gothweb wrote:
...there's virtually no morality. I don't mean the fact that we're in porn. I know that. Naked people, filming sex, blah blah blah. What I mean is that people just don't *think* about right and wrong.
How often do you hear someone say that someone shouldn't complain about a moral issue because "we're all in porn anyhow"? Apparently, because we do some things that some people think are wrong, we don't need to be moral.
My reply is:
Dead on. People are in this industry who are bothered and feeling guilt and self-loathing over it. Get out or do what you're doing in a more acceptable way instead of abusing girls, cheating with blind links and redirects, and cutting deals you have no intention of keeping up.
gothweb wrote:
I know it is easy to think that since we're in a vice industry, we shouldn't bother. Well, I have an idea for you. Since we're in a vice industry, we need to try even harder to make sure we don't cross the line. We are much closer to the line, and it would be easy to do unconscionable things. Plus, if we don't show that we are capable of moral thought and restrained action, then we become what everyone says we are. We prove them right, and give the world more reason to put us out of business.
My reply is:
Too late. A lot of the webmasters are adolescents acting out...even if they are 40 years old. Think of how many people here brag about how much they make or that they could afford a Boxter or Jaguar or Corvette. Why the fuck should I give a shit? How juvenile!
gothweb wrote:
Or, since morality is a subject that is so foreign and upsetting to so many people on here (I know someone will call me a pussy, or holier-than-thou for even bringing it up)... I can talk about something a bit simpler... Business ethics.
Where the hell are the business ethics in this industry? Look at how much of what is done is informal, and off the books. Look at how much of ther industry is based on posturing, rather than being businesslike. How many people respond to disputes with insults or threats? It's nuts.
My reply is:
"Character is what one has when the lights go out."
gothweb wrote:
Sometimes, it feels like the wild west. (Especially when I was going through a certain dispute.) It doesn't matter what has been promised, what has been signed, what the law is, or what the right thing would be. Might makes right, and possession is 9/10 of the law.
My reply is:
Example: I help a guy who needs quick cash by buying a laptop which supposedly was a gift from his family and had a bill of sale. Where is the bill of sale? Now after helping the sucker out, he can't respond to any e-mail or chat, not even to tell me to fuck off and I'm starting to wonder where the laptop came from!
gothweb wrote:
Well, guess what? This is 2003, not the wild west, and not 1920s Chicago. Might doesn't make right, and we should be above it.
Thuggery, shaving, shell companies, offshore bullshit, hitbots, contact evasion, content theft, non-payment, transparent excuses... It goes on and on.
And that's just how we deal with eachother. How some adut business deal with their customers is even more insane.
My reply is:
If the government comes down on us hard (as the credit card companies have done and are doing), whose fault will it be? The honest people or the assholes? Well, knowing how the assholes think, once they trash this industry, they'll move on to another one.
gothweb wrote:
Spam, "free trials", stealth cross-sales, popups everywhere, fake "niche" sites with bullshit member areas, sites thrown together with no knowledge of the subject, overzealous rebilling, blind links, unneccesary "eraser" software, illegal content, dubious content, it goes on and on.
Wouldn't you rather be at least a little proud of your job?
My reply is:
Wouldn't it be nice to look in the mirror in the morning and see something worthwhile?
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