What's the prime motivator for posting to this forum? And why do we even have a fandom at all when other forms of 'Adult Recreation' do not?
For me the answer to these questions has to revolve around
the opportunity the shows provide for a mass shared experience (of an unpredictable live event). That's virtually unique in the Adult sphere... And it's
the feeling of connection that helps to bring to the shows' output that - even now - elevates this forum above anything else of its ilk.
We post out of that feeling of connection. How's that come about? Well let's look at what's been happening to this place lately and at how guys post to try to probe at what's going on...
Forgive me, but whilst this forum remains admirably lively, with sporadic pockets of activity, many, many individual threads are not the fiercely thriving arena of comment they once were. I postulate this is because the more the shows migrate towards a focus on individualised exclusive experiences, the more
we are gradually losing a focal lifeblood that has sustained this forum and the industry itself over many years: The FTA show. Looking back I see the FTA show as central to us being where we are today. And while some of the core drive to that may well be directly replaceable for the industry itself (guys engage with the shows from many reasons and the industry has already found other ways to monetise beyond straight calls and tips)... the effects of a decrease in FTA focused shows on the forum maybe harder to counter.
The Importance of 'FTA' Show Use to the Forum
This forum's dissemination of FTA-derived triumphs of the past (in words and visuals) has always aided in the scene's very vitality in a way nothing else on here comes close to. (How much it's helped in the industry's successes remain debatable; some babes decry the word of mouth and advertising of this place as irrelevant. I'd say the better babes, the more humble ones, that allow the forum to take some credit for the shows' longevity, are nearer the mark.) Such posts offer the opportunity to re-live,* or sometimes enjoy vicarious after-the-fact thrills of, a great show. Such posts are rich with a postivity that radiates through the relevant babe's fanbase and, if she's consistent in what she does, will spill on into wider fandom as a whole. (This is assuredly one way in which babes can expand their fanbase.) The forum continues to service the industry that birthed it in exactly this way as it always has.
FTA is certainly why the shows made it into their second decade (there was little else to the shows up to that time) and, for me, they remain a massive part of why they are still going. The forum has always facilitated all that the shows do, but re-promotion of FTA is perhaps its biggest role. (Latterly the shows' chatboxes have weakened the position of the forums - there are others - as the only place to make public comment on the shows somewhat. The UKBCF still dominates as your basic fan's frame of reference though.) But the influence of these show must be dwindling as the industry's focus on FTA dwindles and the representation of them on here necessarily dwindles too (not helped by some babes banning all uploads of their FTA footage in recent years). So FTA may not hold the power it once had but I'd argue the continuation of these shows is still vital for anyone that wishes to keep the industry input of this place functional.
Almost no one posts about their experiences staring at body parts on perv or what their babe did or said to them in their private's tete-a-tete. Look how the contributions to the individual threads of babes that have taken to full time paywall have declined. And, for an industry that still revolves around the phonelines, it's remarkable that so few guys have ever talked about call content on this forum either. Apparently these are almost invariably solo worlds of interaction for guys; we appear to have come to some strange collective resolve to bear the specifics of these events alone.
(Of course, if anything we're encouraged to keep such details to ourselves by the babes, wary as a lot of them are of the wrong kind of 'exposure' spoiling their futures.) No, guys (in the main) post on here in order to enthuse about what they saw a babe do on main cam. So...
Why is it about FTA shows in particular that has us posting? What are we looking to get when we post about these shows that we can't get from other types of post?
The easy kneejerk answer is to say these posts dominate because access to such shows is free. But I feel something deeper and more meaningful is going on here too. (Adult tube sites vids are free also but relatively few guys post comments on such sites. There is certainly no real sense of community among porn users.) I'd say it's more accurately because they've watched something a multitude of other readers might well have seen and they wish to share as a result. And what they wish to share is the emotional investment the live element and feeling of connection to the babe have bestowed.
If we examine these posts we find that most posters want to say 'wasn't that great' to readers that are hopefully beholden of the same knowledge as the poster. Or to express a 'we were all part of that weren't we?' kind of sentiment. Then too, very few of us can say we don't want to see thanks in return for an expressed enthusiasm of our beloved kinks and to see likeminded responses to such posts. (Posters are hoping for validating feedback iow.) And we are looking to spot other users that like what we like as we participate. (A very social trait that.) And, finally, we might just want to get back a bit of the feeling we had watching the show in the first place by having others express that they felt the same way as us during it.
Such replies give the o.p. another reason to feel good in their fandom - giving a warm sense of belonging - and about any spending they may have made in helping the action along. This latter sets the thing apart and is of most direct value to the industry.
Crucially too, this is not some unobtainable porn star in California. She is talking to us directly. She is on a UK stream. Guys relate - even if the babe's looks place them 'out of their league' - and they want to know what'll happen next - maybe even getting some content progression from her. It's an ongoing saga; one that, vitally, can be
discussed. They want to know they're not alone in wanting what they do. And they want to spread the word... Thus these shows breed an active, socialisable, fanaticism not a passive one.
All of these things depend acutely on many users having seen the same thing. No paywalled show provokes that sort of reaction because guys know there's just not that same likelihoods involved. Paywall shows can never have the reach FTA ones do, thus we just don't tend to write about them. (Not being able to upload visuals of paywall content curtails any after-the-fact sourced discussion also.) And
the current swamping domination of various paywalls debilitates much of the positive validation dissemination process described above. The whole process used to occur across so many and varied threads on here but now is very much diminished. This can only be of harm to the industry. The soft power of FTA and this forum has been woefully neglected. (Without decent FTA this place would be virtually dead.) And now, with 66's renouncing their studio we are yet another step along this road of diminishing returns we're on.
* This free re-living of the shows was, of course, one of the things more recent babes had against the uploading of stream footage from their regular shows. These are babes that don't care to give full credit to what was once unique in the way the shows and its fanbase functioned.
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