arch13

Can I get an amen?

Like everyone, I came for the porn and stayed for the conversation. I have drifted in and out of the TFP over the years, seeing it have a rebirth three times, seeing new people come, seeing old people leave. But porn has always been on the radar as what started this community.

Is the community great without porn? Hell yes.
Are we ready to stand without it? No.

Fark is the perfect example here...

Missed this one a minute ago. Thanks for todays laugh WK!

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Is arch13 really a porn diety ? find out after the film at 11.
-Nanofever

genuinegirly

Ooo! Ooo! It's Me! It's me!!! Do I get a cookie?

Oh... wait... dangit. I'm too obvious.

Ok- opinion on the matter at hand:
I don't look at the porn. I was shown this place by a friend, and stayed because it's a really great place to discuss women's issues, relationships, and life - and to read about people's rediculous views on politics.

Looking at the folks that responded that they came here for the porn is answer enough for me. I like them. People come for the porn, then contribute to the community.

So, I guess the question is this: How would we get the same traffic to this board, with a similar demographic of people - without the porn? Is it even possible?

If you can find some assurance that we will still have a steady influx of awesome people, then go ahead and get rid of the porn.

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j8ear

Is it the same user that was mentioned but never actually identified as a democratic operative in another thread?

Man these inside knowledge tidbits gnaw at my soul..being so out of the loop as I am. Mostly my own doing of course. All the alienating and disgruntledness....not to mention no more company provided internet connectivity, hardware, and the time available while managing a well oiled IT engineering crew.

None the less:

I came from fark for the porn and used it quite frequently. Grew into a mildly provocative commentor, beared my heart and soul a bit, then quit driving a desk in an office, cashed it all in, bought a small farm, a few animals, started a small consulting business, and generally have been having the time of life. Contributions and porn usage have dwindled.

Plus, aside from wayside for its curiosity factor, honestly this is not the place for cream of the crop skin chafing porn....let's be real. Far better, far more extensive, and just as reasonably priced porn is but a tappity tap tap dot com away.

If it brings in the interesting folks keep it. If i doesn't get rid of it.

I've read quite a bit in this townhall that MANY regular, popular, interesting, and thought provoking members DO NOT refer anyone here because of the porn. I've always relied heavily on referrals, for everything I've ever done successfully....and I've always been VERY weary of the referrals from the socially unacceptable.

Tough call...I've never relied on porn to build or sustain anything.

Gut says...get rid of it.

-bear

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Ustwo

No, I just mean from style of posting, that user seems to have faded into the mist.

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Aladdin Sane

Looks like I'm the only one in this whole friggin place that came for the politics and stayed for the porn. l should get some kind of brownie point.

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xepherys

I think it shoud stay. I don't see it as "cheapening" the community in any way. A HUGE part of the TFP is sexuality, whether in the Titty Board/Wayside forums, the Tilted Exhibition Forum (something TotalMILF and I are getting our feet wet in) or the Tilted Sexuality and Ladies Forums. While porn may be a bit more base than a converstaion in Sexuality about the health benefits of orgasm, it's still a basic human desire and I see it in no way as being bad.

We're an 18+ board. Always have been and always will be. This isn't a "family" board. Kids don't come here for help with homework or to socialize. They can use Myspace or Facebook for that. It's an adult site that allows adults to talk, share and enjoy each others internet personae. Why mess that up?

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Plummie

Keep the porn! I like the fact that TFP is NOT a 'family-friendly' board...

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Kim

mixedmedia

I don't feel strongly one way or the other about the porn.

Although, I do think it would be cool if the site were attracting more women. I have no idea how to go about doing that, though. It certainly isn't going to be from having a crafts forum, lol.

The only observation I can make about the porn forum itself is that it seems unnecessary to have it set up like the other forums - in threads. By far most of the discussion about the content there is of the oh yeah, I'd tap that variety. Maybe if the titty board were to be set up more like a gallery...in a completely different format than the rest of the board? Of course, I wouldn't know anything about the possibilities of something like that, being pretty ignorant when it comes to these things, but it's just a thought.

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xepherys

MM, I don't think a gallery type setup would work well as the vast majority of posts are links to other sites with the images. It would take considerably more bandwidth and storage space on Halx' part.

As for attracting more women, it seems like there is a pretty good number of women on the board. Most of the just don't seem to post in the Ladies' Lounge much. :-p

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moch

I was doing a search on google for pron images specifically for another forum I post at, found this site like I have found thousands of others doing the same thing, started poking around and this forum actually seemed interesting so I joined and have been lurking and getting the feel of the place since.

Jadast

I have visited many porn sites over the years. Never before did I feel a need to return. That was until I found this site. This appears to be an adult themed site. Politics, relationships, porn, literature, sports - this site has alot to offer. My coworkers conversations all revolve around work so I find TFP to a release.

Personally, I do not spend much time viewing the porn and have not posted there. "Nice boobs" isn't my idea of good conversation. I do, however, believe the porn draws. Without newcomers I think the conversations will gradually decrease.

Just my thoughts.

Psycho Dad

There have been a few old threads bumped to the top of late. Looking throught them there are a lot of posters that I remember but don't see posting these days. Does the vBulletin software have a way to export the data to determine the average "lifespan" of a forumer? Not that that would help with the question at hand, but it would be interesting.

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arch13

That can get deceptive though...

I breeze in and out at 3-6 month intervals. Kind of like cheers, I like knowing I can come back here at any time and slip right back in where I left off. I've been "inactive" for the better part of 2007, but I know I'm not the only member that has taken an extended leave only to come back.

Now when someone has been a member for a year, and all there posts are in the titty board, that's a different story...

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Is arch13 really a porn diety ? find out after the film at 11.
-Nanofever

Jinn

I came from a FARK link.

I didn't even know there was porn, exhibition, etc. until I was amazingly handed access one day because of my brilliant posts and charisma. Or something like that.

Just so you know that not ALL traffic initially comes for the porn.

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Orgo

I came for the porn, and I stay for the porn. I'm a medical student, and my life is pretty hectic. I don't have a lot of time to contribute. I mostly just come and look at the porn. Occasionally I flip through the boards and read some threads. I've read some interesting things. This might be the first time I've actually responded outside the TB, I'm not sure...

There's a chance that some day I will have more free time. Will I feel compelled to contribute to the community in a significant way at that point? I'm not sure. It's possible. But in the meantime, I enjoy coming here and seeing porn, and occasionally flipping through other threads and killing some time when I have it.

As a non-contributing TB lurker, do my opinions count. I honestly hope not. Is honesty really the best policy? I apparently think so.

angelica

I'm a newb here, but my opinion would be to keep the porn. Every site has a porn section. If you do away with it, many regular viewers will just just find another site to go to. Who cares if they don't post

ubertuber

That's an interesting question. On the one hand, since we don't make money from ads, clicks, or page-views, people that don't post don't exist. So, if we have a feature that attracts non-posting people, it doesn't do much for us.

On the other hand, you never know where you'll get your referrals from. I bet more than one outstanding poster was referred here by a friend who was mostly a lurker.

It's worth thinking about.

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host

My experience at TFP is that "content" is not well received. In fact it is discouraged. Providing "content" is a function of passion. If you don't have it, you don't understand how to moderate it.

I was not attracted to this site by "the porn". After I was here, I came to appreciate it.

If you are serious about wanting or encouraging "content", discourage "drive by" "one liners" from being posted in select threads. My experience is that you've been doing the opposite.

To your credit, you have not banned me.

My advice is to examine posting activity that it is unique, out of the ordinary, and encourage the authors of it when you identify it. If you are not familiar enough with a forum category to do so, solicit opinions inside and outside the circle of moderators to attempt to make an accurate and informed decision as possible about what to encourage or discourage and on what forum topics or "cultures" to do it, or not do it.

When you come across unique posting style or content, and it is found to generate controversial reactions, do you react to complaints about it by looking for posts of members who seem appreciative of it, and ask them what it is that they appreciate, or do you simply consider the complaints to be the definitive signs of "a problem"?

My experience is that moderation pressures in the direction of brevity and uniformity.

Unique or unusual is going to be controversial. It is a product of passion and it summons passion from others, both pro and con.

A "general discussion" forum should have different posting guidelines than those in a "themed" forum. In a themed forum where it can easily be expected that passions will rise, why is the tendency to attempt to moderate passionate expression more aggressively than in a comparatively passionless, general discussion venue?

Whatever approach that you decide to take with any policy issue or strategy, sincerely evaluate what you think might happen if you do the opposite of what your inclined to do. If you think that eliminating porn from TFP or making it more difficult for the public who are non or recent members to access, will diminish activity, why not eliminate or further restrict it for a bit, to find out what happens.

Why not take different or opposite practices in other areas in attempts to find if your stifling or discouraging activity and content creation that it would be better to encourage, and vice-versa. I've seen no effort, comparatively to discourage "one line" posts in forums where that activity is not optimum, but plenty of effort devoted to discouraging the loooong post.

If you genuinely want "content", on some forums, you could be demanding it, but instead the priority seems to be to encourage "discussion". We already live in a text message society. There is not much "content" in "texting", is there?

Merlocke

I came here from FARK for the porn, but ended up liking the discussion groups. There is nothing wrong with either side because I think both sides are what makes the TFP the TFP. To be honest - this is the place where I can come and vent and people will give me honest and real advice so I'd rather it not go away.

Perhaps if you just created a limited guest type account for employers to view the site sans porn so you could plop that on the ol' resume.

What's it take to keep this place going anyway? I came from being a poor college student (finding this place) and then now I'm a wealthy business owner who's semi-retired at an early age. I would teach you the tricks of the trade that I've learned for FREE if it helps keeping this place up and running.

Something that would be interesting though - is if anyone here has a blog, it'd be interesting to post up a BLOG thread and perhaps everyone who has a blog can link back to TFP in exchange for a listing on the BLOG thread if you wanted to increase traffic. Otherwise, look up that Search Engine Optimization site: Thirty Day Challenge. You've got enough people here to make TFP self sustainable.

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-=[ Merlocke ]=-