Skip to main content

Ning Blog » The End of the Red Light District

Popularity Report

Total Popularity Score: 0
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...

Rank

Bookmark History

Saved by 1 people (-3 private), first by anonymouse user on 2008-12-03


Public Sticky notes

As individuals and as a service, we stand for the freedom to create your own social networks for anything. We believe that people should be able to set their own social norms and Ning, as a broad-based service, is designed to respect many different perspectives and enable them to co-exist seamlessly and effortlessly.

Highlighted by gibarian

on 2008-12-03 by gibarian

Yeah, whatever.

Therefore, the decision we’re announcing today to discontinue our Red Light District is a tough one. However, from a practical perspective, this difficult decision is the right one.

Highlighted by gibarian

Specifically, they require other social networks to work harder because they don’t generate enough advertising or premium service revenue to cover their costs. Plus, our ad partners aren’t big fans of the adult networks and therefore require us to identify adult networks or risk our healthy advertising revenue. We don’t want to be in the policing business and, unchecked, that’s where this is heading.

Highlighted by gibarian

on 2008-12-03 by gibarian

Two things: First, if someone's paying money for the premium service, then they are paying the price Ning put on the tag. If Ning later on finds out it's not enough, it's their damn fault. Second, the sentence about their ad partners is telling. While in the first paragraph it's all about how Ning is all for diversity, when it comes to cold, hard cash, they're not. I was actually planning on having a social network hosted by Ning, which would have been centered on alcohol (yes, Martinis!). Now I'll try to find some other place, because hey, you never know, maybe someday their ad-partners decide that having people read about alcohol might corrupt their brittle souls. And Ning wouldn't want that and pull the plug.

By having legal adult social networks on Ning, we’ve seen a rise in volume of illegal adult social networks. We are always going to do the right thing as it pertains to social networks that are illegal or violate our Terms of Service. That’s non-negotiable. However, the time involved in reporting and assisting the authorities on illegal adult social networks is simply too time and cost intensive for the benefits derived by having adult social networks on Ning.

Highlighted by gibarian

on 2008-12-03 by gibarian

Oh please. That's like saying we should shut down the Internets, because if there's space for legal activity, there's always space for illegal one. What a fucking moot point.

This is important in all circumstances, but in this recession we have to be relentless in providing the most compelling service in the most efficient way possible. Therefore, from a practical perspective, the only practical answer we see is a clear elimination of adult networks from the Ning Platform altogether.

Highlighted by gibarian

on 2008-12-03 by gibarian

Here we go, the recession argument. This is ridiculous. Oh by the way, nobody'll get any Christmas presents this year from me. Recession, ya know?

Again, this was not an easy decision and we did not make it on philosophical grounds. We made it on a purely practical one. For those of you who created and worked hard on your adult network, we appreciate your work and dedication and wish there were a different answer.

Highlighted by gibarian

on 2008-12-03 by gibarian

Yeah, tough luck really. But thanks for helping us grow and all! Btw, this is what Ning had to say about the issue a while back. Didn't sound like they had too many problems with the above mentioned points back then: http://blog.ning.com/2008/01/a_word_on_the_red_light_distri.html

Readers (4)