The line in the Sand

By

Magus

Gay Asians

Remember old movies where there was a completely unrealistic chance of survival, but the hero draws a line in the sand and asks for volunteers? Or, maybe a schoolyard bully tries to pick a fight by daring another kid to 'step over this line'.

Well, as adult webmasters, we too have 'lines in the sand' that we have to consider.

Sometimes the line is placed there by sponsors, and sometimes we have to define the line ourselves in our personal business.

For instance, EVERYONE knows about the line concerning content involving people not of legal age, right? Of course we do, but I will get back to this later.

For now, let's discuss our own limits. Some webmasters will not deal with gay sites. They are not gay, do not find it pleasant, or may have other inhibitions about that niche. Others will shy away from Shemale type sites or BDSM, or Watersports, or whatever.

Now, as far as those webmasters are concerned, they are limiting their traffic sources and therefore their sales by drawing a line in the sand that they will not cross. Does it matter to the rest of us? Not at all. And the only reason I brought it to mind was because we can each identify with such reasoning.

Let's take that reasoning a bit further. Say there is webmaster who decides they want to get traffic from the previously mentioned illicit/illegal content. What if they just use search terms related to that kind of traffic in order to get the scum looking for such stuff into their hubs. If they are not providing the illegal images, everything should be copesetic right?

WRONG! Deciding to avoid or utilize a legal niche is completely different from CP baiting. The use of lures, metas, domain names and such to attract such traffic only encourages the scum to keep looking. What in the world would someone do with that kind of traffic?

You cannot succesfully send a surfer who is looking for Big Tits off to a Hard Core Anal sponsor. Same thing applies to traffic that is looking for kids. You will have a very difficult time 'converting' them to adult targets instead of following their warped urges.

So, let's say that some webmaster decides he/she is going to push the limit. By limit I mean a line in the sand placed there by a Sponsor. The webmaster buys many domains that have specific names, make toplists that offer every imaginably disgusting illegal term, but washes the traffic before sending them on to sponsors. Everything goes well for a year of two, maybe even three.

Then, someone, somewhere decides to mention the activity to a sponsor. They look into it and decide their terms of service are violated. Now the webmaster tries to backpedal trying to rationalize his behavior. But the sponsor takes the high road and terminates his account. Now, not only is the 'questionable' traffic useless, so is all of the legitimate traffic and sales. An otherwise good reputation is gone. And good riddence.

Bottom line? There are lines in the sand that should NEVER be crossed. When in doubt, take a step back for a closer look. Your long term success depends on it.

So where is YOUR line?

Magus