Revised on 23 December 2003

Sometimes people ask me why I have ads on my site. Others ask why I have ads for gay adult services. Some people say the site would be nicer without ads. Others even say having ads ruins the 'integrity' of the site (I disagree!).

This is something I take extremely seriously. Whenever I update my pages, I spend time considering what is appropriate for the main areas of the site. You may see a suggestive text link, a photo of a bare-chested man or of two guys kissing. However, you will never see explicit uncensored images.

Some external websites do not provide adequate warning of adult material. In the past, when that was the case, I have always sent my visitors through my own warning page, to check that they are over 18 years of age.

Lately I have been working to restructure my site and many of the ads themselves have been moved to a specific 'adult area' which can only be reached after a warning. However it is unlikely that even the adult section will ever feature really explicit material.

MAKING MONEY

The fact is, running a website costs money. Each time someone looks at a page or an image it costs me a small amount. Very small. But, with hundreds of people visiting each day, those costs mount up.

The commission I get from ads pays for the hosting costs. It helps cover the cost of computer equipment, software and camera film. Also, I'm self-employed, so it means I can spend some of my 'work' time doing stuff on this site. In other words, the ads pay for the content.

SPONSORS

There are all kinds of companies that a webmaster can promote on his or her website. Selling everything from cameras and cars to food and clothing. The webmaster gets a small percentage of the sale.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to make much money selling that kind of stuff. Not many people want to buy it and often the percentages are tiny (some stores pay 2% of sales). Look around, and you'll find that most companies that provide free content on their sites seem to be subsidising it from some other side of their business.

Unfortunately I have also found that some mainstream companies are downright dishonest and sometimes I have had problems getting payment from them.

ADULT ADS

Then there are adult sites and services that the webmaster can promote. These make the webmaster a lot more money! Sex sells... And whatever the moralists would like us to believe, a huge proportion of people enjoy adult entertainment online. Up to 40% of people who are online in any given month visit an adult site. A recent report revealed that 28% of UK women who are online visit adult sites!

For many guys, the word 'gay' means nothing but 'sex'. So lots of men arrive at my site looking for adult material. There is none, so it makes good sense to send them off somewhere where they can find what they want...

Sadly, as soon as you put up links to an adult service, many of the mainstream sites don't want to be on your pages. No matter how responsible you try to be about it. So then there's a choice... You either feature mainstream ads that make hardly any money OR adult ads.

Some mainstream services are pretty hypocritical about this. For instance, Commission Junction provides buttons and banners so webmasters can sell magazines such as 'Unzipped' -- which is a gay adult magazine. But they don't want those links put on pages that have links to adult sites!

The truth is, many mainstream companies are 'dabbling' with adult content and services and being secretive or two-faced about it. The telecom companies are one example, as they know that adult 'phone services make big money. I am being honest and upfront about it.

GAY MEN & PORN

The other side to this is the fact that many gay men are extremely relaxed about pornography and there isn't the division between 'mainstream' and 'adult' that there is in the straight world. So porn ads on a gay-themed site isn't so much of an issue for them.

ETHICAL

I do have ethics... I only advertise adult sites that are legal in the UK and USA and there is stuff that is legal but which I won't feature. Such as material that involves third-world or other poor countries, where the people are less likely to have a choice about being involved. And I don't actively promote material that encourages unsafe sex.

I censor images such as video box covers and I provide warning pages when I link to sites that don't already include them. Someone can walk into a newsagents shop and see hardcore magazines on the top shelf. Which are censored in much the same way as my ads. But I don't hear mainstream magazines asking to be removed because they are for sale in the same store, two shelves below the porn mags!

THE PEOPLE

I have run my own business since 1989 and the odd thing is, some of the nicest, most-honest people I have met have been involved with gay porn companies. Whereas some of the nastiest, cheating, most cynical people have been in mainstream so-called 'legitimate' businesses.

What's more, adult companies generally pay on time every month or even every fortnight. Whereas sometimes I have waited up to five months for payment from mainstream publishing companies and nearly always at least three months.

Commission Junction (a 'mainstream' affiliate company that disapproves of adult content) never did pay me the full amount they owed me. Whereas, in five years doing this, I can't actually recall an 'adult' company that hasn't paid. Eventually you begin to wonder who are the 'bad' guys...

Which is worse? The company that makes a video of two happy and willing men having sex and sells it, or the 'legitimate' big corporation that almost drives the small guy out of business and onto the breadline, for no good reason other than they know they 'can' make him wait five months for payment?

I have been that small guy. And a couple of years ago I got tired of it...

MY VIEW ON PORN

My own view is that gay porn is a healthy thing. Sex between men is more 'equal' and none-threatening. There is rarely anything like that aggressive misogynistic thing that is found in some straight porn. That is why many women like gay material.

If no one gets hurt making it, and the people who view it get off rather than maybe get themselves into a risky situation, then that has to be a good thing. In developed countries, most people have a choice over whether they get involved in porn and many guys enjoy working in the industry.

There are all kinds of exploitation in the world. Personally I think the guy who is working in a burger restaurant for the minimum wage is being exploited more than the man who gets a good fee making porn and who enjoys doing it!

Anyone who doesn't like the ads should feel free not to access any more of my content! As it is only made possible by 'adult' earnings :-)

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