In response to Introduce Yourself Thread from adultwebmasterhangout.com

"I do not much care for boards that are without much substance, have too many posting rules, censors, or ones that seem to forget that we are all here to promote and *SELL*. It's not an evil thing to be in sales ;)"

Name/Nick: TDavid, and pretty please with sugar on top don't drop the "T" and call me "David" or "Dave". TD is cool if you want something short to type ;)
Company or Self employed?: self-employed since 1994

Your Primary URL: http://www.tdscripts.com/
Secondary URL: http://www.scriptschool.com/

Your Speciality/Niche: Programming

How long have you been an adult webmaster? I have been coding on the web since late 1995 and I opened TD Scripts for business to the general public in 1999. I did mainstream work for AOL in the keyword: novel area from 1996 - 1997, and I had TOS tools hehe Things are pretty different now though. I owned/operated numerous adult sites from 1997-2001, but as of this writing about 90% of my online income is derived from programming ventures and most of our adult ventures have been sold/moved/gone.

Ever attended any adult webmaster events or trade shows? Which ones? Plan to? Yes, I've attended several, including Internext. I spoke on a panel at the AWE in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington.

Tell us about your site/service - what do you want other webmasters to know about what you offer or specialize in? My site specializes in both stock, premade scripts for webmasters -- both mainstream and adult. We also offer programming services such as: script installation, troubleshooting, consulting, database design, optimization and maintenance, 3rd party program modification, windows desktop programming, and well ... it's probably just best to call if you need anything programming-related ;)

What other boards do you like to participate at? I have several dozen boards in my bookmarks, but only visit regularly a half dozen or so. I wrote an article about how one can maximize his/her time spent on various boards. If interested, you can Google it, by typing in dividing board time

What about a board makes you come back? A good debate in business is always appealing to me, but by this I don't mean the rampant piss and personal attack that seems to be (too) popular IMO these days on some boards. I mean something which advances the knowledge of all participants. I might appear from my commentary at times unflinching, but I actually have a fairly open and flexible mind. I do not much care for boards that are without much substance, have too many posting rules, censors, or ones that seem to forget that we are all here to promote and *SELL*. It's not an evil thing to be in sales ;)

How do you like the resources at Adultchamber.com? Any to suggest? I'll check AC out in more detail when the new design is released, but last time I checked the AC resource section I noticed that some areas that I was interested in the cupboards seemed to be a bit bare (I'd imagine it's more stocked now). As for resources to suggest, a good page, I think (and of course I'm biased LOL), at TD Scripts is the webmaster utilities section -- this has some free tools/utilities to help webmasters out. Also I've made available an RSS feed of my php-scripts diaries at: http://www.php-scripts.com/syndicate/ which folks with webmaster resource areas are welcome to include. These diary entries aren't my web ramblings (I do that at my site tdavids.com LOL) they are my semi-detailed reporting as I move through doing various web-related activities using the PHP scripting language.

What do you think of the state of the adult industry? It's in flux like the rest of the business world. Those who say they are doing just great at this time with post 911, war, stock market in the toilet, etc are probably not being completely forthright. You see the best -- and worst -- in people when the chips are down.

Anything else you want to say! I continue to be impressed by Cyndalie's hard work and effort here at AC and in promotion of this website and I am always interested in making new contacts.

Liability and shock content from boards.theadultwebmaster.com

"Whether it offends some folks or not, there *is* a shock/extreme market out there ... "

>> 1) Going more extreme with content in and of itself does not help sagging porn sales turn around. >>

On it's face, the answer to this statement is: increasing liability in any business venture is a gamble. Sometimes you gamble and win, but sometimes you lose.

However there are more and more examples that this is the way the wind seems to be blowing.

Connor, you know for a fact that this is the reason magazines are doing this? I don't recall Larry Flynt validating this point in his excellent radio interview a while back when a similar question was put directly to him.

IMO magazines are going more hardcore because the net has helped expand the liberal and courtroom landscape in the area of liability, not because they are seeing it as a necessity to compete with more hardcore websites directly.

I think sooner or later we're going to see something similar happen with terrestrial gambling. Between indian casinos and the internet, business-wise, these ventures have to be nipping some heels in Nevada and someday I think we'll see a brick and mortar casino here in the US take this head on (if someone hasn't already made this a landmark case).

Also, there are people who like to collect porn magazines. Does anybody actually "collect" porn sites?

(maybe this will be a new niche lol)

But does going more hardcore really make the magazine sales improve? I think it might help those "readers" who are starving for more hardcore (but if they haven't found the net or bought videos by now, they are pretty weak), but it probably hurts those who are turned on by not necessarily seeing the act itself, but find most erotic the lead-up to the act.

So specifically on this point, *if* that's what the magazine is trying to do (and I don't think they are) then:

- they are taking a gamble from a liability perspective.
- The effect on sales, however, would depend more on the magazine and its readership base or the website itself. Going more hardcore therefore might, in fact, boost sales.

>> 2) Coming up with unique content concepts like the "Women of Enron" pictorial can help you compete in a saturated market by providing your audience with something they can't get elsewhere?>>
Sure, unique content will always be a good selling point, no matter what the medium is. I certainly agree with this. It stands to reason that adding more of this type of content can help retain members or invite new ones and thus increase sales.

---------------

And to finish on the whole extreme/shock note ...

Look at the PS2 game Grand Theft Auto III. Rockstar is building a rep for making explicit, graphic games and people are buying up the shock value. Bumfights, Howard Stern, etc.

Whether it offends some folks or not, there *is* a shock/extreme market out there ...

There is probably enough here for 2-4 spinoff/rebuttal articles. Feel free, anyone, to have at them ;)

Webmasters who complain on multiple webmaster boards about sponsors not paying from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"Get away from the keyboard before you completely explode like that guy in Weird Al's Eat it video"

In business ... I've seen wires take longer than a week. It happens.
... I've seen the USPS take longer than one week to deliver mail within 20 miles. It happens.
... I've seen the USPS lose, misplace, crumple, and tear up sent mail. It happens.
... I've seen checks bounce due to bank error. It happens.
... I've seen Fed X not deliver something overnight even when they guarantee overnight delivery. It happens.
... I've seen email programs and/or filters eat email. It happens.
... I've seen voice mail, though recorded, not get to its intended party. It happens.
... I've seen cell phones drop out during important parts of conversations or be out of range when somebody needs to get in touch. It happens.
... I've seen cars run out of gas. It happens.
... I've seen servers crash. It happens.
... I've seen people like Michael Jackson before plastic surgery turned him into the thing that is Jacko. It happens.
... I've seen situations where people say they are going to do something and then forget or get too busy and don't do what was promised. It happens.
... I've seen that us humans are an imperfect species, and quite capable of making mistakes. It happens.
... I've seen webmasters who go Paul Revere on multiple boards turn out to be only telling part of the story. It happens.

If you haven't done so already, then go take a deep breath, go play some golf, go wash your car, take someone you love to a movie, whatever. Get away from the keyboard before you completely explode like that guy in Weird Al's Eat it video.

You know, people can and do self-destruct.

It happens.

In response to Amazon letter received asking if used books hurt new book sales from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"$8-10 for a *paperback* is getting a bit expensive, IMO, but I'll pay it if I'm jumping on a plane to go somewhere or the book looks compelling enough"

Not sure how many of you work with Amazon, but this morning we receieved a rather lengthy mail from the Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about a "vocal organization" heavily criticizing them for selling used books on their website.

This organization claims that the sale of used books is hurting the sale of new books.

I know we used to love going to the used book stores and buying tons of used books. $8-10 for a *paperback* is getting a bit expensive, IMO, but I'll pay it if I'm jumping on a plane to go somewhere or the book looks compelling enough. We bought a couple new books on our last trip. Where in the 80-90's when paperbooks were 4-6, we probably purchased a couple dozen new books a year, now we purchase maybe a half dozen to dozen.

There is nothing quite like reading a new book. Being the first one to rip back the cover and dive into the world the writer presents. It's kind of a romanticizing thing for me anyway. Used books though have a bit of mystique to them too.

What do you think?

Does the sale of used books hurt the sale of new ones? How many new books do you buy a year? Is this just another organization with an agenda trying to throw a monkey wrench in a large ecommerce website?

Budgeting taxes every quarter and making a P&L from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"I'd go cook burgers if I was an accountant and couldn't tell my customers more accurately what they should budget"

And one more thing about budgeting taxes every quarter ...

I would listen very loosely to what your accountant tells you to budget/pay quarterly, especially if it's the first few years you are doing this. Pay *more* than what they tell you. Chances are good you know what sponsors are sending you every month and you know the projected income numbers versus reality better than anyone else.

If you don't know those numbers, it's past time to make a P & L and track them. Here's an article I wrote that might help you in the process:
http://www.theadultwebmaster.com/articles/p_and_l_1.phtml

I've actually caught past accountants missing several writeoffs that we could have taken and then had to pay for amendments in later years.

We've had 3 accountants over the last 8 years we've been in our own businesses and not a one of them has been even remotely close about what we should pay quarterly, even when our income projection was within a few thousand dollars of the actual adjusted gross.

I'd go cook burgers if I was an accountant and couldn't tell my customers more accurately what they should budget. It's their job to be accurate!

A reply to article entitled: Is the Value of Popups Being Ruined? from www.adultbizpower.com

"Eroding faith in consumers is a major concern for any business and especially the advertising and software business"

Doxy, I've been writing a long, long time and contributed a lot of articles to a lot of places and your post reply to this article of mine was one of the most honest, well thought replies I've ever seen posted anywhere and I thank you for your comments. I can see you spent some time crafting your words.

It deserves an equally well thought out response, so here are my comments:

[I]Does profit justify unethical means? No, not to me.[/I]
Not to me either ;)

[i]What most people forget, however, is that it is the CONSUMER who decides what is ethical, whether we like it or not ... This article says pop-ups would not be in use if they didn't work. Fair enough. Google wouldn't be offering anti pop-up tips if there wasn't a demand for it. That line of logic works both ways. To say that webmasters shouldn't do business with places that offer anti pop-up software is maintaining a double standard. [/I]
I agree with you to some degree here.

One of many points in the article was that as webmasters doing business to business transactions [B]we[/B] are the consumers, and as the consumer, I choose who to do business with, and those who create, promote, and market programs to prevent the distribution of advertising, use stealth methods to download programs to my computer without my permission or knowledge, failure to clearly (not covertly) disclose their information gathering distribution to 3rd parties (IE. selling my email address or adding it arbitrarily to new lists without my permission), are on *my* do not do business with list. It's individual choice as a consumer and a business owner to choose who one wants to do business with too -- and how much of one's information he/she wants whored around.

Me? It's easy: I don't want any info going out without my permission. If I give permission, than fine, send out marketing info. Personally, give me the choice for free versus $20 or $30 to NOT have my info whored out? I'm choosing $20 and $30 every time.

I was also pointing out that Google makes its money from advertising and the sale of its proprietary software. I don't expect them to [B]not[/B] list in their searchable index anti-popup and spyware infested software (which would be a huge and insurmountable task) but I don't go to Google or any search engine for "anti-popup surfing tips from Google" -- do you?

As already mentioned, the larger problem with many of these anti-popup programs is they are not really "free" because they employ deceptive techniques to load programs in the background on your computer. Programs that if they came with full disclosure of their practices many of the people wouldn't use the anti-popup software to begin with, and that is the very important, underlying point I was trying to make.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Sure, the frontend is that you don't have to see popups, and maybe that is fine for surfers who are irritated by them, but how many of those same surfers want their keystrokes logged? Want their surfing habits sent back to the mother ship?

When I goto Google I go there for relevant search results, period. I believe that they are the best at what they do, I don't go there for [b]Google's[/b] information on how to report people to the FTC or to get [B]Google's[/B] tips on the best freeware (with spyware attached) to download to my computer.

[I]...But, if someone is afraid of options being given to consumers all that says to me is they're afraid they won't be innovative enough to come up with the next big idea.[/I]
I totally disagree with this. It has nothing to do with "fear" and everything to do with common sense in business. Many a "once" good company has become clouded by their successs and has begun to lose their focus and ultimately suffer from straying from it. Corporate politics have historically ruined many good companies. They get interested in trying to be the public savior and end up going astray from what made them successful.

As for coming up with the next big idea? How big an idea is it to come up with a program which loads stealth in the background on your computer and logs what you are doing and then giving away "free" a program which acts as a frontend to this type of activity? Suggesting to go download one piece of software that would load a much more evil piece of software while benovently "blocking" or siphoning advertisers is a far worse piece of advice than simply sending back a personalized response to the consumers who attribute the blurred popups to you.

It is akin to a piece of CallerID hardware monitoring your phone calls and sending back WHO you called and WHO called you to some third party for "demographic study" -- and the CallerID software hardware is "free".

Eroding faith in consumers is a major concern for any business and especially the advertising and software business.

Google made the claim that people were attributing blur consoles to them and this was the reason for their important, indepth "extra" clarification and emphasis.

In my article, I was simply asking the question how many people, really, who have used Google for any amount of time blame the presence of these blurred consoles on Google? Sure, maybe the guy who just got on AOL and doesn't know any better, but serious business to business people who have both the need and financial ability to pay the $20,000+ for the Google search appliance are not going to make that type of flawed assumption. These people are probably apt to be more disturbed that they would help to finance a company who steps out against advertising and/or separates themselves from it, and yet simultaneously relies on that same support for continued existence and growth.

[I]But, educating a consumer and allowing those consumers to make their own decisions regarding what type of marketing they choose to expose themselves to is ALSO an individual prerogative. And all it does is force business to maintain a higher standard, nothing less.[/I]
I agree with you if the foundation of your business revolved around education, but Google has long maintained that the reason they feel they are the best at what they do is because they don't focus on anything but being the best at [B]producing relevant search results[/B].

If I want to know how to do something about popups, find software to prevent popups, and/or download "freeware" with spyware-infested apps, I can always search the very relevant Google index to get the results.

Thank you again for the feedback ;)

Checking out how long a site's privacy / Terms of Service policy have existed from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"As with all business, try to support those who offer disclosure of their business practices in relation to the handling of *your* information and be wary of those who don't"

I forgot to mention that if there is a privacy and/or TOS policy that you might also want to go back in time using the waybackmachine and see how long you can find the policy at the website:

http://www.archive.org/

I think this very kewl service helps to keep people honest about "the past"

I know of one webmaster resource site - that shall remain nameless - who felt it was perfectly fine that they could add you to any email list they created simply because you were listed in their resource section.

Wrong!

I don't want to be assumed subscribed to anything, I want to be assumed *UN*subscribed to everything unless I sign up for it

As with all business, try to support those who offer disclosure of their business practices in relation to the handling of *your* information and be wary of those who don't ...

6 don't dos in marketing on the web from www.tdavids.com

"Your customers will make the comparisons, and they'll set the bar for your excellence (or lack thereof)"

About to post to a board about your product/service that you've never posted at before or very infrequently visit? DON'T

About to add someone's email address to a "list" because you saw it on a board or it was available conveniently somewhere else (like one resource site did to me)? DON'T!

About to crack back on someone or some company anonymously? DON'T!

About to bitch and moan all day instead of spending that energy developing new ideas, improving customer service and websites? DON'T!

About to start your own webmaster resource site because you can do it better? DON'T!

About to directly compare your products and services to your competition as in yours being superior in some way? DON'T!

You don't have to compare yourself to your competiton in order to win over customers (if you must compare then I'd recommend some sort of features, fact-based comparison only).

Your customers will make the comparisons, and they'll set the bar for your excellence (or lack thereof). If you do a bad job for them, then take notes so you can improve, if you do a good job, then ask for a referral from one of their friends.

How long have you been webmastering full time and how long did it take you to get to full time? from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"You might stumble into something by accident, by inheritance, or win the lottery, but you don't get wealthy or even comfortable overnight with any *business* I've ever tried"

We could have lived off our webmaster income since late 1998, but I've happily enjoyed basically two full time jobs since mid 1997. I've been on the web since the end of 1995, but didn't really get serious about anything until late 1996 (exit surfer mode, enter webmaster mode), and didn't really start putting in any real hours until mid 1997.

I don't really consider the web stuff a "job" though, I love webmastering! It's a form of creative expression and if you are a creative person, it's a heavenly outlet

These days, I currently put in an average of about 35 *working* hours online (I'm online much, much more than that of course, but that time comes from my work logs) and 25 hours with my brick and mortar insurance business. I'm blessed with having good help in the insurance business so I really don't have to do too much to keep the ship running there, save for the occasional problem/situation and travel and education to keep my licenses active.

Online, however, I do pretty much everything except for a person who helps me part time with AP/AR and a little bit of customer service.

Last year, actually, was the first year we made more money from web ventures than our insurance biz, but then last year was a really shitty year in the insurance world. I had clients running for the doors over rate increases (some were hit with 60% or more rate increases). I lost a couple huge commercial accounts too when our parent company decided to restructure and no longer handle certain business risks and I couldn't place competitvely with a different carrier

So I guess you can say I've never really gone "full time" webmastering lol.

As for owning my own business though and relying solely on commissions and sales, I've been doing that since 1994.

I think the answer to your underlying question though is if one puts in the blood, sweat and tears (70-80 hrs per week), he/she should be able to provide a decent income within 12-18 months. That's how long I would project for, if I was coming in fresh today.

Also, I wouldn't believe anybody that says you can make bank quickly at anything. You might stumble into something by accident, by inheritance, or win the lottery, but you don't get wealthy or even comfortable overnight with any *business* I've ever tried.

I'd also outline and project how much traffic I wanted to generate, how many sites (free, avs) I'd build, and project at the very least quarterly gross income.

Can't forget expenses either. Got to project how much content you will need to buy, hosting/bandwith, office overhead (phone, postage, etc), professional expenses (legal namely, and accounting) and lest we not forget TAXES! That ugly 5 letter word that ends up being the figure that will bite you in the ass if you forget or discount it.

It took us about 2 1/2 years to get to a good steady income with our insurance business, where I didn't have to put in those 80 hour days (and then I picked up the time I took off doing webmaster stuff lol). I recorded, projected and outlined everything there: how many calls I had to make to generate an appointment, how many sales appointments to generate a sale, walk-in/call-in to sale ratio, how many policies to make a certain gross income level, etc.

The web is like any other sales business. Just clear away the smoke and mirrors and it's really just a numbers game. You figure out what the numbers are for you and you work the numbers until you generate your desired income level.

Then you decide to hire and expand further or try to maintain a certain income level. I say "try" because you have to be mindful in business of any comfort zone.

One of my ex-bosses used to always say: "when growth ends, decay begins."

So being mindful of comfort zones is an issue too ...

No business is easy, but if you love what you are doing and believe in it enough, you can make a good living doing it.

Preventive Maintenance for business from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"If you actually see a blue spark then you've probably just discharged in excess of 10,000 volts!"

Greetings,

With winter time upon us and humidity always in flux, it's not a bad idea to remember the damage that static electricity can cause to our computers, and the extra expense it can create for our businesses.

Did you know that the tiniest static spark is caused by about 1000 volts? That simply shifting in the chair can create 200-300 volts? And that longer car door and doorknob sparks can involve 10,000+ volts! If you actually see a blue spark then you've probably just discharged in excess of 10,000 volts!

As you all realize, these kind of shocks can wreak some serious havoc on your computer, so here are a few ideas to protect your PC:

1. always ground yourself on metal or an anti-static mat before touching the pc (metal desks can create some fireworks)
2. buy or at least consider purchasing anti-static mats around the keyboards and desk. Mileage and opinions vary on the effectiveness of anti-static spray due to evaporation.
3. Remove all metallic jewelery.
4. A humidifier can be used to keep the humidity above 50%.

Want to measure your the static electricity on your body right now (sure you don't!):
http://www.amasci.com/emotor/voltmeas.html

This will give you the lowdown on static electricity so you can put to sleep just about anybody at a party:
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/static.html

Safety is important when working *inside* your computer too. So before adding RAM to the board or swapping that next hard drive, you might want to consult this guide for dealing with ESD:
http://www.pccomputernotes.com/esd/esd.htm

Happy static-free coding to you!

In response to article at Adult Buzz from www.adultbuzz.com

"If you aren't going to read rules that someone took time to craft, then why should they take you and/or your website/business seriously?"

Great article, TJay!

It is too bad that the majority of webmasters who truly need this advice will either:

A) not read it
B) read it, think to themselves: hmmm, this is pretty good advice, and still ignore it
C) read it, and instantly ignore it
D) all or none of the above (hehe)

However, for those who might be on the fence about the biz, willing to turn a new leaf, or new to the biz, then this is definitely a must read :agree: (and should click the link above and read right away)

If I may, let me add a few more "how not to succeeds" to the list:

1) using auto-submission programs to pound submissions to tgps, linklists, search engines which clearly state in their rules that they do not want auto submissions. Getting your site IPs banned is not a good thing!

This could also be categorized under "blatantly ignoring submission rules." If you aren't going to read rules that someone took time to craft, then why should they take you and/or your website/business seriously? Using tools like thelinksmachine will help in this department: http://www.thelinksmachine.com/

2) Taking down recip links after your site gets listed. Guaranteed to get your name passed around in ban circles sooner or later. Some webmasters realize just how small this world is when it is too late ...

3) Posting private email and/or confidential icq, irc, etc conversations to a public messageboard without public permission from the other party to do so. A perfect demonstration that you cannot be trusted.

4) Posting trash about people *anonymously* on the boards. Have the balls to stand by anything you say and put your name next to it or shut that cowardly hole.

5) No attempt to do mutually beneficial business. What comes around goes around. Watch your referrer logs and act accordingly. Try to say thank you when you see someone compliment you and/or your business on a public board or when someone helps you. Have and use good manners. In nearly all cultures, courtesy opens and/or widens doors.

6) creating scripts, software, programs, and/or websites which are specifically designed to cheat, deceive, steal and/or intentionally and maliciously mislead people. Fortunately it's a rare occurence when someone approaches me looking for programming which violates these rules, but it still happens. Of course, the answer is always the same and starts with an "n"

7) Associating and/or doing business with individuals/companies who have a penchant for breaking the rules mentioned in this linked article. Whoever says that there is no such thing as guilt by association is and has been historically and statisically proven wrong.

#7 is my personal favorite.

It can be difficult and sometimes even expensive to walk away from things which are wrong. However, it is one of the truest forms of character, and will go a long, long ways to helping you be able to look in the mirror and attract others who also want to do good, mutually beneficial business.

Again, nice article, TJay! ;)