FunExpander is free for anyone who wants it. No limitation to members required.
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Scripts to attract non-logged in users
I’m not a fan of creating a place for non-logged in users to dl scripts if it requires a lot of community upkeep. I wonder if up front, we could collect a handful of scripts with their video links and include them in the Learn More link. Just keep it simple, low upkeep.
Downloading files should require an account
Unless I missed some comments, we seem to be fairly in agreement that downloads should require logging in.
Should the #scripts section require login to view?
pros
- encourage account creation
- maybe reduce the chance of someone trying to automatically take down all linked content
- maybe reduce the chance of someone trying to scrape scripts
cons
- less SEO
- added friction to using the site, will make users bounce
Dunno how I feel about this one. If someone’s trying to automate some sort of action, they can create an account and do it anyway. We have some rate limiting, but that applies to all users.
Privacy concerns
Previously some people were concerned about privacy and doxxing. It sounds like there’s less of a concern about that now?
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I’m not opposed to it, but I don’t really see the need to post sample scripts for guests. If you spent all that money on an interactive toy, you bought it to play scripts. If you have a Handy, you can even try some scripts at handyfeeling with many even made by scripters from this site. Maybe the Handy would like to start crediting those scripters and even promoting this site. It would be a nice thing to do since it benefits each other, but of course that’s their decision.
I’m also generally cautious of anything public that shows the names of scripts and content because that might increase the chance of copyright takedowns. The opportunity to request scripts and being part of a very active scripting community means you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for.
Personal privacy, and the feeling of security, makes for an attractive and engaged community. This is especially important for potential members. My preference is for any public discussion on the site to be an absolute minimum of what’s necessary. I would also prefer those publicly made discussions be without usernames or maybe replaced with numbers. I know that someone can just create an account to see everything, but let’s at least make them do that so usernames that might also be used on other sites don’t show up in a google search or scraped by bots. Maybe that’s a pain in the ass to do, but the sense of security will appeal to potential members.
These ideas can always be implemented over time from most restrictive to less restrictive as needed. The numbers may eventually show that only a few of these things are needed for optimal growth.
Maybe this should be its own separate post, but we have a lot of great things we can promote on this site to potential members regardless of what we ultimately decide on the topic at hand.
It’s the size of our community, and also how active our community is that’s really our strength. Promoting these two aspects would help prevent decentralizing the community if and when competitor sites spring up. It is after all the community here that makes this site special.
It would be helpful for a guest to see on the guest page a public ongoing count of how many members there are, how many members have posted scripts, how many scripts there are, how many scripts on average are being posted per week or day. There might even be a good way to break the number of scripts down into useful categories. Maybe something like device, sex act, genre, length, decade (we need more 90’s scripts), pro/amateur, cock heros, pmvs, animated, gay/straight. Maybe this could even be a place for scripting interactive toys for women.
In promoting the supportive quality of the community, I think the idea of not just getting scripts but learning to make your own scripts would be very attractive to new members. It seems that most of the software creators have no problem with making their software public, but we could also put something in the mission statement that specifically states that by becoming a member you will have all the tools, tutorials, feedback, and support you need to create your first five minute script.
I’m completely spitballing these ideas but maybe they get a badge that shows they’re working on their first script. Maybe a new member gets linked to an active scripter that does something small like sends them a message saying hello and to feel free to talk to them about their first script (completely voluntary of course). Maybe we develop some sort of mentorship/apprenticeship program for those who want to be part of it. I know there’s already a feedback section (which is great!), but I’m thinking of something that might be a little more personal, one on one, engaging, and proactive in developing potential scripters. These kinds of things might even help to get engagement up above just that 3%.
TheHandy.com has a FAQ that contains the question about where to find scripts. It still points at RTS despite the fact that I sent feedback to them about changing it to ES in November. I got a response from Erik: “I’ll be sure to update the FAQ regarding the scripts.”, but that obviously never happened (I just checked).
Yep, they still haven’t changed it.
"Where can I find scripts for my Handy™?
There are available scripts via third party providers such as https://realtouchscripts.com/ and others. We are currently preparing a guide on handyfeeling.com where you can find new scripts and also a subreddit for the same purpose."
All their customers have to do to find scripts is just do a google search for “and others.”
I can’t tell if any of the current videos on handyfeeling.com are from EroScripts, but in the past there definitely were and they were not crediting the scripters if I remember correctly.
They’re a responsive and overall great company so it’s surprising they haven’t made this correction.
Seems this thread has taken a life of its own, glad to have opened a door for all this.
My take is content creators scripts should be shared with anyone who cares to download them. If I make something, I don’t require someone to track the people who download it. Requiring lurkers to create an account just to grab the scripts is unnecessarily needy. Just post a download counter as an easy feedback loop to get a pulse from those who aren’t interested in chatting.
If you have a funding need, post a community funding page.
If bots are a problem posting things then that’s a different topic, and can be managed (like every other site).
If people want to keep their content hidden, then let them hide it behind a free login-wall… if they think that helps conceal them. Any interested FED or whoever already has an account anyways.
/soapbox
edit: One last thought - My metric for a successful site is two-fold:
1: Lots of content being shared
2: Lots of content being downloaded
If you have these two things, you’ll have plenty of people who volunteer to chat about it.
I threw away my handy, so long and thanks for all the scripts.
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Thinking on it more, I’m personally in favor of totally opening up the site. I don’t even know if I would require users to create an account to download files.
If someone wants to do bot stuff, they’ll do it regardless of if accounts are required. Plus accounts can always be required again later. I think it’s just something we need to monitor over time.
While I’m a tiny bit concerned about increased dmcas, I’m not that concerned, but maybe I’m just being naive.
The only real concern I have left is privacy. But that’s something I’d defer to other people to discuss more.
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Just as a note. Handy created a discord sub channel a few days ago which points to EroScripts.
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That’s good, but the FAQ on thehandy.com is still pointing at RTS though.
Where can I find scripts for my Handy™?
There are available scripts via third party providers such as https://realtouchscripts.com/ and others. We are currently preparing a guide on handyfeeling.com where you can find new scripts and also a subreddit for the same purpose.
This is a complex issue that I, personally, am still trying to internalise. What I have written is hypothetical and does not represent my firm-fixed-belief, but I hope that by writing my thoughts down it helps others to consider and reflect on the issues at hand. This isn’t just about the single issue of access without membership, it has forced me to think through the scripting in general.
The main issues that occurred to me:
Commercial Scripting
Privacy
Intellectual property
Commercial Scripting
Scripts are a market opportunity.
It sounds like this site basically has the monopoly on scripts, the majority of which do not make a profit by making scripts and are unaffiliated to any production studios. Thus far the production studios themselves have not seen the value in making scripts to any great degree.
A minority of members have exploited this market opportunity to make money, one would assume that if they are marketable their scripts are of a higher quality (and therefore worth paying for).
Increasing ease of access to the site should increase the profile of scripting generally, and one would hope that studios would eventually monetise this potential and availability will increase as the ecosystem evolves (more videos, more toys, more scripts). Those site members that should benefit the most are those that monetised their scripts.
I can imagine that there will be some reluctance from those who do not commercially produce scripts, with perceived inequality between those that make scripts for money benefitting from those that release them for free.
Conversely, I can see that those who produce free scripts have no investment in the wider sharing of them.
I can see the tension arise where there is feeling that commercial scripters are not releasing enough free scripts in comparison to “wild” scripters and yet reaping the rewards. This is ultimately jealousy – it shouldn’t be like that but my suspicious nature tells me that it would be.
I can also see the synergy between studios and this scripting community, the support of studios for what is essentially disruptive technology in its infancy.
It should be remembered that most of the software used to produce scripts is free.
There is much commercially supported higher level work that goes on to bring us to the point where scripting is even an option.
Ultimately though I think it is likely that paid scripting will move deeper into the commercial zone with the community benefit of experienced scripters posting for free being lost.
The question really becomes whether this would be a demotivating factor in people learning how to script. I know that I feel the need to contribute free scripts to justify downloading other’s free scripts – I’m not sure I would feel the same if the majority of quality scripts were price gated.
Would the site go this way eventually anyway? As more mechanisms arise where people can sell their scripts?
Second to that, as the market evolves it becomes a possibility that it is market forces that drive which videos are scripted, and simple naturel selection would mean a reduction in diversity of available (quality) scripts. This should not be under-rated; this site is a way for people with niche interests to share scripts (irrespective of which kink you happen to be into).
This leads nicely onto the second issue – privacy.
Privacy
Having to be a site member is a commitment in some form or fashion, it declares that you are becoming part of that community (no matter how ephemeral an online community is) and knowing that by becoming part of that community you are engaging with people of similar vulnerability, or at least hoping that there will be others of that community that share you interests. Increasing site access exposes your interest to the wider internet. This may mean nothing, or it may mean that your particular flavour of script withers under the weight of mainstream opinion (either though “judgementmentalism” or through naturel selection.
Your niche interest could either be shared more widely and bring in others, or it could expose something personnel. Either way it is a distinct decision point.
Intellectual Property
Lastly IP. The hardest part of any discussion about content on the internet.
Everybody wants to own or benefit from their contribution and it is difficult to do that with scripts.
It can be the case that videos are not from legitimate sources. I am not accusing anyone but this isn’t exactly an area that lends itself to regulation, although this community does a great job of self-regulation. To be fair, I’m not sure there would have been as much evolution of scripts without some video access that you didn’t have to pay for, however I for one do not wish the site to be smacked with the hammer of piracy and imagine others feel the same way. Forced membership offers a measure of protection from this.
Scripts are impossible to protect, in the same way videos have been. We really only have the goodwill of the members as a kind of “honour-system”. If we take a step towards mainstream access then I think that a bottom-up regulatory system becomes a possibility (I would be speculating on how far off this might be) – either that or scripts become more chaotic (there can be several different scripts of the same video, neither the user nor the author has anyway of knowing who’s is who’s is, or which one is any good). This is comparatively easy to regulate in a closed community but in essence increasing access is a step towards a larger population.
Lastly, moving back to commercial scripting and IP relating to script content; currently all scripts can currently be pulled from the site at the request of the creator and I suspect anyone who harbours ambitions of commercially scripting has thought about this in order to then sell those scripts.
Without some other method of protecting content this is the only way to preserve your invested value, as the potentially logarithmic expansion of copies from open downloads would ultimately mean that you loose the opportunity to move to a commercial platform (or at least loose the foundation of being able to promote yourself as a having “stock” to sell as you reset to owning zero content and are reliant henceforth only on what you produce in the future).
So I guess in summary the questions can be distilled into:
-
Are you happy to lose control of your content?
-
Are you happy to be exposed to the scrutiny of the wider internet?
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Will scripting be maintained in the present form going once through (inevitable) change?
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Is it inevitable that scripting goes through this change in order to thrive?
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How much personal invested time are you willing lose in order to engender generalised gain?
Or I could be overthinking things. Writing this has taken time that could have been spent scripting…
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Note that I have no official affiliation with any paid sites or anything. I’m only losing money on this site lol.
My (short) opinion is that a free market of scripts is a positive thing. Creating scripts is skilled labor. If people want to be compensated for their labor, then more power to them. If people want to pay for scripts, then they should be allowed to. Having money involved is actually a very simple indicator of factors like demand, quality, and market size. Plus it sounds like scripters are open to taking requests and commissions, so I feel like this wouldn’t be super harmful to variety. Additionally, if scripters are compensated for their time, this encourages more people and time spent on scripting.
I don’t forsee more paid scripting killing off free scripting, if that were true it would have already happened imo.
For privacy, I would defer to community opinion. I don’t have a super strong opinion myself.
For IP, I believe that script creators should have full control over what they create. Unfortunately, like video, there’s very little way to stop bad actors from pirating your scripts. Unless someone invents DRM for scripts or something, I don’t know how this can be prevented. And even then, DRM gets cracked all the time.
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Here is my take on this:
Commercial scripting is a good thing. I don’t think we should be worried about community members becoming paid scripters. If someone feels that money will help him script more we should all be happy about that - otherwise there wouldn’t probably be even an option to get scripts for some of the videos.
As to diversity - it might also become a problem from oversaturation. Let’s say someone is interseted in cock heroes, but then he finds out that amount of free scripts is so big that there is no reason to create a new ones. Same with VR scripts, 2D, hentai etc. Right now we have literally thousands of free scripts for various genres. It’s crazy to even think about it - it’s years of stroking.
Privacy is something that everyone should be concerned about no matter the type of site they are members of. RTS was running for years and everyone could see your username, your opinions. Let’s not forget that we are not the only perverts in the internet and there are more numerous communities focusing on porn related content that are open. Before the site goes public there should be a clear sign that your username and posts will become visible for wider audience so anyone who is concerned about what they share here will be able to prepare for it. Looking at the number of people eager to discuss opening the site we can assume that most just don’t care.
I don’t really think account creation is something that bonds you to the community. If someone just want to get scripts from the site account won’t make him commit to the cause. As you put it if anyone feels the need to contribute free scripts to justify downloading other’s free scripts then account is something neccessary. The accounts also have they own perks - ability to request scripts, to talk about scripting in general, to ask for help.
It never feels right if someone share your content without your permission, but giving that we are living in digital age piracy is something inevitable. It already happened a few times even though our community is not big and eventually will happen again. Learning from mistakes of RTS eroscripts actually have a decent amount of mods who are able to react for such behaviour. Of course it doesn’t protect from content shared outside of the site, but it at least make it harder to get to pirated content.
From what I saw people who become paid scripters and want to sell they past work once avaliable for free rework their scripts. I can see that some of my older content could get some more love, but honestly I would just start making fresh content that I would sell exclusively. It’s always good to have representative content to show quality of your work. No regrets here, but of course it’s only my opinion.
On the other side if you remove your free content and start selling it, after some time new community members who were not able to get those scripts for free earlier will have to pay for them anyway assuming they are decent enough to not get it from illegal source.
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I have asked the marketing team to update the FAQ. Thanks for the input.
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I’ve seen a couple points here and I think I should give my two cents.
When it comes to community engagement/privacy. I don’t think making an account will prevent lurkers or asshats trying to doxx someone. When I first joined, I used a disposable identity to get feel for the place. I found I liked it and wanted to contribute so I PMed @hugecat to change my username to what I usually use for my anonymous identity.
Im generally careful I don’t reveal any information about myself or relations to other pseudonyms I have. Privacy is really on the user, not the forum.
As well I don’t particularly mind lurkers. They don’t hurt anyone. I’m a parttime lurker. I think the way it’s open now is fine. But for copyright stuff it does make sense to gate that off from web crawlers like google.
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Here are my current thoughts, and let’s continue the conversation
- Make the entire site publicly visible
- I think I’m okay with making files downloadable by people without an account as well
- I may be able to prevent google from indexing some categories if needed?
- set a specific date for when we will go public. If anyone wants to change their username, they can do so before then.
I assume this means everything is visible, but they need an account to DL or post?
edited my above answer
I think I’m okay with making files downloadable by people without an account as well
I think everything but download should be available. Or at least make it so webcrawlers can’t find copyrighted material. I never hosted discourse so not sure what the robots.txt would look like, or if it does some database stuff to protect that.
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