Originally Posted by jayeff

Whatever the current legal status of the practise, to all practical intents and purposes, hijacking surfers between traffic source and destination is theft. However you want to describe it, the use of scumware goes far beyond legitimate competition.

I despair of all the short-sighted ways that so many people in this business sacrifice tomorrow's dollars for today's pennies, but the "Zango" issue is on an entirely different level. It is being sanctioned - even employed - by some of our biggest sponsors. Thus instead of being universally condemned - as it surely would have been in other circumstances - many other sponsors are still cross-selling to the culprits and many big TGP's still promote them.

The effect is to legitimize one of the worst, possibly the worst scam this industry has inflicted on itself to date and there is no way that the damage will be restricted only to such losses as people are suffering directly now. Basically we have sent out a loud and clear message that providing you can get at least one big sponsor behind you, this industry will tolerate anything. Anyone who believes that message will not be heard is not merely naive, but a fool.

As far as AFF in particular are concerned, this issue is just the most recent in a string of dubious business practises, of which allowing their sites to be advertised on file-swapping sites is another example. Such sites are based on content from paysites that is being used illegally: it is a nonsense that one of the biggest sponsors in this business helps make such sites worthwhile. It is perhaps even more of a nonsense that such a company did not long ago become a pariah in this industry.

I have zero interest in professionalism or what you might call "business ethics", for their own sake. The fact is that online porn reaches the world and is selling one of the most appealing products imaginable. Yet last year XBiz published some stats which put us - after more than a decade - at only around 5% of the total value of "adult entertainment". Recently AVN (apparently: I have seen it referred to, but not read it) published an article claiming that our growth last year barely beat inflation.

I see these dismal stats as a consequence of the reality that for more than 5 years - with a handful of honorable exceptions - we have spent more time and energy trying to cut corners and prey on each other than attempting to expand our market. You see it at every level, from reps adopting moronic board personae to reel in the terminally gullible, through to traffic brokers selling near worthless traffic. Designers, busy enough to keep clients waiting for weeks, apparently don't see any reason to take the time to learn how to code properly. Half-assed, over-priced scripts are abandoned once the author gets bored or fulfils his petty ambitions. Etc. Etc. Most affiliates are busy promoting expensive, third-rate crap on which they wouldn't spend a dime of their own money, just because someone is offering a high payout or the chance to win a Hummer or whatever.

All these things are related and to change them, the example has to come from the top. Were that to happen, I believe we would quickly see that the money we have made to date is just a fraction of this industry's real potential. A good first step would be to shun the likes of Zango and anyone who is not actively opposed to their existence.