What's the point of paid-media tag?

So it should only be used by people who don’t want to see free links under the post? Would be nice to make it clear because a lot of people for sure use it wrong then.

oddly enough, i don’t actually know if the people who use the paid-media tag are fully overlapped with people who ask to not post free link

if so, then the OP of the topic almost certainly wrote to not post free links in the comments

Yeah I don’t get that either. :man_shrugging: I try to post links as much as possible so that others can enjoy their work. Maybe some people just like being hall monitors. :rofl: We could have a “:skull_and_crossbones:do not post free links under penalty of death :skull_and_crossbones:” tag. This way members can block those posts if they so choose.

Additionally we could have a “source posted and alive” tag. Not only would the topic creator be able to include this tag, but members over level 3(?) would be able to keep this status updated as links die and become reborn again. This would also allow members to follow the tag and get notifications. However, I have to point out, that unless this has very recently changed, you essentially can’t follow and block tags at the same time.

more somewhat related convos in

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So what I’m hearing is there’s a lot of inconsistency in both rules and individual topic messaging around when the OP topic has free links or not, and if/when people can link free links in the replies.

Here are somethings I’m thinking about, please give me your feedback:

  • change the #paid-media tag into something like #no-free-links or #no-unofficial-links
    • though this is not super noticeable, so I wouldn’t solely rely on this tag
  • remove the #direct-dl tag
  • add something to the new script template that VERY CLEARLY calls out no sharing other links. Scripters can delete that text if they as they’re filling out the template if they choose.
  • potentially start enforcing short bans for people who do not follow these guidelines, maybe only for repeat offenders
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Tangentially related, I got a bunch of upscaled and interpolated videos but so far, no script authors have replied to say whether I can provide the links on their post…

I understand upscaling videos is a contentious topic in general in the context of piracy, but it is kind of a shame that I’m not able to share it since it could offer a better experience than the original source. The example I have are for the VirtualPorn videos. The source videos have terrible framerate at 30fps.

I’m more than happy to pay for porn so I don’t really care about the #paid-media tag personally, but my assumption was that some people who don’t want to pay for porn could easily filter out posts based on that tag. I’m a bit confused why anyone’s mad at that tag as if it means “pirated links wanted”. Seems the issue has less to do with the tag itself and more to do with people sharing links in posts where they shouldn’t. I’m cool with all your proposed ideas though if that’s the way we want to go.

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I would add to that:

  • no scripts / links begging - maybe allow one comment asking for free link. There is no need for multiple people to ask the same question in a row. If there is no answer than you kinda have to accept you won’t get it or you need to find it yourself.

Personally, I would also add some rule about asking scripter in DMs for Mega or link. It’s ridiculous.

And on top of that, people who post free links should check them beforehand. It’s crazy that you can put multiple hours into the script, but someone will start posting every single link from google without even spending a minute to check it.

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Personally, I save free scripts for videos I think I am going to enjoy, and then once i have 5-10 for a paid site, I just sub for a month and download them. I used to do free links, but I feel like i get much better video quality now. This has been extremely obvious since i picked up my Quest 2.

SLR stays on subscription though. I have their student discount.

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Can we please not start banning people for being helpful? Can we please also not ban people when they’re not violating any site-wide rules?

@hugecat Topic creators should be able to make whatever requests they like, and I hope it’s clear from my own activity on the site that I encourage others at least by example to be respectful, polite, and positive, but do you also want those members to have the ability to restrict the speech of other members? If so, then will that help the site grow? Policies that limit member activity would seem to be counterproductive. This is all quite puzzling since there are countless posts and topics begging members to be more active and engaged with the site. There are already two examples of the site contracting in the comments above:

If ultimately the decision is made to change the site-wide rules to no longer allow members to share information on where they found their sources, then we all know that the site will suffer a great contraction. Eventually it will probably wither and die as a more open competitor takes its place. If nothing else, it’s going to send a lot of members, former members, and potential members over to the script streaming sites. Again, this is puzzling because there are countless posts begging members not to shift their activity from EroScripts over to other sites. This would just be a massive own goal considering the site does not host any videos.

I keep seeing members saying they’re not getting enough likes, they’re not getting enough comments, but then some advocate for rules and regulations that limit engagement with their own scripts. It makes no sense. There are far better, and more positive, ways to increase and improve member engagement.

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We seem to have this debate every few months and it gets derailed a bit. Most people dont care about links being posted in general. Some creators would prefer that there not posted on their scripts. They say this in their post and it should be honoured.

Some people are just rude and lazy and can’t be bothered either spending a few minutes looking for the video themselves or writing a polite message asking for links. It’s a minority to be sure but as most people are lurkers first you only see the vocal minority.

As a community we have kind of decided on best practice and most people follow that and bringing out the ban hammer is probably overkill. Some people who dont follow it may be new or may not have English as their first language.

Some people are always gonna be dicks but they won’t bother reading this anyway.

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not sure if I didn’t come across clearly?

I’m not saying to ban all free links. Just enforce removing them in topics where the scripter explicitly says not to.

And added clarity that by default, free links are totally fine, minus the previous exception.

we also have not really heard from anyone who includes the #paid-media tag and requests no links. Would like to get their opinions too

FWIW I think there is two ways to use the paid media tag.

It’s only used when scripters specifically do not want free-links posted. Members will have deal with the fact that they may not find a free link when there is no paid-media tag.

Or

The paid-media tag is always used. But in this case, I don’t feel it’s fair for mods or the OP to have to go back to remove the tag if someone does post a free link. Members will have to deal with the fact that they may miss free scripts with free links under the paid-media tag.

The choice should be made by scripters.

No, you were very clear @hugecat, but as often is the case I probably was not.

I’m trying to follow the logic all the way to its end with enforcing a “no free links” request (and by extension the usefulness of the paid-media tag). First, I just really don’t want this to become the kind of place that bans people except for the very worst offenses, and I don’t think a link to an overly compressed 720p VR video from Porntrex qualifies. I’m also saying that if someone posts a link in the comments when the topic creator has made such a request, that member has not violated any of the site-wide rules so they and their post should be protected. If those posts are going to be taken down, or that member is going to face consequences, then it’s only fair that the site-wide rules be amended to make this clear. If they’re going to be amended, then I can only see one of two ways that can go which is that all discussion on free links is banned or the post creator has authority to restrict the speech of members that wish to participate in their post. The first option is obviously bad and untenable, but I’m legitimately asking if the second option is what you want for the site. For the reasons I’ve laid out previously (and full disclosure I’m of the opinion of just leaving people alone and generally letting them do what they want), I can’t envision how enforcing this request would be good for the growth of the site, the members, or even the topic creator themselves who made such a request.

What I’m seeing more often is that the paid-media tag and “no free links” request is creating confusion and having a chilling effect on members that aren’t participating or members who just aren’t participating as much as they would like. This confusion and chilling effect is not just happening in the paid-media tag or “no free links” posts, but is carrying over into other areas of the site.

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This is why a little patience and compassion can go a long way, and it’s so important to assume the best of intentions in people here. When someone just says, “Free link?” yeah they might be a demanding prick, but they could also be doing their best participating in a majority English speaking community as a non-English speaker. Either way, it removes no skin off our dicks/clits to be kind to them anyway.

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Exactly this.

Bottom line is, if the admins/mods don’t want to allow it, THEY enforce it, not us…so if they don’t enforce it, see a problem with it, putting no free links pls is pointless, a waste of time and no skin of any ops nose either way…unless as I said before, they are making money out of it. So yeah, it’s a site wide rule or it isn’t, if it isn’t…no one can demand anything.

As for the tag…it highlights it’s a paid for video and not on Spank,PH etc etc. Still don’t see a issue with a link being posted…UNLESS the admins/mods stop allowing it. But really, a classic case is the recent Jenni Lee video posted. You think sites like PH, Spankbang, XHamster etc etc paid her or the production company? Or let’s take the Melissa Moore POV BJ video…oh it’s on SB…so it’s fine. Be serious…so where do you draw the line? Unless it’s purely amateur stuff, uploaded by said amateur, ALL porn was paid media at some point…so for those whining about piracy, you think the fact those vids are ‘x’ years old makes a difference to the fact they are still copyrighted material? Some people are just hypocrites.

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I dont think thats the point. Maybe some see it that way. Imo, its better to see the tag as mostly respecting the creator’s decision to just post the official link where they can get it and will not upload or post free links. It defeats the purpose of the tag when people bug the creator, begging them for links and the comments become a nonstop conversation asking for links, asking if the links are compatible. And then reposting links thst they adjusted thst works for the script etc. And at the end of the day, thats the extent of the conversation. No talks about the script themselves.

When i make scripts, i felt compelled to provide the video source. If i got the source directly from the official porn sites, i get nervous hosting them on mega because then my account becomes liable to the whims of big porn(lol). Plus i felt compelled to upgrade my mega for when i script more stuff. Dont blame that on anyone though because i did that choice on my own. But then by doing so, I delete or move files around in the mega, there will be follow up messages or questions.

To future proof that, i too then feel obliged to find alternate links and adjust scripts to match em. But then they get taken down deleted and reuploaded all the time and the links become useless. Theres so much effort to do all those. I think the paid media should be a safe haven tag to some creators who don’t want to deal with that and just want to script and have constructive comments in their comment section.

But you basically said in your previous post that you almost never look into the posts tagged as paid-media. The whole reason I made this conversation was to make it clear what this tag means, if it only means the OP links to the paid source I think it’s better to make a set of rules for post naming and let users decide if they want to check comments for links or not.

If the decision is for the tag to only mean the links in the OP are for paid source than so be it, just would be nice to make it clear what it exactly means, because right now it means nothing and is not used properly. We’ve had a pornhub tag at some point and we get rid of it, I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t get rid of the paid media / direct-dl tags and focus on tagging just the video / script itself.

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