Self Legislation! Are we capable?
 

We as adult webmasters need to group together & stand up to protect our business & investments. This is our brea & butter at stake here & we need to stand up & fight against all & any opposition we encounter. In order to do that, we need to form an organization to regulate ourselves. We need to become a self governing body. We need to volunteer ourselves to participate, to communicate & to self regulate. We need to form bylaws & policies & we need to enforce them.

If all webmasters, from large sponsor programs to the small affiliates working in the dorm rooms, all worked together for the same goals, we ca overcome & show the world that we are concerned for the same purpose of the right wing christian politics.

We all know kids sometimes get exposed to porn & certainly not one of us here wants them on our sites & the majority of us do everything possible to prevent minors from accessing our sites such as registering with ICRA, submitting urls to filters, warning pages, etc... But that is not enough, because only those who are responsible will continue to do so.. we need to make industry standards..

I propose that the industry as a whole stand up & make it a requirement that ALL adult sites MUST register with ICRA.

How can we do this? Sponsors all have rules. We have all submitted urls to sponsors to get approved. If sponsors can make the initial step & make it a REQUIREMENT, that ALL domains where their links will be placed on MUST be registered & labeled with ICRA, then this will help get more sites labeled. Sponsors can also make it part of their TOS that any webmaster promoting them from non ICRA labeled domains is a violation of the TOS & will be forfeit from the program, etc, etc..

We must stand up together & begin self regulating. We all have to become participants in regulating ourselves.

Your thoughts, ideas & 2 cents are required~!! Discuss.

Who will be the first sponsor to make it part of their TOS & Rules that affiliates MUST label with ICRA as a requirement to participate in the program?

http://www.coleman.edu/main/whatsnew...itution-we.jpg
"The Web?s growth ? both in its impact and in its reach ? has FAR outpaced the establishment of systems, policies and procedures for COMMUNICATION and AGREEMENT between the various ?stakeholder groups?. In this regard, the Web has been very much like the ?Wild West? of the American 19th century. People were living and working there before all the structures of government or even norms of behavior for citizens had been established. In some cases, where a policy or a law existed, there was no clear mechanism for enforcement. Questions like ?Who?s in charge here?? ?Who?s land is this?? and ?Who made you the boss of me?? plagued the early settlements for decades, until the fibers of civilization could be woven in wherever they were needed.

As bad as it may have been in the un-settled American West, at least they had guidelines to import from the East. Much of the law and systems of government could simply be copied and reproduced. This was not so difficult, because most of the Basic Objects over which and upon which law and government operate ? like citizen, corporation, county, etc. ? had not changed. On the Web, it?s all new ? and in many cases, questions of authority, jurisdiction, ownership and Right of Opinion have not been established.

That is a terrifying fact, when you consider the assets and lives now bound up in and dependent on the Web... more

2hp

well, looks like my plans of workin on some sites tonight has changed.

Very informative site you have there..I will enjoy reading :thumbsup

Labeling with ICRA is fine and there are also programs that require it now, but I think the things that hurt the industry most is SE spam and especially email spam. As long there are sponsors that close their eyes in silence when affiliates spam, even if they do not allow it in their copied TOS, it will not help us much from interfering.
It would be a great idea if there are better control of affiliates (and paysites). One thing could be stricter process when signing up for programs, i.e. not only the standard "I agree", but also signed contracts with identification attached. Problem is only there are so much competition, so who are willing to sacrifice? Maybe the restrictions should come from a higher level, like the billing processors.
There could also be a common website, runned by the processors and representatives, for forwarding illegal activities incl. spam.

Just some thoughts, but it would help alot :)

the sad truth is you would have better luck herding cats. All the money this industry makes we should be very strong but since everyone has their own little kingdoms and the really really big players want to see the small players all gone its all fractured.

Exactly.

The amount of money this industry makes is insane that we have no unified voice. If you had one, and everyone was a member of it. Then the laws, and bullshit would go to one organization that kinda represents the 'basic laws' of the industry. Making things a lot happier, and countering the horseshit in the media.

United we stand, divided we fall.

There is a lot of truth to that when you see everyone as a seperate but equal, yet also easier to conquer on the whole. You see it time and again how the chicken littles go nuts because of some new law, change in billing companies and so forth.

Think of it this way. If there was a central regime, then billing companies could go to them directly. So could congress, or government bullshit. If someone sued, then they could take up the fight and have the money to fight for us.

Simple enough to comprehend?

:disgust

You forgot the "bullshit" part of that statement.

There are so many bullshitters and bullshit followers that make up this fragile fabric of an industry that I'm surprised it actually generates income.

Well, not really, considering the millions more "clients" who love the smell of bullshit, whether coming from the source or the shoes of others.

Go figure.