Adult webmastery is more than a skill. It is a culture.

We share common experiences and lifestyles. We meet in groups and gather at conventions. Many of us interact more often with each other than we do with people in the real world. We're not addicts, mind you. We make a living hanging on the Internet. We have made a society in cyberspace. We do stuff a certain way.

"If you don't like or don't want to use IM software to communicate with other adult webmasters well, you're just a damned fool."

Take instant messaging.

Sure, everybody does it now. Were they doing it from the get go? Were they sad to see Powwow lose its domination to that snotty upstart ICQ? Don't be mystified that an innovative profession stubbornly clings to what is now the third most popular Instant Messaging software application. Adult webmasters use ICQ because that's what we had. It worked, so we stuck with it.

Regardless, if you don't like or don't want to use IM software to communicate with other adult webmasters well, you're just a damned fool.

Email is sweet. Love the email. Let's be realistic. Adult webmasters get buttloads of email. TGP owners and paysite/affiliate operators receive hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. We do our best to fend off the spam but it still takes a while to read all the legitimate mail. Email is a wonderful mode of correspondence. However, email is not instant. Instant is sweet.

Message boards are killer. For open, mass intercourse, you can't beat adult webmaster message boards. We have a grand old time and even manage to get business done. We've created an online world the SIMs would envy. Everybody's a character and acting up is almost expected. We gossip. We share real world and industry news. We laugh together and mourn together. Best of all, everyone comes to the boards. From the biggest player to the tiniest pimp. Adult boards are one of the most level playing fields I've ever seen. I hope they never go away.

And then there's snail mail and the telephone. Yeah. Whatever.

Adult webmasters have come to depend on IM software. Namely ICQ.

Instant messaging clients were introduced around 1994. IM differed from MUD and IRC in that the user didn't have to join a channel in order to chat live by text. One would simply connect to the IM server, find a chat partner or two and begin. If users wanted to chat one-to-one they didn't need to open a private virtual room. In addition, IM software was capable of VOIP or Voice Over IP communication. IM could send files. IM software had configurable options that the user could tweak via graphic buttons. An IM user didn't have to learn keyboard commands in order to chat effectively. As long as a user was logged on, they were live and instantly available to chat.

Ten years later, adult webmasters use IM software as if it were an intercom in an office building. Only the talk is private and the office is the planet. Granted, one can join group chats via IM. We can send files, email and even SMS messages with IM today's applications. Just the same, adult webmasters use IM as a true business tool.

Deals are made in IM. We get tech/give support through IM. We bitch about each other and do mentoring through IM. We apologize or say thank you. Instant Messaging software allows us to interact as if we were in the same room together.

In fact, some adult webmasters have become so accustomed to IM they're a little spoiled by the convenience. Some expect their sponsors or fellow webmasters to be available 24/7 because with a broadband connection one can stay logged into IM indefinitely. That's a great advantage to instant messaging, because a user can send an IM and the recipient will receive the message eventually, logged on or not.

Granted, millions of other people in the world use IM clients. Adult webmasters aren't unique in the activity. Nevertheless, we really, really, really use IM a lot. Instant Messaging is one of our industry's lifelines.

The adult Internet is an actual telecommunity, cyberworld, wacky Tron space. We live, work and play on the web. Our coworkers and peers are on the net. Our bosses lurk in on us through the interweb. We ride the information highway and we chat with each other live because of Instant Messaging software.