GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post

jayeff · 03-25-2006, 07:23 AM

Everyone has opinions as to what is morally acceptable, about freedom of speech and the like. But such opinions are totally irrelevant within a business context. In that context, CCBill creating rules is no different than a paper supplier deciding to sell only blue paper.

It is however relevant that such subjective rules, rules which are likely to evolve in application while remaining unchanged in their wording, put every single program that processes through CCB in the position that at any time it may no longer be able to accept payments.

Such vulnerability means at the very least that no-one should process solely through CCB. It is always extremely poor business to depend on any single company or individual for a key function and that is compounded in this instance because, short of not dealing with anyone except surfers, it is practically impossible to have clean hands.

It isn't just that the nature of the Internet is such that sites are linked to other sites, so that whether an unacceptable link is one hop away or ten, we all have unacceptable links if we have any links at all. The biggest problem is that the 'Net is dynamic, constantly changing and much of it is automated. Thus my links might be totally clean this morning, but by afternoon an unacceptable site may be only a couple of hops away. There is no practical way to ensure that never happens.

One would hope that CCB recognize this reality and work with their clients to resolve issues in this area. After all, it is simple enough to ask someone to remove offending links and check for compliance. But it is dangerous to assume that they will never act peremptorily.

In the wider context, we need to hope that more workable payment solutions will appear so that, like someone buying paper, we have a broader choice of suppliers. But what is under our own control is that we need to wake up to the fact that we are in business and that there is no room for cowboys. It is all very well to come over all self-righteous about issues like this, but there are thousands and thousands of sites which push boundaries far more liberal than CCB's. And they are all hooked into the mainstream because someone turns a blind eye to the future for the sake of an extra signup or a little extra traffic today.

03-25-2006, 07:23 AM
jayeff Confirmed User Join Date: May 2001 Posts: 2,944	Everyone has opinions as to what is morally acceptable, about freedom of speech and the like. But such opinions are totally irrelevant within a business context. In that context, CCBill creating rules is no different than a paper supplier deciding to sell only blue paper. It is however relevant that such subjective rules, rules which are likely to evolve in application while remaining unchanged in their wording, put every single program that processes through CCB in the position that at any time it may no longer be able to accept payments. Such vulnerability means at the very least that no-one should process solely through CCB. It is always extremely poor business to depend on any single company or individual for a key function and that is compounded in this instance because, short of not dealing with anyone except surfers, it is practically impossible to have clean hands. It isn't just that the nature of the Internet is such that sites are linked to other sites, so that whether an unacceptable link is one hop away or ten, we all have unacceptable links if we have any links at all. The biggest problem is that the 'Net is dynamic, constantly changing and much of it is automated. Thus my links might be totally clean this morning, but by afternoon an unacceptable site may be only a couple of hops away. There is no practical way to ensure that never happens. One would hope that CCB recognize this reality and work with their clients to resolve issues in this area. After all, it is simple enough to ask someone to remove offending links and check for compliance. But it is dangerous to assume that they will never act peremptorily. In the wider context, we need to hope that more workable payment solutions will appear so that, like someone buying paper, we have a broader choice of suppliers. But what is under our own control is that we need to wake up to the fact that we are in business and that there is no room for cowboys. It is all very well to come over all self-righteous about issues like this, but there are thousands and thousands of sites which push boundaries far more liberal than CCB's. And they are all hooked into the mainstream because someone turns a blind eye to the future for the sake of an extra signup or a little extra traffic today.