Gary Meadows is the webmaster of aussieangel.com. YNOT News will occassionally feature non-North American webmasters in an attempt to provide diversity to the enitity that is the World Wide Web.Gary Meadows is the webmaster of aussieangel.com. YNOT News will occassionally feature non-North American webmasters in an attempt to provide diversity to the enitity that is the World Wide Web. It is important to get the perspective of webmasters from around the globe and share their experiences. As of press time, the Australian government is drafting scary censorship laws. In the South Australian province, legislation is being considered that would give the police the power to deem what is pernicious and immoral. If you are interested in reading more about this situation, read this article.

YNOT: What drew you to the industry? What type of work were you doing before you started in the biz?
Meadows: Freedom … Not only from the financial burdens of everyday life, but the freedom of expression. The freedom to put together a web site such as Aussie Angel, and be able to make it say whatever we want it to say. “Aussie Angel” puts a message out to the world that there is some real beauty to behold in the land down under. As we are all probably aware, there is strict government legislation in place now, meaning we cannot host adult content within Australia. This caused alot of Australian adult sites to pack up and take their hosting dollars offshore, but they can’t take away our freedom.

YNOT: What type of work were you doing before you started in the biz? When did you start?
Meadows: My web development agency has been developing high quality web sites for the business sector since early 1999. Prior to that we were an ISP, and before starting in the Internet industry I served in the Australian Army. We still work with many businesses, developing and nurturing their own web presence as we do our own, but are getting more and more enquiries about adult web sites today. However, late in 2000 we met up with Angel, and the opportunity arose to develop her web site under contract. We now consider our future in the online adult industry a permanent one.

YNOT: What types of sites and/or targeted business did you start with?
Meadows: We initially had a range of small, personal sites that we had done for friends. We tried a few AVS systems, but the intention was more to drive traffic to these sites so that they could see our work. We weren’t interested in the money that could be made at that stage. We have always kept the hardcore content locked away though, requiring visitors to at least join as a “member” to access these parts.

YNOT: Did you already have friends in the business?
Meadows: None who were working in the industry. But as Angel’s site is becoming more widely advertised, it isn’t taking long to make some interesting aquaintances with a few big names in the industry. My ICQ list now features some of the names that I have always looked up to for their work.

YNOT: Give us your thoughts on how easy or difficult it was for you to get started.
Meadows: Working with Angel, it was a foregone conclusion that it wouldn’t be hard to build a web site that would work. And having listened to the views of many other adult webmasters in the lead up to launching the site, I would have to say it was fairly easy to get started. We chose globill-systems.com as our membership service provider, and they certainly provide the assistance required to successfully launch an adult site. It’s important to learn from the experiences of others, and then in turn to share your own. If you can help someone out with a problem, I say just do it. The time invested in doing so can often reap benefits that wouldn’t normally have come your way.

YNOT: Where did you begin gathering info about the business?

YNOT: Any interesting stories about the business that you’d like to share?
Meadows: We had done up a web site for a friend who was at work one day and overheard some colleagues discussing another website that was linked directly to hers. Who knows if any of these guys had taken the time to visit the Links area of that other website, but if they had they would certainly have seen a different side to one of their work mates! It just goes to show, you never know what you might find out there, including “the girl next door”.

YNOT: What do you think about the recent clamp down in Austarlia regarding the censorship laws?
Meadows: I don’t think the Government have thought this out very well at all. It has served no purpose other than to send developers offshore to find their hosting. I remember a few emails that came out on a developer’s mailing list (that I was a member of on the 1/1/2000), and some webmaster’s were simply lodging “complaints” about other webmaster’s website for the fun of it. Comparing complaint ID numbers to see who got the “good” ones. The media picked up a story on one particular site, reporting that “Government legislation closes down sex site”. That particular website was back up a few hours later on a US host. If the Government actually concentrated their efforts on removing the obviously inappropriate content, and the offending publishers of the illegal stuff, they could have a positive effect.

YNOT: Does it scare you that the police in the South Australian province may have the power to determine what is deemed pernicious?
Meadows: It does. The police could begin prosecuting a “suspect” before a formal classification is actually handed down on the content in question. It could be very damaging to an individual or an organization when you consider that the decision on a particular day may be influenced on the ‘mood’ of a particular polie officer. When the Office of Film and Literature Classification (this organization’s rating system establishes the guidelines on Internet content housed on Australian servers) had trouble classifying some content, therefore, how is a content provider supposed to anticipate how the local police department will view it? The whole situation is scary, yes. If the Government actually concentrated their efforts on removing the obviously inappropriate content, and the offending publishers of the illegal stuff, they could have a positive effect.

YNOT: Anything else to add about this situation?
Meadows: Let’s protect the children. Keep them safe from material that they don’t need to see at their young and impressionable ages. But let’s also allow a mature adult the freedom to choose what they do and don’t view or publish, within the confines of a more sensible law on the matter, without having a Big Brother stand over us casting moral judgement on our actions. I am currently working in closely with the developers of Blue Binder. This particular piece of software is an adult web site browser, with an online database of submitted sites. I believe this browser will present the online adult industry with something that can be seen as an acceptable way of presenting our content. I have made many suggestions to the developers, one of which includes forming a “black list” of sites that users of the browser have stumbled across that are not recommended due to unsavoury content. I wouldn’t like to see it become an avenue for webmasters to try and clamber up over each other either by lodging false reports to have other sites black listed. Rather, to see a stand alone browser that features quality and respectable adult web sites. The developers of blue binder are very interested in receiving feedback from other members of the industry, and I would strongly urge each and every webmaster to contact them with a view to sharing any information of making any suggestions in order to ensure this browser is going to benefit us all.

YNOT: Do you feel like you have mastered, in terms of marketing concepts, what some of your American webmaster counterparts have done?
Meadows: I have spent alot of time sitting in on discussions on adult webmaster forums, listening and learning to marketing and conversion tips. I have poured over a very wide range of sites looking at design and operability. I have tried to gather a good basis of knowledge from both the viewer and the developer’s point of view, and would like to think that I have now reached a level of mastery in line with that of my American counterparts. But the “Internet” is America, and I believe I still have a lot to learn. Whether or not I can put the skills I have learned to good use, by successfully keeping aussieangel.com on the market and following it up with the upcoming aussievoyeur.com and its own network of smaller “Aussie” sites, remains to be seen.

YNOT: What changes would you like to see made in the adult Internet industry?
Meadows: Speaking from an Australian perspective, I’d like to see wider acceptance of adult web sites. Consumers can walk into their local newsagent and buy magazines that contain more revealing material than we are allowed to publish to a web site hosted on Australian web servers. At the end of the day all the Government are doing is sending developers overseas to source their hosting. They are not “cleaning up the Internet”, as one would presume is their intention.

YNOT: What do you love about the adult Internet industry?
Meadows: The ability to work at something I enjoy doing. We’re all faced with many circumstances in life that we have no control over. But when the opportunity arises to be spending your “working hours” doing something that you enjoy, then who could complain? Knowing that others appreciate your work is a real bonus. I have received some very flattering comments about the Aussie Angel website, and hope this success carries over to other projects we undertake.

YNOT: What do you dislike?
Meadows: Without a doubt, the web sites that exploit children. We’ve recently heard reports of the uncovering of a large international ring of people who were involved in the publication of hundreds of thousands of pictures of young children. This is sickening. Let’s keep the content legal.

YNOT: Where do you see yourself in one year? Five years?
Meadows: Over the next 12 months I plan to put alot of time into further developing Aussie Angel, bringing online the changes or features that subscribers are asking to see. Angel is putting alot into this website, and I intend to make it happen for her. I’ll also be raising www.aussievoyeur.com. At the moment we’re simply gathering content for that, to turn it into a voyeur site that visitors will find irresistable. I aim to tie all of our efforts up into the Aussie Voyeur name eventually…making it a working site in its own right, but also a stepping stone to many sites featuring some of Australia’s sexiest women. The sort of project that will take a few years to perfect. We’re certainly going to be around then.

YNOT: What are your thoughts on the future of the adult Internet industry?
Meadows: Following what I hope will be a miraculous resurgence of investors who are prepared to take the time and assess each site on its merits, I think the days of hosting specific paid banners will return, and visitors to a website will not only be able to enjoy the content on offer there, but also some quality advertising that doesn’t lead to 20 popup windows and nothing relating to what they went looking for. A high quality, popular website is a piece of prime real estate that developers and advertisers alike need to start making more appealing to their audience.

YNOT: If you had one bit advice you could offer new Webmasters, what would it be?
Meadows: Keep it clean, legal and focused. It’s as simple as that. Make the journey through your web site an enjoyable one for your visitors, and they will return.