Another Thief Discovered: Project Voyeur
 

Apologies to anyone who either doesn't know this website or who doesn't use it in their capacity as an affiliate, but Project Voyeur has been stealing well-intentioned Webmaster's content.

Who is 'Project Voyeur' (http://www.projectvoyeur.com/)? PV is a picture (and some video) posting site, user-submitted, that also posts 'ProShow' pictures (that's the name of the section) with links back to a model's website. Sites like these once ruled the day but now they are shrinking fast as they find their business models unsustainable.

What IS their 'business model'? Amatuers send them pictures (for free, of course) and try to win Prize Money for the Best Contribution. Many have prizes for many categoires (Best 'In Public', Best MILF, etc). But how do these sites actually PAY the Prize Winners"

Sites like Project Voyeur earn revenue, not from Google ads or cross-sells or sponser ads or banner trades/sell or any of that (or, if they do it's minimal at best), but by selling Memberships to their own 'archives': for one low price (usually under $25 a year) you get access to their entire library of (free, user-and-webmaster-submitted) submissions.

Yes, so in the end, they are monetizing your promotional material. But for years the trade-off a pro site got in terms of traffic, publicity and memberships to a girl's site more than made up for it (or closely, anyway).

A few months ago Project Voyeur moved it's 'ProShow' section from it's free public site to inside their subscription-only section. WTF??? So no more traffic from PV, right? Myself (and a few other webmasters, too) complained and PV's response was: "Well, the traffic you will NOW be getting, from inside our paid area, will be 'better' traffic because it's filtered, it's coming from people already used to paying for porn..."

Hmmm....'used to' paying $25 a year as opposed to $29.95 every month...but h'okay....

So I continue to submit pictures (and videos) from my sites. A month goes by, then another, and I begin to noitice: no traffic coming from Project Voyeur anymore! Huh.

So I contact them via email to the site owner, nothing. (The owner has always responded to me; I've posted thousands of pictures for over four years to this site, and had their link on almost every page in my network, sending them - accoring to my stats - over 60,000 uniques over the course of the last 14 months, which includes the two months of me not getting any traffic back).

I send a Support Ticket. Nothing. Finally, after 3 weeks, I send them a Final Email saying, in part: "Please either give me a temp pass to your archive section, or provide screencaps with the link back to my _ site." Nothing again. So I bit the bullet and Joined myself.....

You guessed it. So I send THEM screencaps going, 'Where's the link?"

No answer. Hell-o-o-o-o? (I can hear my own echo...)

There ya go. So anyone sending in pictures to Project Voyeur, hoping/expecting to have links back to their sites and expect/hope to get traffic/sales from them......

Please STOP. It ain't happenin'. Don't be a shmuck and give your shit away for free (and we ain't even talkin' about how PV LIES as regards their 'views'/CTR. They used to show 60,000 'views' for a submission but I'd barely get 200 uniques. Do the math. Puh-LEASE.)

:disgust

Sig spot secured.

FINALLY - some responses to a thread of mine with substance. I was getting worried there for awhile. :)

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Bump for me 'cause I HATES DEM LYIN', THIEVIN' BASTARDS!!!!!!

bump 4 you... on the top

Sounds like you just need contact with the site owner.

Seven emails over six weeks to the site owner (who's always responded before). I mean, I know Europeans take long-ass 'holidays' but this is ridiculous. LOL

Sounds like you got fucked.
Did you sign an agreement ?

they been around forever same with watchersweb

bump for my fellow New Yorker...

Boyyyyyy! LOL I can prolly see you from Roberto Clemente State Park yo! At least for a little while, til the trees bloom. Thx mate.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh That's pretty funny ...


.

I used to visit that a lot :1orglaugh

Not sure what the drama here is all about but I know for a fact that the owner is on holiday. Having said that, this is a screen capture from within the site that I took just 10 seconds ago:

http://cdnetworx.com/peabody.jpg

Looks like a link to one of your sites. Perhaps you'd like to send them links to pages that don't link back to you?

Additionally, as far as I am aware, you don't NEED to become a member to view your own submissions as these are available for you to view without a membership no matter if they are on the free section or within the archives.

Well now there's an interesting thing you just posted, pardner. Owner on vacation or not, the entire SITE is not on holiday, is it? And six-seven weeks is a loooong holiday....

Anyway, true, you can see your own contris without becoming a member but there's the thing: I couldn't. I would see 1 hit - 1 - from a PV contri in my stats (both Statcounter and server stats) and, when clicked on, would take me to a page without a link. Maybe they have filters on there? Who knows, but the other stats don't lie: look at your screencap. # of views and yet.....0 hits from PV.

So: is it possible someone has re-inserted the links on my Contris after this thread and vis a vis 'drama'? Possible. But again and finally: TOTAL hits from Project Voyeur in the last eight weeks - 14 websites - 63 contris - 3.

So, you know, whatever. Anyway you slice it it ain't worth the time giving your promotional shit away to a shitty site like that. Why help another site monetize YOUR shit and you get next to nothing back?

Project Voyeur heh?

Some people like to live as voyeurs. They watch people who do not know they are watching.

I once wore a watch. It had a leather wristband.

Look, how, when, why or for how long his vacation lasts is not my business; I just told you what I knew. All I know is you called someone a thief without posting any proof and you've gone further by suggesting the following:

It's one thing to say that you are receiving less hits but to suggest theft is a downright lie. I know for a FACT that links were not re-inserted.

Also, how do you move so freely between the following two statements?

Ohhh! Please tell me moreee! Did it fit tightly?

:1orglaugh

fatfoo is contagious :)

my new favorite gif :1orglaugh

Yes, true, how long a holiday lasts is not your concern, and I do appreciate your posting what you did.

All I know is when I checked, and had others check, too, there were no links. Emails to the owner/support tickets not answered for almost two months.

And how do I reconcile the two statements? Easy: IN THE PAST it was worth all the effort for whatever hits they sent, and if they 'monetized' MY content by offering Memberships (which I do not get a piece of, just a link with some lousy traffic back) then it was, MORE OR LESS, a wash.

But NOW? In the PRESENT? Shitty or non-existent traffic, no response from the site, thousands of my images all over the fucking site and nothing in it for Mister Peabody.

So yeah, I'm pissed, but just a little, and it's not worth ALL my time to bitch like this (but certainly worth a post HERE in the hopes other well-meaning Webmasters do not waste their valuable time, effort and resources posting to a shitty-ass site like that).

Now, i don't know about your FACTS - do you work with PV? Are you associated with them? Or do you just post there regularly? Whatever - if a REPRESENTATIVE of PV wants to chime in, and explain things, great. But honestly, who are you? You're defending them so you have an interest, yes?

What are YOUR stats, then? Do YOU get traffic back when a Contri says it has 60,000 views? I'm seriously not trying to be an asshole, just curious.

Again, whatever, sites like Project Voyeur are dying a slow, sad death, and they do this shit in a desperate attempt to stay in business (which I can actually kinda understand). But Bottom Line: giving away your content FOR FREE only works IF you get something back; otherwise Webmasters are being idiots for continuing to support sites like Project Voyeur.