I think that's something that doesn't get discussed enough (at least in public). While I like the link list paradigm, where the surfer is exposed to more advertising on the free site pages in order to view the porn pics/vids, I do think that this design is clearly more for the benefit of those trying to make sales, and not the benefit of the surfers.
Yes, I know that all the Good (white hat) link list owners are very concerned about taking care of the surfers, and do a lot to keep their own sites, and the free sites to which they link, as free from anything malicious as possible. We all know that loyal bookmarkers are valuable and we don't want to do anything to chase them away.
I'm wondering though...are we really doing enough to interest and keep them in the first place? Sure, a nice clean link list with tons of links to free porn is worth bookmarking for many surfers. But once surfers are aware of the variety of ways they can get to the porn of their choice, is the link list really going to be their 'favorite' place anymore?
Personally, I don't look for porn on link lists, and here's why: Too many damn clicks to get to the first pic in a series, or the first video clip.
Starting from when the surfer first decides he wants to look at some porn, he may need to hit the link list's warning page, then a main page, maybe then a category page and maybe a sub-niche from that page, then find a description that sounds like it might be something he'd like to see, then click that link, then another warning page with another search for the enter link, then a main page, then find the link to gallery one (not always easy) and click that link, and ...
...and yes, finally there --- and finally get to see that not only is this action sequence not exactly what he wanted to see, but the people in the pics aren't very interesting-looking to his particular taste or interests at the moment.
Sure, all he need to do at that point is go back to the link list page and try his luck again at picking a description that sounds like it just might lead to something he wants to see. Kind of like some weird form of porn gambling with the house stacking the odds against him though. But who knows, maybe the link list design is really for the porn surfers who love to gamble?
Either way, he's at least 5 pages/clicks from porn at the start, or maybe more if he goes through sub-category pages first.
Then, once he knows he's not interested in the pics in the first gallery, he may need to back out to the link list, which is another 3 back button clicks, or maybe he can close the free site gallery page and be back on the link list page. Either way, he's still at least 4 pages/clicks away from knowing if he's looking at porn he's interested again.
I think that whether a surfer grew up on TGP sites or not, many of them will have favorite places where they know they can easily, and with as few steps as possible, get to the specific kind of porn they're interested in seeing at the moment. And for some, that will mean the link list and free sites. But I think there are a lot of surfers who choose to hit TGP/MGP sites because they get a look at the action and the people involved in it before they waste another long sequence of clicks to take their first look again.
I don't have the solution to this (or maybe I just don't want to talk about it yet), but I think we have to come up with some ways to keep the surfer interested in all the clicks required if we want more of them to come back and play our game again day after day. Almost anyone can make money off the AOL-newbie traffic, but selling porn to the growing audience of surfers who've been on the Net awhile is another story.
Time for more coffee. Sorry about the long post if you didn't find it interesting.
