Breaking Down OnlyFans' Economics • Hacker News Board

Re: Breaking Down OnlyFans' Economics

#351

Post by samtho » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 1:54 PM UTC

lazide wrote: post #343

samtho wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supposing the premise that these things were entirely unhelpful to society, I would argue that the obscenity specifically is not what makes these things unhelpful.

Then what was?

Depends on how you define helpful or how much of a requirement for content to actually be “helpful”.

A strict definition might require content to have academic or intellectual value (implied by the remark about it being shown in an academic context) but this would also exclude a vast majority of non “obscene” content. Further, if you could swap the obscene elements for non obscene elements, I would argue the “value” of the content, as measured by its helpfulness, stays the same.

This all moot, however, as it’s likely not the right conversation to have. There is more useful discussion to be had on harm caused as a result rather than any sort of value judgement.

Re: Breaking Down OnlyFans' Economics

#352

Post by d_burfoot » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 1:56 PM UTC

The widespread impact of the OF economy is obvious to many gym-goers. At my local gym you can see the usual assortment of bodybuilding guys (same as it's been for decades), and then you can see 2-3 girls who are clearly trying to make it into the top 0.1% of hotness so they can cash in on OF (or maybe Instagram). This latter group is a recent phenomenon.

Re: Breaking Down OnlyFans' Economics

#353

Post by malfist » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 1:59 PM UTC

d_burfoot wrote: post #352

The widespread impact of the OF economy is obvious to many gym-goers. At my local gym you can see the usual assortment of bodybuilding guys (same as it's been for decades), and then you can see 2-3 girls who are clearly trying to make it into the top 0.1% of hotness so they can cash in on OF (or maybe Instagram). This latter group is a recent phenomenon.

Why do you assume women in gyms are trying to make money on OnlyFans?

Re: Breaking Down OnlyFans' Economics

#354

Post by kwhitefoot » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 2:01 PM UTC

elzbardico wrote: post #346

Rhapso wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Welcome to millennial reality, we don't begrudge anything non-harmful that people had to do to make ends meet. I know too many people with masters degrees and student loans working food service to not think OF is smart if you can find your niche.

Err.. count me out of this. I wouldn't deny a job for a former sex worker, but definitelly I wouldn't want to have any kind of personal relationship with one.

Could you explain why?

Re: Breaking Down OnlyFans' Economics

#355

Post by paganel » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 2:03 PM UTC

paxys wrote: post #283

paganel wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Morals like "don't harm others" and "be nice", sure. "A woman should be modest and keep her body covered"...not really.

That's your opinion, and this wasn't about a woman wearing a dress or not, it was about women selling their sex to men in exchange for money, because this is what this is (even though the sex is virtual, it's still sex).

So, yes, it is important to have morals in situations like this one and see companies like OnlyFans for what they truly are, i.e. SV-funded pimp organisations.

Re: Breaking Down OnlyFans' Economics

#356

Post by hungie » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 2:04 PM UTC

raxxorraxor wrote: post #312

RandomThoughts3 wrote: post #242

What I find fascinating/disturbing with OnlyFans and in some way with Twitch and streaming in general is more the client side than the creators. Here are basically people paying, and paying a lot, for parasocial relationships. Because clearly it’s not about the content per see which is a dim a dozen and available for free in trove. I think it says something quite dark about our society as a whole that we have basical…

I think it also is quite a special demographic, which is hard to nail down. There are a lot of people that don't have many social contacts but would never pay anyone for only fans. Perhaps you need to have a special character trait to be able to use such services. But while there are successful people on only fans with either more or less clothes on, the vast majority of creators probably sell their dignity for a few…

This framing, "sell their dignity", is your moral judgement (coming from your cultural, religious, or some other) background.

I don't see it as any less dignified than any other work. You sell your labor to someone who pays you less than the value it produces.

Now, if you want to argue that median creators get payed only a tiny fraction of their time, and like Twitch/YouTube it's a losing game for most, then we're on the same page.

Re: Breaking Down OnlyFans' Economics

#357

Post by philwelch » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 2:04 PM UTC

paxys wrote: post #297

RandomThoughts3 wrote: post #242

What I find fascinating/disturbing with OnlyFans and in some way with Twitch and streaming in general is more the client side than the creators. Here are basically people paying, and paying a lot, for parasocial relationships. Because clearly it’s not about the content per see which is a dim a dozen and available for free in trove. I think it says something quite dark about our society as a whole that we have basical…

It's way worse in the case of YouTube/Twitch than OnlyFans IMO. People have been paying for pornography/sex for millennia. It's just part of human nature. On the other hand an 11 year old throwing money at MrBeast...why?

You can get porn anywhere. The selling point of OnlyFans is specifically the parasocial connection. These people are paying money to exchange DM’s with LLM’s and third world gig workers pretending to be their favorite porn star.

Re: Breaking Down OnlyFans' Economics

#358

Post by flyingpenguin » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 2:05 PM UTC

itishappy wrote: post #309

SecretDreams wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the OP is right about the parasocial aspect. OF content and other such platforms is about the personalization aspect. Sure, there's some kinks/fetishes too.. but it is primarily about engagement. In some ways, it's just an explicit, subscription based, social media platform where it feels like you're being treated uniquely... But most times you are not.

How is that particularly different from, say, concerts? The social aspects are what drives value.

I don't know about you, but I also find concerts very strange and off putting. Like, is "Denver" really a special crowd? I'm pretty sure you are doing a very staged reppeded performance but making us think its specially for us.

I like things without crowd interaction, like musicals/plays, because there is no dystopian parasocial aspect to it. I am only there because the live is different than the recording.

Re: Breaking Down OnlyFans' Economics

#359

Post by AshamedCaptain » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 2:08 PM UTC

seper8 wrote: post #258

Freak_NL wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sex work will never go away. The only way forward is to make sure it can be done safely and legally. Consider the sex workers who deal with mentally or physically disabled adults. Most people have sexual urges, and those who are unable to participate in society in the usual way of addressing their urges with a romantic partner or a one-night stand still have them. There are a good number of very professional sex work…

[flagged]

Would I be happy if after the education I paid my daughters they decide to work in public sanitation?

Think honestly about it. Do you think I have anything against sanitation employees?

Re: Breaking Down OnlyFans' Economics

#360

Post by sirspacey » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 2:08 PM UTC

philwelch wrote: post #357

paxys wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's way worse in the case of YouTube/Twitch than OnlyFans IMO. People have been paying for pornography/sex for millennia. It's just part of human nature. On the other hand an 11 year old throwing money at MrBeast...why?

You can get porn anywhere. The selling point of OnlyFans is specifically the parasocial connection. These people are paying money to exchange DM’s with LLM’s and third world gig workers pretending to be their favorite porn star.

Porn once again predicts the future of social tech.