I was 14 at the time, and owned zero domains...
I remember I was surfin the web one sunday, and I saw something that said "Webmasters, Make 18 cents per click"
Sounded like a helluva deal..
then I click it and find out it's a porn program...
I signed up and soon realized I could beat my allowance of $10 a week by clicking on my own banners (They had like 8 sites I think), logging off the internet, logging back on (to get a new IP address so the next 8 clicks would be unique/new to the system) and REPEAT....
I did this for about an hour a day....
and suprise suprise the check came...
I was making money from nothing
Had my 8 banners set up on a tripod page....
Then I got to thinking..
how can I make more...
then one night it hit me...
After seeing how the password sites were promoting XPICS...
I did some usenet spamming, I'd post a message in every group with a large audience, the video game board, the alt.gun room..
whatever....
This is the way I'd set up the hustle
"Hey Everybody, We just got a list of stolen/hacked passwords to some porn sites, now you can get in for free! The might not last long, so get them now. If they don't work right now give them about few hours and try again sometimes if a password is being overly used it will keep it from working for a few hours*)
I'd set up the links like
http://fake:[email protected].../myaccountcode
I was making like $60-$100 a day...
not to mention one weekend they had a 40 cent's a click promotion...
DAMN..
That was some easy money man....
I miss those days
I only wish I had got in on it sooner....
and been able to make more before the industry changed up...
With XPICS, some people got shaved by XPICS, some people robbed XPICs...
This is truly a Throwback Story