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Originally Posted by AsianDivaGirlsWebDude
Sherm, I don't dislike you personally - to my knowledge we have never met. In fact, there are many posts you have made in the past that I agree with, and I like your overall business savvy and work ethic (I have no doubt that you are one hardworking dude - I am too, so I can appreciate that).
I was simply offering an alternative viewpoint about the practice of pretending to do impartial reviews when in fact the main purpose appears to be creating reviews simply as a revenue making scheme.
I make a very good living in the adult biz with my web sites. I don't have to compromise much, because I operate totally independently. Therefore, I offer up my opinion truly unbiased and freely - at times to my own detriment.
If you make money with your scheme, then you should not care about my opinion. If you think my observations are hurting you, then maybe you should re-examine your practice. What's wrong with providing honest reviews for all sites irregardless of whether you have a link code to them (and that doesn't meaning slamming/slighting sites simply because they do not have an affiliate program)?
I apologize for any offense you have taken. It was not directed at you personally, it was instead about programs that operate under the guise of being ubiased that actually have a hidden agenda.
I'm sure your site will thrive no matter what I post.
Cheers,
ADG Webmaster
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ADG...
Thanks for your explanation...But if you look above, you will notice that I've offered to review your site referral free. I will do this for individual owners if asked on a 1 on 1 basis, but on a public board, I'd only be interested in reviewing sites with an affiliate program. Why? Because as it stands, I've already got quite a backlog and my motivation to get to reviewing sites is that I know they value my opinion... How do I know it's valued? Because they are willing to offer me compensation for my honest review 1 way or another.
Now... No site will get a better or worse review because of what they offer me. In fact, I don't really give a shit. I have enough sites, SE traffic, etc. to put money in my pocket (and to sites in which I have decided to put my promotional focus on). A bad review of a site means that I disliked it.. I probably won't make any money from a bad review, but if somebody decided to purchase anyways, I might as well get a kickback for my time. This is no way hinders what I will say or not say about a site.
You say scheme as if I'm implementing some evil underbelly of the adult world. This is nothing deeper than a review site. It's not groundbreaking, law breaking or a threat to anybody. It's something that has been around for a while, and it's designed to help site owners, surfers and of course compensate the webmaster doing the reviews. With enough traffic, there are large server fees to pay, time spent on site development and upset webmasters to deal with. Breaking even is a good thing and making profit is better. It is a commercial website designed to provide a service...much like any other.
Is a consultant any less honest because he/she is being paid? No. A good consultant is honest with a client, and geared to give the consumer a better experience...Much like a reviewer. Much like a critic with a column. Nobody trusts a dishonest person, and a businessman wants to make his/her consumers happy in order to have repeat business.
Do I care about fellow individuals in my line of business think? Of course. All it takes is 1 unhappy webmaster to make you lose a lot of business. Do I feel like my practices are shadey? No. If I did, I'd have disappeared and stopped arguing my case a long time ago.
We can agree to disagree and move on.
