Originally Posted by AnniKN

Main problem with this industry is its hypocrisy and self-destructive behaviour -being shortsighted, lying to the surfer, running credit cards and all sorts of things... the surfer never developed a liking for the industry, they could love a single website's content, but having to pay for it was an inconvenience as oppossed to something you wanted to do because it was both worth it and because you wanted the people who are running this awesome site to get something back for fulfilling your needs.

THAT's what makes tubes and forums and torrents popular, the surfer does not realize that they are being used to sell them something that is even more of a lie than a site that says it updates weekly and has 8 sets from 2003, because they're playing with people's feelings (OMG I'll finally have a girlfriend!): they SINCERELY think that the person who started the site is just a nice guy! he makes money from advertisements, but that's normal... it's like celebrity fansites, they're just doing it because they're nice guys... it's great that they're successful because they worked hard just to help people out! Just like myspace and facebook and youtube.

Why do you think some people have no problem in donating monthly to forums and buying rapidshare accounts? I bet if tubes had DONATE buttons they'd make bank too, even more than with the Premium mode. The surfer feels admiration and gratitude for these forums and sites, most paysites were never deserving of admiration or gratitude.

Mainstream DVDs and CDs sell for a couple of reasons now: because people who want to be in said industries or belong to it, buy them (but it doesn't happen with porn, we want everything free, we can get it for free after all...) or because the person REALLY loves the director, or an actor or a singer and wants to do "the right thing" or "give them a gift", because yes, there is people who don't even know it's all stolen stuff... "it's as if i borrowed it from a friend"

The way I see it, the industry needs a major clean up, and we need to educate the surfer - will it work? fuck if I know, but I do know that the sites that still get rebills and memberships are the ones that provide the surfer with something unique and that they find pleasant, and there is a reason for that.