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Why is there so much free porn on the internet? (2016)

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Re: Why is there so much free porn on the internet? (2016)

#21

Post by pixelbill »

icebraining wrote: post #5

Interesting that there's no mention of camming. Seems to me to have exploded in the past few years, possibly as a reaction to what's being described (you can't simply copy direct interaction, plus the production costs are much lower). It's doubly curious, since his site (Abbywinters) has added camming to their offerings (calling them "Playdates").

Yes, interesting and curious.

Porn website owner complaining that there's too much free porn out there, and we should pay for it, preferably on his website I imagine!

No bias there.

He peppers his article with clearly biased statements as well, this is not a news article but a Native Advertisement for his website.

Re: Why is there so much free porn on the internet? (2016)

#22

Post by pgodzin »

earenndil wrote: post #20
teddyh wrote: post #15

Isn’t the answer obvious? The answer is the same as the answer to the question “Why is there so much free everything on the internet?” The answer is that copying is cheap – in fact almost free – and products in markets with lots of competition tend to converge to its marginal cost, which in this case is zero.

Ok but consider, e.g., movies. Yes, there are free websites, but they're not exactly legal or mainstream in the way that free porn sites are.

MPAA is just a lot more powerful than the porn industry? They don't have any reliance on these streaming sites, so they have no issues suing and enforcing copyrights.

Re: Why is there so much free porn on the internet? (2016)

#23

Post by TheCoreh »

earenndil wrote: post #20
teddyh wrote: post #15

Isn’t the answer obvious? The answer is the same as the answer to the question “Why is there so much free everything on the internet?” The answer is that copying is cheap – in fact almost free – and products in markets with lots of competition tend to converge to its marginal cost, which in this case is zero.

Ok but consider, e.g., movies. Yes, there are free websites, but they're not exactly legal or mainstream in the way that free porn sites are.

Yes, but movies have a much higher barrier of entry than pornography. People actually care about the production value, plot, special effects, music, etc. For porn, on the other hand, that's not the case at all.

You should be comparing porn with short form, low production value content (e.g. youtube channels) and indeed, there's a lot of free content on that category available.

Re: Why is there so much free porn on the internet? (2016)

#24

Post by dgut »

forapurpose wrote: post #12
Overtonwindow wrote: post #9

I think the future or porn (i.e. The money) is in personalization. Porn for you, by your favorite performers, customized to your liking. The cam sites are the best positioned to capitalize on this but only if they start bringing order to the Wild West of cams.

> personalization Apparently it's already a widespread business and The Guardian published this article about it. It's an amazing, at times heart-breaking story about what people need, and in a way it's only tangentially about porn: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/jul/29/jon-ronson-b... (It's not at all a catalog of fetishes, in case that's what you expect/want/fear.)

The story about the mother leaving her two children is too sad. Sometimes I wonder if the quickest way to end humankind's pain is to just stop existing as a whole... No matter how well-off you are, there are N humans in great pain somewhere else, and you can never be sure your descendants wouldn't have to experience great pain in the future.

Re: Why is there so much free porn on the internet? (2016)

#25

Post by thesmallestcat »

earenndil wrote: post #20
teddyh wrote: post #15

Isn’t the answer obvious? The answer is the same as the answer to the question “Why is there so much free everything on the internet?” The answer is that copying is cheap – in fact almost free – and products in markets with lots of competition tend to converge to its marginal cost, which in this case is zero.

Ok but consider, e.g., movies. Yes, there are free websites, but they're not exactly legal or mainstream in the way that free porn sites are.

Movies aren't as popular as porn.

Re: Why is there so much free porn on the internet? (2016)

#26

Post by twic »

dgut wrote: post #24
forapurpose wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> personalization Apparently it's already a widespread business and The Guardian published this article about it. It's an amazing, at times heart-breaking story about what people need, and in a way it's only tangentially about porn: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/jul/29/jon-ronson-b... (It's not at all a catalog of fetishes, in case that's what you expect/want/fear.)

The story about the mother leaving her two children is too sad. Sometimes I wonder if the quickest way to end humankind's pain is to just stop existing as a whole... No matter how well-off you are, there are N humans in great pain somewhere else, and you can never be sure your descendants wouldn't have to experience great pain in the future.

That reasoning is a pretty substantial part of why i don't want children. Then there's this lot:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_Human_Extinction_Mov...

Re: Why is there so much free porn on the internet? (2016)

#27

Post by philipkglass »

The top linked answer blames lack of effective copyright enforcement, but I think that the availability of rivalrous homegrown porn is at least as significant. High quality video cameras are now built into millions of phones. The performers don't require scripts, crew, or payment to appear in videos. The product doesn't need localization for global consumption -- French movies are fine for US audiences even without dubbing or subtitles.

This is in contrast to theatrical movies, where Joe Rando's video clips of him and his girlfriend are very rarely an effective substitute for a scripted production with paid actors. Even with hypothetical perfect copyright enforcement on all pornography containing professional actors, the deluge of free amateur content would have dramatically eroded movie pricing by now.

Re: Why is there so much free porn on the internet? (2016)

#28

Post by rocqua »

pgodzin wrote: post #22
earenndil wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok but consider, e.g., movies. Yes, there are free websites, but they're not exactly legal or mainstream in the way that free porn sites are.

MPAA is just a lot more powerful than the porn industry? They don't have any reliance on these streaming sites, so they have no issues suing and enforcing copyrights.

The MPAA also has a lot less content to defend. How many theatrical releases are there a year? Now how many porn videos are released a year? I'm pretty sure the difference is orders of magnitude. This is without taking into account how much budget is behind enforcing.

Finally, it seems like there is more money in free porn than there is in free movies. This then means more incentive to keep operations going and more means to achieve that.

Re: Why is there so much free porn on the internet? (2016)

#29

Post by Arbalest »

krisroadruck wrote: post #3
hacknat wrote: post #2

Interesting take. I think Louis CK had a joke in his last special about how “We can stop making new porn now”. Sounds like that might be what’s happening. The idea that an industry might contract and die because it’s historic catalog and free competing content are eating its market share isn’t totally new, but the interesting moral ramifications for this particular industry are noteworthy.

Nah, VR porn is just getting started and that catalog is tiny. The Adult industry isn't going anywhere.

Now that we're coming back up the other side of the uncanny valley, we might still see a diminishing of human actors. Given that VR/AR is supposed to be about immersion, it is going to be hard for human actors to provide this.

Re: Why is there so much free porn on the internet? (2016)

#30

Post by jbob2000 »

The business model has changed, it's much more like the mobile games market now; a handful of "whales" support the whole thing. You don't pay for the video anymore. Copying content is cheap and easy and there's no burden on delivery. Instead, people who are really into it are getting closer to the models and paying them directly.

There's a whole range of ways you can support your favourite model now, from $5/month snapchat "access" all the way to $4000/hr "meetups" in Nevada. The purpose of the free video is just to draw you in - maybe it will turn you into a subscriber, maybe you'll send them a gift, or maybe you're just window shopping.

The only people hurting are the skeezy producers, middlemen, and digital pimps. The porn industry is dying and is being replaced with this new model of "para-prostitution".

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