You say asshole, I call you a great guy |smooch|

OF COURSE THEY ARE. They are a BUSINESS. They are providing access. It's the payoff. Is this NOT obvious, that it has to be explained?
I used to shake my head when starry eyed dreamers would talk about "helping everyone for free," and "love thy neighbor" crap. Now I just say, you go get 'em. You go get'em greenie. You're a swell guy.
You get your e-ticket punched for the slice and dice world of traffic management heaven. They will name a chair after you.
I prefer to earn along with the people we are helping.
I used to shake my head when starry eyed dreamers would talk about "helping everyone"

I provide the future by selling it to people. To pay for the research. I show a non-competitive way I can re-purpose people's content. THAT'S WHY THEY ARE THERE. to find new ways to make money.

I'm just not gonna argue about this any more. You refine, refine, and refine your dialing in on the very perfect traffic patterns, and your filtering system for picking that one out of 500, or 5,000, or whatever the current Nirvana number is for traffic sales, and you sell away.
I wish you all the luck in the world. I hope you are the very best traffic management/sales site their is. And after all your work, I'll bet you'll understand everything there is to know about that.
And then what?
You sell that access to people to look at whatever website will pay to strain out the 1-5000 customer, right? Churn them out at, what is it now? 37 days membership before they defect?
(I have no idea if any of those numbers are accurate)
Churn and burn. That's a hard way to make a living, but OK, if that's what you want to do. Too high of a work/return percentage for me.

I think I'll pass.

But back to the point. Apparently, from your perspective, AVN doesn't care. So be it. I think otherwise.
We will simply have to agree to disagree.

1 - I have no pre-paid ads - I promote sites that surfers have joined via my links in the past. Sorry if you assumed I was being bought out by the sites I promote

2 - I thought we did 18 months ago :D

A little late for this one question, but has to be asked, as it will be on the minds of everyone looking at their credit card bills from this last show in Hollywood..

Why are there two menus for the diplomat, one with normal prices all year long... and one for our week where a burger and sandwich is $55
...true story. I can almost understand the expensive drinks, but c'mon, those prices are insane.....


Never mind, we know the answer.... it's just coincidence ....

To be honest, the high priced drinks and food, was one of the big reasons I chose to attend Cybernet Expo this summer INSTEAD of Internext.

Is sodomy legal in Florida? Because that's what I call a good ol' fashioned ass fucking.

Why do people feel they must stay at the Hotel?
Being the po' bid'ness man I am, I stayed at the sleep inn up the road a piece. Ate where I wanted to, had a mustang convertible to tool around in, got free breakfast, paper, HBO, Microwave and refrigerator in my room, all for less that the cost of one night's luxury suite at the diplomat.
You guys just gotta learn to be cost conscience.

In fact, the entire trip, with airfare, cost me less than what it would have cost to stay in one of the luxury suites there at the fancy hotel.

Why does AVN force the hotel down our throats? I've asked them why they don't rent a hall for the convention, let people stay wherever they want, let people have parties at various locvations.....oh yeah, that'd mean less money for your friends at AVN.

Oh, I get it now.....
Somehow, you feel slighted by AVN, and since I'm somehow peripherally connected to them, I'm the bad guy, right?
Now I think I see. K, let's get this straight.....I'm NOT AVN, or any part of it. Yes, I have written for them, and been employed by them.
I've also been treated very fairly, and with great respect by them. And I might add, NOT because I've purchased any advertising or anything like that.
They didn't "Force the hotel down anyone's throat." It's ridiculously expensive if you ask me, and yet there seems to be people that want to pay for it. I DO like the fact that they close the facility to outsiders. That way, you know you are only dealing with industry people. And in the adult industry, things can be a bit more "uninhibited," shall we say.
But your above statement of "rent a hall, and let people stay where they want, is EXACTLY what happened. I stayed at the sleep inn. Very nice place. Caters to the cruise crowd, free 'net, all the goodies for $70/night. So you implying people couldn't do exactly what you suggest is disingenuous.

And when did it suddenly become "bad" to make money? Personally, I disagree with the $300 entry fee, as I've stated repeatedly. My thinking is, make the entry fee near -zero- (But not completely zero of course,) get a bigger crowd, leads to more visitors, leads to more booths, which then leads to more interest, and the cycle repeats. But I would think making money on the event would be the reason to have it. I think EVERYONE that has one of these events is in it to make money. Haven't seen a whole lot of non-profits in the adult industry.

I hope AVN makes as much money as they can. I hope you make a great big bag of money you have to rent a wheelbarrow to take it down to the bank. More money in the adult industry means more power to combat the right wing nuts that are trying to shut us down.

Oh, and yes, I'm doing this to make money too. Of course I'd like to change the world, but I'm most definitely going to make money along the way.

You're giving yourself WAAAAAAAAAAY too much credit.

Eric, it's called convenience. People fly in to attend to the event and prefer to keep things simple. Life tends to be easiest when you can stay at the show's venue. I'm beginning to think that you are more adverse to people complaining about shit that SHOULD BE COMPLAINED ABOUT than you are to the issues which most webmasters have with AVN's show.

Well, I can certainly understand a need for convenience. But the message I responded to was about:

"Why does AVN force the hotel down our throats? I've asked them why they don't rent a hall for the convention, let people stay wherever they want, let people have parties at various locvations.....oh yeah, that'd mean less money for your friends at AVN."

posted by Greenie

And I was clarifying that I stayed somewhere else without any "ill effects." I am adverse to the constant bashing that sees to go on in this industry. Hell, the mainstream people don't need to attack too hard. If they just wait around long enough, we'll bash each other to death, and they can just pick up the pieces.

|catfight|
Why is it always about the negative? People wanna bitch about what others are doing, but do they put a better plan in motion? Of course not. Do they make a suggestion to the people that can make a change? of course not. Just pick apart what anyone else is doing. I assure you, it's my impression a little feedback might have more of an influence than you could imagine.

|banghead|

Probably, but I can't count on you to do it.
|sun|ggandj

AVN has received plenty of feedback over of the years, especially concerning the cost of show registration, the ever-dying show floor, and the price gouging at the venue. Yet the registration price continues to increase, I'm told the show floor continues to lack the value it had during Internext's early years, and the gouging has never changed. AVN has been very lucky that adult webmasters have natural sheep-like tendencies and continue to herd into the August show each year. Personally, I disregard the complaints of those who complain each year, yet return the following.

The Vegas show is a little better. For one, it's Vegas. Secondly, the hotels don't jack up the prices for the event. I don't like the timing of the show, since it follows so closely on the heels of Christmas, but AVN doesn't appear to care about my decreased budget during that time of the year.

I've still never figured out why there is any trade show outside of Vegas. Gee, let's wander down to the beach and scald our pathetic pale bodies in the Florida sun.

I'm with you. I'd happily go to Vegas Only. I objected to combining the shows at the same time as CES, which is probably the largest show in the world to hit Vegas. When they have the show before, or preferably after, that works good. Then I can hit both of them on one plane ticket.

And in my case, (And I see yours) the pathetic body isn't the part that really bothers me. It's my shiny bald head that gets burned.
|scared|