While stories about porn personalities and the business of porn titillate and captivate readers, some news outlets refuse to link to adult websites—even with the standard NSFW or “Over 18” disclaimer—because corporate policy dictates there will be no linking to porn.
Interviews with Gram Ponante, America’s Beloved Porn Journalist, appeared this week on the front pages of AOL (concerning the nomination of the great Dave Cummings to the XRCO Hall of Fame), and RTTV, an English-language network for Russians at home and abroad (about entrepreneurship in the porn industry), but both companies refused to link to Porn Valley Observed.
A hyperlink (the link you can click on), whether it is in the body of the story or, less distractingly, in a list at the the end of the article, is more than a common courtesy; it is a means of gauging website traffic to better attract advertisers and determine future stories.
While I sometimes place hyperlinks within my articles, I always place a list of relevant links at the end of each story.
“We don’t link to porn,” one AOL staffer told me.
But you write about it.
The performers Trisha Uptown and Jewels Jade were interviewed for the AOL story, and Nina Hartley was mentioned. The performers Kelly Divine and the Russian Russo twins were mentioned in the RT story (though they spelled Ms. Divine’s name incorrectly), as was Vivid owner Steve Hirsch. A quick web search lands readers on “official” sites about half the time, whereas a direct link from the article is the best compensation (aside from actual financial compensation) for the time spent providing scintillating copy.
I have worked at various adult trade publications that at one point maintained a parsimonious link policy.
“We don’t want someone clicking away from our site,” said one publisher.
“But aren’t our salaries dependent on the people we’re covering, all of whom are trying to make money via their websites?” I asked (I never lasted long at these jobs).
Failing to link makes those promises of “exposure” that are justifications for non-payment equally shallow, as potential employers or clients are then forced to do their own research on an Internet riddled with pirate sites.
Most adult companies and scores of mainstream outfits have no problem linking out these days, because they can link in such a way that a new window opens without the old one going away. For this reason I still get traffic from interviews as far back as 2005.
But the notion of attracting readers to adult-related content in a publication but then suggesting those readers would be scandalized to visit the source of that information is both hypocritical and silly.
And that’s why I don’t have an AOL account.
Previously on Porn Valley Observed: Wittols—cuckolds without the consequences
See also: Dave Cummings, Jewels Jade, Trisha Uptown, Nina Hartley, Steve Hirsch, The Russo Twins (hard to find an official site), Kelly Divine, XRCO
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