to deteriorate. In case no one has noticed, things aren't so rosy these days for the independent webmaster or small producer. Few people are doing anything new these days, or for that matter even trying to be creative. They are simply wearing the same, worn out pair of old underwear that is the paysite instead of trying to find ways to make it more attractive to surfers. And then, of course, bitching that they have no/few/less than optimal number of subscribers.

And with statements like "the average surfer is smarter now than before" speaks volumes. If you look at your customers as idiots to be manipulated, you'll eventually be proven correct: they'll be too fucking stupid to buy your product. The surfer hasn't gotten smarter. They are people and the average intelligence of humans is about the same it has been for the last couple of decades. Surfers want something new and they are not getting it from the industry. So they are creating it themselves and they aren't letting anything get in the way of their doing it.

If anything has changed, its the internet itself. We're not all on AOL anymore. Change with it or go out of business. Time stops for no one.