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I'm a mod on Reddit and in a few of the subreddits I moderate I see a steady stream of accounts promoting online sex work, like onlyfans. None of these subreddi

I'm a mod on Reddit and in a few of the subreddits I moderate I see a steady stream of accounts promoting online sex work, like onlyfans. None of these subreddits welcome promotion or advertising... or for that matter NSFW content. However, so many of these accounts advertise their sex work by posting content that ostensibly complies with the community rules but which somehow encourages other users to look at their user profile to find the NSFW content and then become shockingly objectionable when their content is removed, that we've been obliged to implement a blanket ban on all of that sort of account and now use a bot to find it. I can't believe I've been subjected to the level of abuse I'm getting from people who are on average making less than $145 a month.

benrbray 5y ago
That's two or three weeks of groceries if you're on a budget. It can make a huge difference for some people -- especially the type of people who don't feel like they have any options but sex work. It's hard to blame them since OF is a relatively safe way to do it, too.
- warent 5y ago
  exactly. For people in HN who probably make at least 6 figures on average, it's easy to forget that for many people, an extra $1.5k a year reflects a significant pay percent increase, like 5% raise.
  - lostinquebec 5y ago
    And the most humanising 5%, the 5% that you use to either keep your head above water, or buy a tiny luxury you never do, like a meal out or even a steak to cook at home. I lived by myself on welfare in the last 12 months of university, and my rent was $175 per week, welfare was $175 per week, and I had $3,000 saved to last the year. So I lived on effectively $100 a week after rent and electricity.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - rubyn00bie 5y ago
    +11 There was a period of time my rent was more than my wage $725/month vs $700. I was subsisting off of unlocking phones for people (who those mostly didn't want to do it themselves or didn't trust themselves), dumpster[1] pizza, and the ~$200 a month extra I was able to make ($20 an unlock) was my utilities and non-dumpster-pizza food money. [1] Literally, from a dumpster. Most local pizza places aren't run by douchebags and tend to put the leftovers in their own bag/box for the poor to consume. I truly appreciated it (much love to Hot Lips in particular), as Pizza was a luxury way beyond anything I could afford at the time.
  - Aerroon 5y ago
    And if you consider other countries that could be far more than 5%.
- CheezeIt 5y ago
  No options? They could deliver food for DoorDash.
  - ViViDboarder 5y ago
    If you have a car.
    - CheezeIt 5y ago
      I’m eating at a Panda Express right now. They have a big sign up offering $15.6/hr for their lowest level hire, with other positions open, too.
agumonkey 5y ago
That's because they push spam to try to make the rumored 1000s a month.
stbtrax 5y ago
which somehow encourages other users to look at their user profile So, hinting that they're a woman on reddit?
- JKCalhoun 5y ago
  Are we not past that?
meowface 5y ago
Note that although OF claims to do (or may even actually do) identity verification, some of these may be bots using other people's photos and may be components of larger automated spam campaigns/platforms. $100/month multiplied by a large N can be good money. And a small percentage of the bot accounts might make a lot more.
saurik 5y ago
> I can't believe I've been subjected to the level of abuse I'm getting from people who are on average making less than $145 a month. Can you unpack this sentence and explain what it is about "people who are on average making less than $145 a month" that makes the abuse you are getting from them specifically unbelievable? (edit: Wow, -3 after only 20 minutes?... I guess people on HN apparently really hate the idea that people who happen to be poorer than us deserve respect. I think that's the fastest downvoting I have gotten, even contrasted with when I say negative things about Apple, Signal, or Rust. I highly recommend thinking hard about what it means to believe that it is ever appropriate to speak with as much disdain about people who are struggling as Quequao just did... it was frankly downright shameful.)
- gostsamo 5y ago
  Such people would not bother to put so much effort in spam and abuse for a reward of $136.
- MrStonedOne 5y ago
  You're getting downvoted because you made a bad faith assumption in a way that comes off as hostile. > I guess people on HN apparently really hate the idea that people who happen to be poorer than us deserve respect. They don't, they hate people who make that assumption.
  - rualca 5y ago
    > You're getting downvoted because you made a bad faith assumption in a way that comes off as hostile. I confirm that was precisely the reason why I downvoted that post. Not only does that post indicate the poster failed to read and understand OP's post but the poster's comment suggests the misunderstanding was disingenuous and intended to put up a strawman designed to gratuitously attack OP with pseudo-moralist arguments.
- jcims 5y ago
  The point isn’t that they are ‘only’ making $145 a month. It’s that people are willing to be abusive to other humans over it. It’s like those annoying relatives that are willing to throw away any authenticity in their relationship with you in order to hustle their shitty MLM product that is making them next to nothing.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
pseudo0 5y ago
Maybe they're thinking about the thousands of dollars they aren't (but could be) making rather than the $145 they are? From that delusional perspective, you're costing them untold potential income.
- ptr2voidStar 5y ago
  The human mind is indeed fascinating
formerly_proven 5y ago
Due to stigmatization policies they can't use the normal ad channels to advertise their patreon, so it only makes sense to go the "organic content" route. And from their PoV they are sticking to the rules of the relevant subreddits, yet still get their content deleted or banned. I don't find it surprising people get upset when viewing the situation from their side.
- graeme 5y ago
  I’m a moderator. Very likely you’re wrong. Anything systematic like that is probably generated by a system where someone wrote a script of common phrases and handed it off to low wage labour to write. Highly doubt any actual creator is doing that. The payoff of untargeted spam is so low! Only makes sense if it’s outsourced at scale like any garden variety spam ring. The usual and profitable way people promote their onlyfans on reddit is by posting pictures and videos.
  - ProjectArcturis 5y ago
    I think OP was referring to cases like OF creators posting to places like r/roastme where thirsty redditors can see that they're hot, check out their profile, and see the pinned link to their OFs. That kind of thing is not likely to be automated.
  - OnlyFriendsThwy 5y ago
    How systematic are you talking? I happen to know an OF creator who promotes herself that way and she doesn't do anything in an automatic fashion, just creates her own submissions to subreddits and gets burned by such moderators. I happen to agree with formerly_proven . When my OF friend described how she submitted topical stuff to subreddits in the hopes that others would follow up on her profile, I was like, "what's wrong with that? Isn't that how people are supposed to promote themselves? Giving out free, relevant stuff in the hopes you'll want to know more about them?" I mean, isn't that how ethical self-promotion is supposed to work? Join a community, obey their norms, contribute, and if they like you, they'll follow up? How do you expect it to work? <insert caveat about how you have no reason to believe this experience, since the sensitivity of the issue requires me to use a throwaway and hide her identity as well>
55555 5y ago
They often have pimps who run the social media marketing.
lucb1e 5y ago
I was concluding the opposite: all that abuse is probably because it's only a few bucks a day with advertising. Without the abuse they'd probably rarely get anything.
tsss 5y ago
$145 a month just for being born a woman and taking a few pictures. Basically free money. Who wouldn't do it?
zibzab 5y ago
Some subs now ban posters that are on OF regardless of the post content.

benrbray 5y ago

That's two or three weeks of groceries if you're on a budget. It can make a huge difference for some people -- especially the type of people who don't feel like they have any options but sex work. It's hard to blame them since OF is a relatively safe way to do it, too.

warent 5y ago
exactly. For people in HN who probably make at least 6 figures on average, it's easy to forget that for many people, an extra $1.5k a year reflects a significant pay percent increase, like 5% raise.
- lostinquebec 5y ago
  And the most humanising 5%, the 5% that you use to either keep your head above water, or buy a tiny luxury you never do, like a meal out or even a steak to cook at home. I lived by myself on welfare in the last 12 months of university, and my rent was $175 per week, welfare was $175 per week, and I had $3,000 saved to last the year. So I lived on effectively $100 a week after rent and electricity.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- rubyn00bie 5y ago
  +11 There was a period of time my rent was more than my wage $725/month vs $700. I was subsisting off of unlocking phones for people (who those mostly didn't want to do it themselves or didn't trust themselves), dumpster[1] pizza, and the ~$200 a month extra I was able to make ($20 an unlock) was my utilities and non-dumpster-pizza food money. [1] Literally, from a dumpster. Most local pizza places aren't run by douchebags and tend to put the leftovers in their own bag/box for the poor to consume. I truly appreciated it (much love to Hot Lips in particular), as Pizza was a luxury way beyond anything I could afford at the time.
- Aerroon 5y ago
  And if you consider other countries that could be far more than 5%.
CheezeIt 5y ago
No options? They could deliver food for DoorDash.
- ViViDboarder 5y ago
  If you have a car.
  - CheezeIt 5y ago
    I’m eating at a Panda Express right now. They have a big sign up offering $15.6/hr for their lowest level hire, with other positions open, too.

agumonkey 5y ago

That's because they push spam to try to make the rumored 1000s a month.

stbtrax 5y ago

which somehow encourages other users to look at their user profile So, hinting that they're a woman on reddit?

JKCalhoun 5y ago
Are we not past that?

meowface 5y ago

Note that although OF claims to do (or may even actually do) identity verification, some of these may be bots using other people's photos and may be components of larger automated spam campaigns/platforms. $100/month multiplied by a large N can be good money. And a small percentage of the bot accounts might make a lot more.

saurik 5y ago

> I can't believe I've been subjected to the level of abuse I'm getting from people who are on average making less than $145 a month. Can you unpack this sentence and explain what it is about "people who are on average making less than $145 a month" that makes the abuse you are getting from them specifically unbelievable? (edit: Wow, -3 after only 20 minutes?... I guess people on HN apparently really hate the idea that people who happen to be poorer than us deserve respect. I think that's the fastest downvoting I have gotten, even contrasted with when I say negative things about Apple, Signal, or Rust. I highly recommend thinking hard about what it means to believe that it is ever appropriate to speak with as much disdain about people who are struggling as Quequao just did... it was frankly downright shameful.)

gostsamo 5y ago
Such people would not bother to put so much effort in spam and abuse for a reward of $136.
MrStonedOne 5y ago
You're getting downvoted because you made a bad faith assumption in a way that comes off as hostile. > I guess people on HN apparently really hate the idea that people who happen to be poorer than us deserve respect. They don't, they hate people who make that assumption.
- rualca 5y ago
  > You're getting downvoted because you made a bad faith assumption in a way that comes off as hostile. I confirm that was precisely the reason why I downvoted that post. Not only does that post indicate the poster failed to read and understand OP's post but the poster's comment suggests the misunderstanding was disingenuous and intended to put up a strawman designed to gratuitously attack OP with pseudo-moralist arguments.
jcims 5y ago
The point isn’t that they are ‘only’ making $145 a month. It’s that people are willing to be abusive to other humans over it. It’s like those annoying relatives that are willing to throw away any authenticity in their relationship with you in order to hustle their shitty MLM product that is making them next to nothing.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

pseudo0 5y ago

Maybe they're thinking about the thousands of dollars they aren't (but could be) making rather than the $145 they are? From that delusional perspective, you're costing them untold potential income.

ptr2voidStar 5y ago
The human mind is indeed fascinating

formerly_proven 5y ago

Due to stigmatization policies they can't use the normal ad channels to advertise their patreon, so it only makes sense to go the "organic content" route. And from their PoV they are sticking to the rules of the relevant subreddits, yet still get their content deleted or banned. I don't find it surprising people get upset when viewing the situation from their side.

graeme 5y ago
I’m a moderator. Very likely you’re wrong. Anything systematic like that is probably generated by a system where someone wrote a script of common phrases and handed it off to low wage labour to write. Highly doubt any actual creator is doing that. The payoff of untargeted spam is so low! Only makes sense if it’s outsourced at scale like any garden variety spam ring. The usual and profitable way people promote their onlyfans on reddit is by posting pictures and videos.
- ProjectArcturis 5y ago
  I think OP was referring to cases like OF creators posting to places like r/roastme where thirsty redditors can see that they're hot, check out their profile, and see the pinned link to their OFs. That kind of thing is not likely to be automated.
- OnlyFriendsThwy 5y ago
  How systematic are you talking? I happen to know an OF creator who promotes herself that way and she doesn't do anything in an automatic fashion, just creates her own submissions to subreddits and gets burned by such moderators. I happen to agree with formerly_proven . When my OF friend described how she submitted topical stuff to subreddits in the hopes that others would follow up on her profile, I was like, "what's wrong with that? Isn't that how people are supposed to promote themselves? Giving out free, relevant stuff in the hopes you'll want to know more about them?" I mean, isn't that how ethical self-promotion is supposed to work? Join a community, obey their norms, contribute, and if they like you, they'll follow up? How do you expect it to work? <insert caveat about how you have no reason to believe this experience, since the sensitivity of the issue requires me to use a throwaway and hide her identity as well>

55555 5y ago

They often have pimps who run the social media marketing.

lucb1e 5y ago

I was concluding the opposite: all that abuse is probably because it's only a few bucks a day with advertising. Without the abuse they'd probably rarely get anything.

tsss 5y ago

$145 a month just for being born a woman and taking a few pictures. Basically free money. Who wouldn't do it?

zibzab 5y ago

Some subs now ban posters that are on OF regardless of the post content.