Scumbag webmaster article- real or fake?
 

I think this article, which has been making the rounds today, is probably a fake. That is, that there is no such webmaster as is the apparent subject of the article, that it is a puff piece meant to demonize webmasters and the adult industry.

After all, "Fake News" and fake articles have become more and more common recently.

What do you guys think?

If this webmaster is real, and really said and does this stuff, let's find him and rip him a new asshole.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaind...3909454084.xml

"Rich said he embeds holiday-related words, such as Santa Claus or Easter Bunny in his meta tag so that his site will pop up when people type those words into the search engine. Meta tags uses keywords that are embedded in Web sites so they can be indexed by Internet search engines. And though he said he has not done this, he knows others will simply misspell popular Web sites viewed by teenage and younger viewers, called mousetrapping.

...

Rich said he sometimes implants spy ware that automatically dials a 900 number causing someone to incur charges up to $3.99 per minute when they click on his site. Broadband, he said, has allowed this technology to be transferable to instant messages, allowing him to send instant messages using gimmicks like telling customers they won something. This, he said, he's done only a few times.

...

"We are always one step ahead and seem to be the first to use the newest technology," Rich said. Rich has also used "Jump tos," also known as redirects that automatically redirect viewers of their free material to his paid site. The redirect embeds on consumers' computers Web site links that are virtually impossible to remove.

When asked what parents can do to prevent him and others like him from exposing their children to I-porn, he replied, "Nothing, really."

There are criminals in all sectors of business. I don't really have to look much further then my own ban list to know this.

I have no idea if it is real or not but I don't find it surprising.

None of the crooks that I've watched over the years 'produce' their own content, as the guy in the article is claimed to do.

Well, the russians and estonians and the like make that grandma/boy stuff, but they are in a class by themselves, not supposed gyn owners from Cleveland.

If this guy is real, somebody must have seen his content and his websites- featuring his 50 year old "fitness trainer" wive and all girl college students...

I doubt very much that story is valid. Even if they were pulling soem crap like that, why would they talk about it?
No, I'm afraid not. Sounds more like "porn bashing." A favorite past time of people in Cleveland. They still don't like the fact that Larry Made them eat it.

I'm also suspicious of this claim:

"Rich said he embeds holiday-related words, such as Santa Claus or Easter Bunny in his meta tag so that his site will pop up when people type those words into the search engine. Meta tags uses keywords that are embedded in Web sites so they can be indexed by Internet search engines."

How the hell are porn sites with a meta-keywords that includes "easter bunny" going to place ahead of the tens of thousands of legitimate easter bunny sites with good text content about the easter bunny right on the page?

The keywords meta just isn't that influential anymore. This sounds like "internet voodoo folklore" of the sort that clueless reporters amd media types would use spice up an article. That there's some magic command that can be put on the page to make it show up where kids can easily find it.

If nothing else, they need to fire their copy-editor.

To me it looks like pathetic porn bashing based on 5 year old info.

Looks to be fake if you ask me. A guy that's been on the internet since 1993 and produces his own content wouldn't subject himself to that kind of interview AND admit he uses Santa Claus and other keywords to get traffic.

That part is almost laughable.

Imagine someone in the media trying to give pornographers a bad name!

Thats one thing that this industry needs, is for someone to get the shit kicked out of them

Sounds like a reporter taking a bunch of wire stories and stringing together a collage "person" to represent the evil porn people. This is a common reporter trick to build personlity into a story where nobody is talking. Doubly so if this is in the human interest, editorial, or technology areas rather than hard news areas. It is very hard these days to seperate opinion from fact. Reads almost like an anti-porn blog.

Alex

Looks like that chap has just rehashed various articles over the years about some of the more nefarious shit that goes on, without actually having a clue what he was writing.

Still, at least the Beeb can be relied upon with accurate, up-to-date information. This article reveals the shocking fact that 1:10 students look at adult websites:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4457143.stm

Next, they'll be announcing the groundbreaking news that the Pope is in fact Catholic.

Wow, 67% of students are not very interested in politics? Bet the 'government backed study' was pleased with that one :D

As for the cleveland article, I'd agree with the study highlighted above '13% trusted newspapers' - sounds like a mish-mash of bullshit and scare mongering to me. This 'Rich & Brice' agreed to the interview on condition we not use their last name... Yeah, right.

blah blah blah - get back to work - nothing to see here

Well, the article looks to be fake, old vomit, but a wave of christian-neocon activism is affecting all aspects of society, especially the entertainment business, of which we adult webmasters are a part.

The neocons work by using their institutions to put out fake news and propaganda, playing on people's fears and hatreds.

As energy prices rise and times get harder, attacking the adult biz will keep the christians submissive, and keep the straights focused on hi-glamour popular issues.

So, being aware of how the public perception of adult entertainment is being manipulated is just good business.