`07*** Quoting Darryl Perry from a message to Scott Adams ***`07

DP> On 07-16-05, Scott Adams said...
DP>  
SA>  -=> Quoting Darryl Perry to All <=-
SA> 
SA>  DP> I am considering opening a new BBS, one that is adult oriented.  I
SA>  DP> know that there are alot of long-time sysops who read this echo, so I
SA>  DP> thought I'd pick your brains on the right-way/wrong-way of doing such
SA>  DP> thing.  I want to protect myself as much as possible.
SA> 
SA>  DP> I've been sysoping for 15 years, and except for my first 2-3 years of
SA>  DP> doing so, I never offered any adult material.  I was just flying unde
SA>  DP> the radar then, didn't give a lot of attention to the news about the
SA>  DP> Rusty and Eddie debacle.
SA> 
SA>  DP> Anyways, what are your thoughts on the best way to ensure that all th
SA>  DP> users are of appropriate age and such?
SA> 
SA>      Well problem is the market.  Is there enough demand just for
SA>      this niche.  A decade ago I'd say yes.  If your going for
SA>      mostly adult folks they tend to be on no bbses in the
SA>      first place like porn sites :)  Its clear the day of specialized
SA>      boards is gone.  To meet the low supply of users one must
SA>      diversify into general areas.  Course with that said.  Give
SA>      it a try.  Who knows.  You could always advertise in adult
SA>      oriented places like adult porn sites or adult magazines.
SA> 
SA>      Personally I never covered the stuff.  Never liked much of it.
SA>      See one movie see them all kinda thing :).  I specialize
SA>      in other areas.  I have covered adult echos though but those
SA>      are tame compared to some out there.
DP> I agree, that's why I wouldn't ordinarily be carrying any such thing.


Yes.  Theres always a market for it.  Since the net charges I'm sure folks
will come to you for free stuff :)

Course I rather deal in the REAL thing :)

SA>      of age.  There might be porn site type verifiers out there for
SA>      bbses as well.  The honor sysem is always out there but you
SA>      can cover yourself with a good disclaimer or two on the board.
SA> 
SA>      Legal wise as long as you have enough disclaimer that the user
SA>      says he is 18 then that's fine.  Course you should check with
SA>      your state laws and a lawyer if you have one.  If you carry
SA>      just plain old porn then you should not even be cared abo
SA>      to get into trouble.  Its when you carry things like child porn
SA>      which I know you won't or som ultra stuff (rape, animals, gore, etc.)
SA>      You might get attention.  I do recall the Rusty stuff.  Boy that's
SA>      been a long time.  I forgot the details though.  

DP> I don't expect to carry any porn, except for text files and stories.
DP> plan isn't to really have a porn site, but rather a user interactive s

That'll work.


SA>      You won't be able to get away with charging like bbses did
SA>      a decade ago for porn.  Why should a user pay you money when
SA>      they can go to any porn site for free.  No.  It should be
SA>      unique stuff like exclusive material, adult cartoons or adult
SA>      oriented echomail areas that are more fun than spam oriented
SA>      Newsgroups.

DP> I don't expect to charge, except for one way of insuring proper user a
DP> One suggestion I heard about was to have the user mail in a check for
DP> Have all the same address information on the check as the user account
DP> the BBS, and have the user sign the check.  I would hold on to the che
DP> never cash it.   However, with this age of identity theft, I don't see
DP> as being an option.  We prolly can't even have them send in copies of
DP> DL's any more.

Yep.  Some just mail in copy of the driver's license.  Theres a util for my
state that I used to verify license # and name.  I used that for a few
years. 


--- Fringe BBS