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One of the biggest problems faced by the adult industry is the perception that people have of us. Mention the word 'pornographer' and visions of sleazy pimps, grotty little men in plastic raincoats spring and the exploitation of women spring into the minds of people out there in the real world. The overall image is not one that any industry really needs and it's certainly not one that we need.

Yet it is one that is continually reinforced by people within this industry. They like to assume a role that fits the image, they strut and swagger on message boards, at conventions they act the part and the image continues to be reinforced in the minds of the general public.

Perhaps it might seem cool to you to be seen as a 'pornographer', perhaps those in the industry who do already act out that role may seem like great men to you. They certainly have big personas on the message boards and that undoubtedly attracts lots of sycophants to pander to their ego.

But the sad fact is that by continuing to play the part they, and all those who want to emulate them are doing nothing more than making it harder for the industry to go on doing business. Why on earth do we need to give the moral minority even more ammunition to attack us with than they have already?

Why do we need to make life so difficult for ourselves? We wail and moan when governments and financial institutions bow to public pressure and impose more restrictions on us and yet we do nothing to help ourselves. Instead we go on encouraging people to fit the image rather than to be what we should be ... normal, everyday, ethical small business people.

It's one of those bizarre situations where we could be doing so much to help ourselves but instead choose to go the other way ... and then complain when people respond in the way we know they will.

That's something that I don't think will ever change even though there are some of us out trying to make the world see us as we really are. Sadly the number of us are working towards that goal is now one less with the passing of Jayeff.

Jayeff didn't have a huge post-count on any adult board but he had been around for quite a few years helping people and showing by example that you can be an ethical business person and still work in adult. Steve and I had chatted online with Jayeff and joined in discussions with him on several boards and found him to always be a real gentleman. The industry could certainly do with more people like Jayeff and the industry is definitely the poorer for his passing.

Anonymity on the Net
Interestingly we only ever knew Jayeff by his screen name, we never knew his real name but that wasn't something that Jayeff ever took advantage of. Unlike him many many people on message boards and in chat rooms across the Net use what they think is anonymity to protect them when they attack others. While they like to hide behind anonymous nicknames they're not slow to name real people and spread malicious rumors about them.

It's something that happens many times every day across the Net and those who make those nasty attacks seem to think that they're safe because no one can track them. But now that could all be about to change thanks to some nasty attacks that were made on, of all places, a law student's message board.

It's now quite obvious that two very bright law students ... who just happened to be women ... have had their careers severely affected by some very nasty comments made a message board back in 2005. Of course they're looking for some action to be taken against those who made the comments and those people who made the comments are still feeling rather smug because they don't think they can be traced.

It seems that those who made the comments and started the rumors and who feel so smug because they can't be traced are in for a rather rude shock. As one expert has pointed out, the anonymous posters are only two subpoenas away from being identified and then the fun will really start.

There is no doubt that the implications of that case will be felt across the Net and it will be interesting to see what affect it has here in adult. There's at least one adult webmaster board that could become very tame if people are no longer able to hide behind multiple screen names.

Of course some may lament the passing of that rough and tumble atmosphere on some boards but these days it's something that needs to happen because we desperately need to improve our image. Not only will it help stop the undeserved destruction of some reputations but it will also go some way to shutting down the scammers too.