In these days of phishing, identity theft and the general anonymity of the web, one should always be hesitant to give out personal information such as a one's real name, home address and social security number. Just the same, day after day, hour after hour, adult webmasters across the globe willingly provide this info to adult affiliate sponsors. Why do we do it? Are we crazy?
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"The fact is, both you and your sponsor are taking a chance. You could be a deceiver, spammer or bot scum. You trade your vital docs for a chance to get a check. They trade their reputation on your ability to sell without being a rule-breaking asshole." |
In case you don't know this, you can make money by selling sexually-oriented content and products, over the Internet. Unlike the door-to-door salesmen of yesteryear, today's modern marketing mogul needs no no store, no product and most importantly, no investment other than web space, a domain and net access. Adult webmasters can make a living selling other people's porn, often with free samples, free marketing tools and bonus incentives. The trade-off is that we adult webmasters have to trust strange people with our most precious personal data. Needless to say, even with the benefits, putting your faith in an adult affiliate program should be taken seriously.
The fact is, both you and your sponsor are taking a chance. You could be a deceiver, spammer or bot scum. You trade your vital docs for a chance to get a check. They trade their reputation on your ability to sell without being a rule-breaking asshole. Still it's only natural for a first-time adult webmaster to take a deep breath before they hit that SUBMIT button on an affiliate signup form. As I explained, your personal data is serious business. Despite the truth that nobody's personal data is really private, that doesn't mean you should be handing your SS# to just anybody.
A little adult Internet history. The adult sponsor/affiliate model came about in the early 1990's. We weren't the only ones trying to get webmasters to sell wares for commission but our industry has made great contributions towards the perfection of the concept. In other words, webmasters have been trusting adult sponsors with their personal data for a very long time. Out of all those sponsors, all those webmasters and all those years, there have been a handful of sponsors that have abused that trust. By comparison (I have no hard numbers) I've personally seen at least a hundred affiliate webmasters exposed as scammers over the last decade.
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How was I able to observe all this revelation of trickery? Adult webmaster message boards, of course. When webmasters cheat, when sponsors cheat, word gets around. The adult Internet doesn't hide its dirty dealers behind human resource departments or corporate memos. We air our shit in public. If there is a sponsor out there that scams their affiliates by any means be it non-payment, compromised privacy or shaving commissions, I can almost guarantee that you will hear about it and within a couple of weeks that company will be dead to our world.
Yeah. But I still have Concerns...
It's okay. It's a scary thing giving your social security number or tax number to a total stranger, especially over the web. I'm going to give you advice I have given many times before: STUDY YOUR SPONSOR'S WEBSITE. All the gold is there. Look for the same things you would look for if your were researching any business. Locate contact information like phone numbers, email addresses, IM software contacts. Read the damned Terms of Service page. Ask other webmasters if the sponsor you're interested in is a trustworthy company. It is absolutely true that new sponsors pop up every week and you just never know. That fetish sponsor looks promising but they're located in a country across the ocean... what will payments be like and will you be racking up long distance charges if you ever need to contact them personally? If the promises seem a little too wonderful and the sponsor seems a little too hard to get in touch with, find another sponsor.
In the end, if you want to get paid, you have to provide your personal information to adult sponsors. Actually, you want sponsors who require this info because it means they're operating according to the law. It means they're keeping records on how, when and why they pay you so that they (and you) can file taxes accordingly. When you combine that knowledge with the research you did to determine your sponsor's reliability, there really is nothing to fear.
Before anything else, the adult webmasters must look for sponsors that pay, are easily accessible and have a respectable history. Do your research. Visit the message boards. Ask around. There's no need to let fear of the unknown get the best of you.