my theory on personality-driven porn
Mon Aug 13, 2007
I was going through reviews this morning to put up, and came across a wonderful site with great personality. I decided to wander through myself, and found that there haven’t been any updates at all since the end of April. Not particularly notable, I suppose, except that I am running across that so much more often these days. The little indie sites that are interesting and personable seem to be disappearing, or no longer updating, and it makes me sad.
There are a few reasons I am thinking of for the lack of personality driven sites these days. The biggest is the way the web has changed in terms of interactivity. When we started back in 1997, we had tons of dialogue with our readership, and it was pretty darn cool. Over the years though, the web has become a more and more passive form of entertainment, with the notable exception of the blogging phenomena. The other thing is the business aspect of it: I can think of many notable sites that had huge followings, only to have the person who ran the site (and starred in it) go through a big life change, and take it offline. Or, in some cases, try to change it to content of other people more quietly, to keep the membership base. I think there is a definite shelf life on how long most people want to keep doing a website when it’s that personal. I suppose my own now-defunct personal site is one example. Still, it did me good to go over and see that Jen and Dave are still around and going strong, and of course porn star Asia Carrera has been actively blogging through ALL of her life changes, including the heartbreak of last year. Still, it’s a rare person that continues to put things out there in the long term.
Does anyone have any good amateur sites that are truly personable to recommend? Email me so that I can list them, if you do.
~Jane
August 13th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
I’ve noticed that many non-commercial sites do fine until they grow to the point that they must decide to become commercial, or cease to be. Most of the people doing the “amateur” sites seem not to want to go commercial, and fail when they do.
It’s too bad as there’s usually a sense of community with an amateur site, that they lose when forced to go commercial
Pluto
August 13th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Pluto makes some very valid points so I’ll just second those.
In addition, I find it very difficult to find a balance in updating my “personal” site. When things are rough - or just plain ole boring - how personal should I get? And then, of course, things start getting good & juicy and it’s impossible to find time to write about it!
August 13th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
For five years I kept up a journal here on JG that had a tremendous amount of detail about my life, sex and otherwise. For years I was a hyperactive slut, out catting and wolfing and stuff several nights a week and all day on Leap Year.
Several years ago I fell in love and began nesting. Although we are both kinky, queer and poly, we go out much less and spend much more time with the cats, knitting, cooking, and other mundane but rewarding activities. The entire focus of my personal life changed. For the better, but not quite so much better for recounting publicly.
August 14th, 2007 at 6:02 am
I know this may be construed as tooting my own horn. But I think my site has personality. I’ve been blogging since July (I know not that long). However, I have had almost 2000 hits in that time and am building more readers every day. I’m me with all my quirks, fears, hopes, and desires.
It’s a combination real life/fiction account.
It’s changed focus since the beginning. I was an “owned” slave of a foreign man. I ended it and have now written about my sexual escapades, whether alone or with someone. The last entry contains details of a real life encounter.
kinky aoefe (pronounced eefee)
P.S.
I love your site and you have been linked from day 1.
August 14th, 2007 at 6:56 am
I have been at this thing called ‘online amateur porn’ since 1999 and journaling through out. I have been lucky. No burnout. I have always gotten more from it than it cost me and have always modified what I do to suit my life changes and activities. I think those performers and writers who feel they need to cater to their audience have had more difficulties with longevity.
About the dialogue with site visitors - I agree it has changed. I get a lot less email and comments even if my traffic has not changed much. I wonder where they have gone or what has changed to cause people to be less communicative.
August 14th, 2007 at 9:04 am
I’ve never ran a website, but as a user, there has to be a consistant link between producer and consumer (for lack of better terms).
I’ve always thought that live chat was the best means of that, but it seems that chat rooms have disappeared.
Something fundamental has changed. For myself, I trace it back to when AOL opened the internet to its subscribers.
Before, internet users were more disciplined, seemed to follow the rules of common courtesy, and there was a sense of community. After AOL, that seems to have eroded and civility went away. I think that makes it much more difficult to run an amateur site of any kind.
Or, I could be wrong….
Pluto
August 14th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Ya really think so, Pluto? That was quite a while ago, so I don’t think we can keep blaming it on AOL . . .
Or, I could be wrong . . .
August 14th, 2007 at 10:20 am
You’re wrong…..
;-)
Pluto
August 17th, 2007 at 9:43 am
I think when mainstream porn companies started turning out solo girl sites to take advantage of the indie amateur porn scene there was an effect on those of us who ran our own personal porn sites. We do not have the same resources corporate porn has so many performers moved to PPV webcam shows to earn income - which I think has a higher rate of burnout than other aspects of porn work.
I also do miss chatrooms. Now the ones I use are all attached to live webcam shows which makes the chat very request driven rather than discussion driven.
August 27th, 2007 at 7:32 am
Hi Jane! Well, I just found your blog, which shows how out of it I’ve been :-)
Anyway, I certainly can only speak for me and Dave, but our experience with our website and just the internet in general has been an evolution of sorts. When we first got online, it was this new and wonderful thing :-) Then after posting pictures and running a website for a few years, we started making friends through it, attending/hosting parties… doing A LOT of traveling. It was those years that, the amateur community really felt like a, well, community…
Then, real life slowly (or not so slowly, in some cases) starts to seep in again, and the website starts taking a back seat. If you’re not dependent on the money you get from it, it usually becomes more trouble than its worth.
It’s now been over 12 years since we first got online… and a little over 2 years since I posed for any pictures. The website is still up and active… I had tons of video and even pictures of other girls we had shot, that was still waiting in the wings to be posted, so I’ve had plenty to keep me busy, even without shooting any new content.
And, whether I ever get in front of the camera again or not, I definitely needed this break. Near the end of my “modeling days” (which lasted a decade… basically my entire twenties) I did feel severely burnt out. It got to a point that, I just felt like I’d done everything :-p I would try to come up with new ideas for photo shoots and everything that would come to mind was something I’d done before (if not several times before). And webcam/chats? To be honest, I got tired of having the same conversations over and over again… doing the same things over and over again.
Also, I had a lot of real life issues to deal with. Dave and I had a very painful separation. And, while we did get back together, we lost a lot of weight, very quickly, during that time since we basically stopped eating for a few months. Then, we gained it all back and then some. That made posing for pictures an even less fun thing for me to do….
We also lost a lot of friends and the ones we did have, lived in other states… so, beyond the occasional online contact, we were basically alone.
Then I got pregnant (with identical twins girls, no less)! :-) And, I actually had a renewed interest in posing for pics. But, it was a very difficult pregnancy, so I only got a couple of sets in, before giving birth over 2 months early (I actually had a cam show scheduled the night I gave birth… that’s how little I was expecting to go into labor that night :-p)…
And, for the last couple of years, my primary focus has been taking care of our little girls. I think for a long time, the website really defined me… it was something that made me “special.” Now, it’s our little girls that fill that role :-) Although, the site does still hold interest for me (and yes, even beyond the money it makes). Right now, I’m trying to make the site “perfect” (or at least as perfect as it’s ever gonna be :-p)… and, Dave and I are on a serious plan to lose weight (we now have serious medical reasons to do so, so it is going to happen :-p).
After all that is done, I might get in front of the camera, again… I haven’t decided for sure yet. But, I think one of the reasons our site will be up for a good long time to come is that, even if it’s never added to, it represents a huge time in our lives… both in quantity and quality :-p And while the time might come someday that we decide to take the site down, it’ll be very, very difficult for us to do… even if it’s not making a cent.
OK, that’s probably the most long-winded response you’ve ever had to a blog entry, but sometimes I can’t help myself :-p Hope you and yours are doing well, Jane!