A rant on the subject of free content

[dvnc]

The economy is tight? Uh, those videos out at present are in the $30 range. It's not like $100. It's also not like all of us are broke. I'm not.

I *CAN* dig, though, where buyin' ALL of 'em may be tough. I know I don't have sheckels enough for all of the videos from all of the vendors.

Personally, I'm hurt, 'cause Jeff don't consider me part of the TMF, since I bought that new one last week, on Wednesday. OTOH, I haven't bought one in ages, so it was my way of kickin' down t'support the man. 😉

The good vendors need to be rewarded, and at $30 per video, even quarterly, it ain't that much dough. Sorry to hear that we're not contributing, Jeff. That just seems somewhat sad.

dvnc

 

[TMF Jeff]

The economy is tight? Uh, those videos out at present are in the $30 range. It's not like $100. It's also not like all of us are broke. I'm not.

I *CAN* dig, though, where buyin' ALL of 'em may be tough. I know I don't have sheckels enough for all of the videos from all of the vendors.

Ok, first of all, that wasnt what I was saying. I specifically went out of my way to say I understand that people are having financial issues. My point was about free content, NOT about people buying videos.

Personally, I'm hurt, 'cause Jeff don't consider me part of the TMF, since I bought that new one last week, on Wednesday. OTOH, I haven't bought one in ages, so it was my way of kickin' down t'support the man. 😉

Having just gotten and replied to an email from Dave about this very issue, I find myself embarassed to now have to explain in public that I left him out of my point because he IS a personal friend and not someone who is exposed to tickling content only through the TMF. In point of fact, Dave has gotten many of my videos for free, so his reasons for buying this were more complicated than just being a supportive member of a thriving community, and I wanted to keep my rant simple and clear.

However, in the name of being extremely precise, there were in fact three video orders for Angelicas First Time before my post, Dave's and two others from people who are in frequent email contact with me, one or both of whom are undoubtedly also members of the TMF, and buy all of my videos. And they arent the only ones who do that, and any of those people were, it seems redundant to point out, also not included in my rant.

(added upon re-reading: and by the way, three orders doesnt even cover the cost of hosting the clip, never mind the video)

The good vendors need to be rewarded, and at $30 per video, even quarterly, it ain't that much dough. Sorry to hear that we're not contributing, Jeff. That just seems somewhat sad.
dvnc

People should buy what they want to buy. They just shouldnt also expect free things.

 

[dodger]

I agree with Jeff, there is WAY too much freeloading going on here (and in society in general). But Jeff, realize that the economy IS very tight right now. This in addition to the fact that many are freaked out about all this anthrax/bio/chem/nuclear talk has put the squeeze on a lot of companies and people, myself included. Things will bounce back though, this IS America! Hang in there.
Peace
Ed

I think its very safe to say that this freeloading thing did not start only after 9/11/01. This must be a long ongoing thing for the companies to make such public announcements. So I'd have to say that fear of anthrax is just the latest poor excuse to not support these companies who continuously give us what we like to see. Tickling.

 

[Kujman1]

Jeff's rant....

.... really is disappointing, but only in it's posted title- because it isn't a "rant" at all.... it's the truth. Based in facts, over opinions.

True- I'm really out of the loop lately, and maybe for good. That should make most happy. I'm told I'm not like I used to be (for many known reasons), and that's probably so the way I feel. So I'm really not "back", and will let you know if I ever am. But this is one time I think I have some vaild thoughts to share about Jeff, and it would be wrong of me if I didn't speak up.

With the exclusion of people in this post thus far, many perhaps might jump on the band wagon for support ("I agree with you", yadda yadda) in the hopes that they will get some more material- but they support in post only, not in actions.

And ACTIONS speak louder than POSTS.

From personal experience: After years and years of people hounding me to release my tapes, we finally started to do so (prior to 9/11). We had kept a list of names who said they wanted the tapes for any price, at any time. We had a list of over 350 people- all online. Out of that group, out of the entire community, when it came time to put your money where your mouth is... only 30 or so people ordered them to date (unless they could get a ton of free clips)... surely not enough to release the tapes as of this time (this based on palace policies- those who ordered will either get another renfaire or sorority video to be offered, or refund, their choice).

The reason given? Not the price (yes, ours are much higher than Jeff's or others, but this is due to technical output, and also content: the material is REAL time, and not acted- the people have NO idea whats to happen, etc)... but rather they didn't buy due to the fact that we didn't give enough clips, or the "right" clips, on our site. While there are many thin, very pretty women in the video, I picked one clip that showed a good close up of a goat and one hellofva scream coming out of a heavier girl (God forbid!). What people wanted was a "model", perhaps nude- maybe Heather Locklear, who knows?- but not reality tickling... so they could copy it and loop it... and they would choose staged tickling over real tickling any day so it seems. I say more's the pity, but to each his own.

So my point is that I can post freely and openly that I agree with Jeff, and do so in all honesty because I have NO biased opinion towards him or others who make videos: I don't watch videos (I never even look at my own)- so I don't buy any. I make them, or help others that need it, but really do so for others to enjoy them, and do so on a very technical level only- the passion is there, sure... but not the need to make money. In fact, any videos we offer, ALL proceeds go right to charity. So business is not my motivation. Therfor, no competition, no "free" video previews do I get, and NO bias do I have. And I agree with his assessment of free material. He said it better than I could. I can only base it on my own experiences again, but if I had a nickle for every time I was "told" that I owed it to the tickle community to put out free material, clips, and videos- I'd be another Rockerfella.

Some of these people are really screwed up. His market, and that of others, is market of "supply and demand": where else are you going to find someone so willing to try and accomodate your exact requests other than a $3.50 per minute phone sex line?? Try writing to hollywood and see if they meet your demands. I write commercials sometimes for hollywood and even then have a hard time slipping in material with feet and tickling, for things like Doc Martens and such stuff.

But here you have a guy going all out, and PUTTING out for this community, reacting to their demands, keeping it CHEAP- and giving out free material and clips to boot- and still it's not enough for some?? They just want to piece together enough clips and loop them over and over?? Jeesh. They ought to stop wasting their dough on crap like Playboy and put it into a video. I really think some guys wouldn't be happy if you even gave them the videos for FREE- then they would ask you to pay them to watch it.

Many years ago I put out tons of materials- went my own path, my own style, only to have it ignored when the internet came to light because then everyone was suddenly "an expert". Or it wasn't "exactly" what they wanted when they wanted it, or they stole my stuff, and/or complained about because it was "too real" or "too intense" too this or too that. So I stopped releasing material, and people complained even more... and I posted that the people sitting back and complaining and so forth, were also the very ones who had done nothing to contribute to this community and the needs of others IN this community who can not indulge in tickling themselves, and can do so only vicariously through others like myself.

Jeff was one of the very few who stepped out, rose to the occasion, and started to put out material SPECIFICALLY GEARED towards ticklers needs and requests. People forget that- I did not. I admire him greatly for his efforts.

Now, in some strange twist of fate... the same things happening to him that happened to me, more or less... and he has my full support.

For those nay-sayers and demanders of more freebies... or those simply too clueless to "get it"... imagine if he walks away from it all? What will you have then? And what have YOU given?

Now Jeff... THAT'S a "rant" 😀 You merely spoke the truth.

(And it's taken me two days to sit up long enough to write it)

I'm going away now.

KJ

 

[edv]

I think its very safe to say that this freeloading thing did not start only after 9/11/01. This must be a long ongoing thing for the companies to make such public announcements. So I'd have to say that fear of anthrax is just the latest poor excuse to not support these companies who continuously give us what we like to see. Tickling.

As someone who busts his ASS 60+ hours a week, and is sweating paying all the bills for his family, I really resent it being called a "poor excuse". I was just sharing some of my personal anxiety about the whole thing. When you go from making 600-700 a week to 400-500 a week -thats a problem. I was just trying to say that a LOT of buisnesses are suffering right now. If you're not affected, more power to ya. But understand that some of us ARE and consider yourselves lucky. Don't be pointing fingers man, that's very un-American and LAME. I've never asked anyone here or in the ng for anything, in fact I'm so insistent on making myslef useful that I DEMAND to buy ALL the beer every time Max throws a party lol. I have never shown up there or anywhere with no beer and a lame excuse! So to say I'm making excuses for freeloaders is just.....misguided.




Ed

 

[dodger]

When you go from making 600-700 a week to 400-500 a week -thats a problem. I was just trying to say that a LOT of buisnesses are suffering right now. If you're not affected, more power to ya.
Ed

Dude, you obviously misunderstood me. I KNOW that a lot of people and businesses are having trouble now SINCE 9/11. I myself am. And I feel sorry for others that are........BUT MY POINT was that the freeloading has been going on for years! MY POINT is "what's the excuse for the last 2 years? The answer is easy, the excuse is FREELOADING.




ps-sorry to hear about your weekly salary, that sucks.

🙁

 

[toneus79]

I know I will be ignored by Jeff and Kathy again, as I was on my own message thread to them.

However, I will try again. The fact is we all approach the TMF using the internet/computers and email. You're selling a product for our Televisions using the postal service.

The answer is not to keep whining about free samples. Don't provide any if it hurts you so much to do so. But if you want my business (and god knows I am sitting here with a Visa in my sweaty hand) sell me your product in a computer/internet format. That means (at the risk of repeating my previous post) Full length Downloadable videos (in manageable 2 to 3 minute chunks x 20 whatever)

The customer isn't always wrong !

 

[Shem the Penman]

The problems with full-length downloadable videos seem pretty obvious to me. To wit:

Imprimis, the time it would take to download them. Not everyone has a cable/DSL connection. Back in my 56K days, I never bothered to download clips, because I knew from grim experience it'd tie up my connection forever. Doing that 20 times in a row would make me start tying a noose.

Secundus, the server capacity required to handle a bunch of ticklephiles attempting to do those 20 downloads. I have only the fuzziest idea as to the technical difficulties there, but the problems encountered by sites like extremetickling.com and Tickle Theater suggest that they're not minor. Which means, at the very least, more wait time piled atop the download time.

Tertius, the format. This is the main reason clips have never done a lot for me. If given the choice between watching a tickle video on my own nice big TV screen, so I can see all the details of the ticklee's expressions without straining my eyes, or on my computer screen in a window smaller than a floppy disk ... well, no contest. Sure, I can expand the player window to fill my computer screen -- and then I get the clip in Blur-o-Vision. I'm sure with the proper setup I could manipulate the clip so I get close-to-TV quality -- but I don't have that setup, and not everyone does, either.

All I can say is: I've never had any difficulty picking out videos based on the pictures and text on the companies' respective Web sites. Clips are nice if I can find 'em, but I don't actively seek them out. Maybe it's this way for me because I started buying videos back in the Dark Ages, when the only guide I had to go on was the photos and text on the back of the video. (And when, I should note, I was dealing with companies like Cal Star and Prestige, who were a lot less likely to be offering quality material than today's video producers are.)

Really, if clips disappeared from the Web, I don't think it'd change most people's video buying habits. Moriaritytk made this point excellently and far more eloquently than I ever could in his thread, so I'll just toss in a link to it here.

 

[headtripper25]

to the vid makers

You guys are running a clinic on a no-win scenario in customer relations.

 

[toneus79]

Hi Shem

Your points are of course valid, and given the choice I would sooner watch videos, rather than the blown up computer blurry vision:

BUT:
1) As I mentioned in my thread 'Message to Jeff/Kathy', I consider ordering videos in the UK from the US to be now too much of risky option, for me to ever do it again. I am sure there are people in your country who don't buy videos, who would like to, because they have issues over who they share their living space/mail with, or don't have private TV access.

2) I have 56k modem access, and it usually takes me 15 to 20 minutes to download a 2 minute clip (I also download a lot from NASA). Therefore to download a full length video would probably tie up the computer for 6 to 8 hours. That is still quicker than waiting for the postman though.

3) Whilst I don't understand the mechanics of server capacity, what I do know was TICKLESPOT Dot Com (whilst it was still in business) had about 12 full length videos (clip numbers varied between 15 and 50) that were available for download at any time, once you had a password. You could also watch them on streaming (though that was not an option for me with 56k access)

Yes what I am suggesting is a substitute, but for those of us who can't accept videos in the mail; it is a substitute I for one would be happy to pay for.

 

[tcrewme]

To MTP Jeff and Real Tickling...

Umm this is a question really for any media producers that read this board but...
Can you folks tell me why you don't distribute to regular porn shops...? I did some "research" last night at my local porn place.
I found tapes on bondage, anal from every direction, fat people, skinny people, pregnant lady sex, piss/poop stuff, but low and behold there was ONE Cal Star on the shelf for $60 bucks(I didn't buy it).
Now all of the above, beside the tickling tape, there were multiple companies or different vids from the same company.
My point is why don't you folks try distributing to the porn shops, or to the regular rental video companies that have porn somewhere behind a curtain...
Here is another point for having one of YOUR tapes in a local place to me...one I can pay CASH right there, no credit card, nobody accidently checking the mail.. you get the idea.
Just something to consider.