the future of tgps and link lists (maybe)

[Linkster]

I think its very possible especially if you give the perks due the traffic generators and ensure the sponsors realize that the traffic doesnt come cheap like they do in the mainstream world already.
Have you noticed the amount of sponsors that have sprung up in the last year because they realize that traffic is almost free from us?
There are many benefits for a WM that could be put in that organization, as long as the overall path is to the promotion of the biz long term and not just for one companies benefit like so many of the splinter organizations that exist out there today.

[Chop Smith]

I don't Tommy's fantasy was to change the entire biz model.

Originally Posted by Tommy

what if ALL the tgps and linklists charged the surfers a small price for access

I read it to mean that he visioned charging a small 'surfing fee'. Therefore, the content for his site would still come from submitters and free hosted stuff. If he was planning otherwise, he might as well turn the site into a 'pay site', providing his own content.

Originally Posted by Linkster

First - from a biz model as you mentioned, we have been screwing ourselves for years to make money for sponsors - and they in turn have taken it further with the addition of free hosted galleries and loads of free content for submits, leading to the "easy path" for a bunch of new WMs and killing off a few big content companies in their path.
Second - and I think that there is a low buzz already developing about this - the organizational side of this biz has always been lacking - people have developed into small groups, but never a large "association" that worked towards the benefit of the people that do the real work in the biz (traffic generators)

How do you figure that you been screwing yourself? In return for your traffic, sponsors and/or submitters provide you free content for you site. And if anyone got screwed with the advent of the "free hosted craze", it was the submitters. It was like a manufactor going to direct sales and cutting out the merchants.

Originally Posted by Linkster

I think its very possible especially if you give the perks due the traffic generators and ensure the sponsors realize that the traffic doesnt come cheap like they do in the mainstream world already.
Have you noticed the amount of sponsors that have sprung up in the last year because they realize that traffic is almost free from us?
There are many benefits for a WM that could be put in that organization, as long as the overall path is to the promotion of the biz long term and not just for one companies benefit like so many of the splinter organizations that exist out there today.

The sponsors are not getting a free ride, they are paying 50+% of their gross for your traffic either to you or your submitter.

The 'bottom line' is this is a three way street - sponsor = provider of goods/service, LL and TGP owners = provider of media, much like radio, tv, print and submitters=provider of adverting copy, a kin to ad agencies. We all need each other.