8 ms·

Does anyone think this was a failed pivot from the p0rn and the backlash was so great that they backpedaled? It actually reminds me of Ebay. Ebay became big wi

by cletus 5y ago

Does anyone think this was a failed pivot from the p0rn and the backlash was so great that they backpedaled? It actually reminds me of Ebay. Ebay became big with online auctions but as soon as they did they seemed to want to no longer be in the auction business. Instead they wanted to be in the online retail business. Maybe because there was more money per customer. Maybe because online retail was larger. Personally I always found Ebay's retail move to be weird and off-brand with a subpar user experience. Something about this Onlyfans move just doesn't sit right. Like who were the banks or payment processors that supposedly forced this? I haven't seen anyone claim responsibility (officially or not).

coderintherye 5y ago
No. They call out the specific banks here: https://www.ft.com/content/7b8ce71c-a87a-440e-9f3d-58069ca0480b https://www.ft.com/content/7b8ce71c-a87a-440e-9f3d-58069ca04...
- mastersummoner 5y ago
  Unfortunately that's behind a paywall.
  - purerandomness 5y ago
    Install a browser extension that bypasses paywalls, like [0] [0] https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clean https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clea...
  - iso8859-1 5y ago
    https://archive.is/Aqx8x https://archive.is/Aqx8x
    - stemlord 5y ago
      Interesting they say they were hiring hundreds of new mods to enforce the no porn policy, wonder how many employees theyre now un-hiring?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- throwawaylolx 5y ago
  >OnlyFans declined to name its current banking partners, citing a desire to improve relations. Sounds like they requested a new deal in exchange for not naming them.
  - PrincessJas 5y ago
    Oh no, the epic redditors will be angry at them! Lol, like they care. Worst. Blackmail. Ever.
bingohbangoh 5y ago
I suspect OnlyFans cobbled together a "honeypot" deal. This would explain why Pornhub, etc. lost their payment processing but OnlyFans feels confident they won't.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- dillondoyle 5y ago
  Not sure what that means? Like to 'catch' CP posters? From what I've read the payment processing is mostly charge back %s, mixed with religious driven activism against sex work.
  - throwawaylolx 5y ago
    >mixed with religious driven activism against sex work. Is there any evidence that this played any significant part or is it just a conspiracy theory? The CEO said: >“The change in policy, we had no choice — the short answer is banks,” >Stokely claimed OnlyFans had been unfairly targeted by media reports into “incidents of illegal content” that failed to mention how porn-free social media platforms grapple with similar issues. “Banks read the same media as everyone else,” he said. >Stokely said he would “absolutely” welcome porn back were the banking environment to change.
    - judge2020 5y ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28304164 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28304164
      - throwawaylolx 5y ago
        That's just a link dump. Is there any evidence that their campaign is linked to the decisions made by OF?
        5y ago
skohan 5y ago
If anything I thought maybe it was a publicity stunt.
- toofy 5y ago
  I could see why this might be your first thought, but I suspect this move might have hurt OF more than helping, simply because most of the people who formerly/currently call OF home have now lost any sense of stability. Tho, as we’ve seen in the past, network effect will likely play a huge part in most of the content creators staying with OF. However I just can’t imagine the feeling of safety/permanence in platform choice will return for most of them.
  - skohan 5y ago
    I don't know if they have much to worry about. Where would those creators move? Is there any even remotely comparable platform in terms of user-base and pop-culture penetration? If you were worried about stability would you really feel better moving to some unknown upstart competitor?
    - toofy 5y ago
      Yeah, that’s why I brought up the network effect that OF brings. I’m sure OF will be fine, I just hope they feel it a bit because this has to have shaken the foundations for a lot people who relied on them.
    - xmprt 5y ago
      Creators have been doing this for years before OnlyFans and can continue to do it even if OnlyFans dies today. OnlyFans definitely made things a lot easier, especially for their audience, but I don't think we should paint creators like they're helpless without OF. It's not like Youtube where people have become dependent on it after almost 2 decades of use.
    - lostgame 5y ago
      >> Where would those creators move? Chaturbate has existed for time, existed through this; was the OnlyFans before OnlyFans, and continues to seem to thrive. Simple answer.
bpodgursky 5y ago
No, I think they wanted to pressure payment providers to relent, by redirecting public fury that way. Seems like it worked.
polynomial 5y ago
Etsy would be another fine example: starting off as a platform for artisanal, craft and maker communities, then at scale opening the floodgates to become a market for mass produced factory knockoffs and junk, infuriating and adversely affecting their original user base.
bigdollopenergy 5y ago
Doubt it. This IMO is probably the best PR maneuver ever conceived. I doubt they ever planned to do it. The BBC was just about to release a long-researched exposé about all the moderation issues they have and how child porn and abuse were going unchecked on their platform. This was a supposed to be a huge deal that could destroy them if the media at large rallied around that story like they did with Pornhub. By making this announcement before it came out they stole the narrative and switched the focus away from that problem and towards the issue of what are all the sex workers going to do when they suddenly lose their income and also just how crazy the announcement was in of itself. They did it with perfect timing and drummed up such a fuss with such a wild and seemingly out of nowhere change that when that article actually dropped, it was merely background noise and not the primary focus of media coverage. The media likes to hyper-focus on issues for a short period of time (with a few exceptions, trump/covid/amazon being a few) and then quickly move on regardless of whether the issue/story has finished or resolved itself in anyway. Which is what will likely happen here, OnlyFans will likely make it through this mostly unscathed and with a ton of publicity.
- Ansil849 5y ago
  > The BBC was just about to drop a long-researched exposé Source?
  - bigdollopenergy 5y ago
    It's been an ongoing story ramping up since May, but this I believe is the main story with all the research they did. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58255865 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58255865
    - Ansil849 5y ago
      Ah, I now realize you meant 'drop' as in 'release', I misread the context and thought you meant 'drop' as in 'abandon'. My mistake!
    - miracle2k 5y ago
      Oh god, what typically terrible, tendentious journalism. This is the kind of article that tries to dish up dozens of random allegations, intermixing them in strange ways, hoping that what sticks with the reader is a general sense of wrong-doing. Among other things, it tries to imply that Only Fans somehow allows "big" accounts to post child porn multiple times with a warning, including by misusing the world "illegal". In reality, and pending evidence to the contrary, it is instead reasonable to assume that Only Fans will let people get away with a warning for a terms of service violation, which is entirely a different thing.

by cletus 5y ago

coderintherye 5y ago

No. They call out the specific banks here: https://www.ft.com/content/7b8ce71c-a87a-440e-9f3d-58069ca0480b https://www.ft.com/content/7b8ce71c-a87a-440e-9f3d-58069ca04...

mastersummoner 5y ago
Unfortunately that's behind a paywall.
- purerandomness 5y ago
  Install a browser extension that bypasses paywalls, like [0] [0] https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clean https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clea...
- iso8859-1 5y ago
  https://archive.is/Aqx8x https://archive.is/Aqx8x
  - stemlord 5y ago
    Interesting they say they were hiring hundreds of new mods to enforce the no porn policy, wonder how many employees theyre now un-hiring?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
throwawaylolx 5y ago
>OnlyFans declined to name its current banking partners, citing a desire to improve relations. Sounds like they requested a new deal in exchange for not naming them.
- PrincessJas 5y ago
  Oh no, the epic redditors will be angry at them! Lol, like they care. Worst. Blackmail. Ever.

bingohbangoh 5y ago

I suspect OnlyFans cobbled together a "honeypot" deal. This would explain why Pornhub, etc. lost their payment processing but OnlyFans feels confident they won't.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
dillondoyle 5y ago
Not sure what that means? Like to 'catch' CP posters? From what I've read the payment processing is mostly charge back %s, mixed with religious driven activism against sex work.
- throwawaylolx 5y ago
  >mixed with religious driven activism against sex work. Is there any evidence that this played any significant part or is it just a conspiracy theory? The CEO said: >“The change in policy, we had no choice — the short answer is banks,” >Stokely claimed OnlyFans had been unfairly targeted by media reports into “incidents of illegal content” that failed to mention how porn-free social media platforms grapple with similar issues. “Banks read the same media as everyone else,” he said. >Stokely said he would “absolutely” welcome porn back were the banking environment to change.
  - judge2020 5y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28304164 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28304164
    - throwawaylolx 5y ago
      That's just a link dump. Is there any evidence that their campaign is linked to the decisions made by OF?
      - 5y ago

skohan 5y ago

If anything I thought maybe it was a publicity stunt.

toofy 5y ago
I could see why this might be your first thought, but I suspect this move might have hurt OF more than helping, simply because most of the people who formerly/currently call OF home have now lost any sense of stability. Tho, as we’ve seen in the past, network effect will likely play a huge part in most of the content creators staying with OF. However I just can’t imagine the feeling of safety/permanence in platform choice will return for most of them.
- skohan 5y ago
  I don't know if they have much to worry about. Where would those creators move? Is there any even remotely comparable platform in terms of user-base and pop-culture penetration? If you were worried about stability would you really feel better moving to some unknown upstart competitor?
  - toofy 5y ago
    Yeah, that’s why I brought up the network effect that OF brings. I’m sure OF will be fine, I just hope they feel it a bit because this has to have shaken the foundations for a lot people who relied on them.
  - xmprt 5y ago
    Creators have been doing this for years before OnlyFans and can continue to do it even if OnlyFans dies today. OnlyFans definitely made things a lot easier, especially for their audience, but I don't think we should paint creators like they're helpless without OF. It's not like Youtube where people have become dependent on it after almost 2 decades of use.
  - lostgame 5y ago
    >> Where would those creators move? Chaturbate has existed for time, existed through this; was the OnlyFans before OnlyFans, and continues to seem to thrive. Simple answer.

bpodgursky 5y ago

No, I think they wanted to pressure payment providers to relent, by redirecting public fury that way. Seems like it worked.

polynomial 5y ago

Etsy would be another fine example: starting off as a platform for artisanal, craft and maker communities, then at scale opening the floodgates to become a market for mass produced factory knockoffs and junk, infuriating and adversely affecting their original user base.

bigdollopenergy 5y ago

Doubt it. This IMO is probably the best PR maneuver ever conceived. I doubt they ever planned to do it. The BBC was just about to release a long-researched exposé about all the moderation issues they have and how child porn and abuse were going unchecked on their platform. This was a supposed to be a huge deal that could destroy them if the media at large rallied around that story like they did with Pornhub. By making this announcement before it came out they stole the narrative and switched the focus away from that problem and towards the issue of what are all the sex workers going to do when they suddenly lose their income and also just how crazy the announcement was in of itself. They did it with perfect timing and drummed up such a fuss with such a wild and seemingly out of nowhere change that when that article actually dropped, it was merely background noise and not the primary focus of media coverage. The media likes to hyper-focus on issues for a short period of time (with a few exceptions, trump/covid/amazon being a few) and then quickly move on regardless of whether the issue/story has finished or resolved itself in anyway. Which is what will likely happen here, OnlyFans will likely make it through this mostly unscathed and with a ton of publicity.

Ansil849 5y ago
> The BBC was just about to drop a long-researched exposé Source?
- bigdollopenergy 5y ago
  It's been an ongoing story ramping up since May, but this I believe is the main story with all the research they did. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58255865 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58255865
  - Ansil849 5y ago
    Ah, I now realize you meant 'drop' as in 'release', I misread the context and thought you meant 'drop' as in 'abandon'. My mistake!
  - miracle2k 5y ago
    Oh god, what typically terrible, tendentious journalism. This is the kind of article that tries to dish up dozens of random allegations, intermixing them in strange ways, hoping that what sticks with the reader is a general sense of wrong-doing. Among other things, it tries to imply that Only Fans somehow allows "big" accounts to post child porn multiple times with a warning, including by misusing the world "illegal". In reality, and pending evidence to the contrary, it is instead reasonable to assume that Only Fans will let people get away with a warning for a terms of service violation, which is entirely a different thing.