Thursday, December 6, 2007

THE END OF MELANIE THE SIZE QUEEN! SHE APOLOGIZES AND EXPLAINS...

It started by accident. I was just surfing about the web when I discovered a link to the "Large Penis Support Group", a discussion board that I assumed to be the phallic equivalent of Borat or something. I quickly learned it was the real deal--thousands of threads discussing matters of penis length and girth.

That was an interesting discovery. I know that guys are obsessed with penis size, so I can't say I was totally surprised by the subject matter. I was however, shocked at the level of participation and the audience size of the forum. When I first visited the forum, there were around 35,000 active members and a total of over 100,000 registered members. About 20 members were logged in at that moment.

Mental wheels turning, I started doing a little Googling for penis-related information. There is obviously a huge interest in huge penises. While doing some cursory investigation, I noticed LPSG results in the first few pages of results for a few different queries. That's when I decided it was time to see if a collection of guys who are nuts over potato-sized nuts might represent a real opportunity for fun and profit.

The fun part? Hey, I like large penises. I figured I would have a great time and would probably run into a few opportunities to indulge in a personal fantasy of sorts.

The profit part? Any forum with that kind of membership and activity can undoubtedly create a quick flow of targeted traffic. That's usually the hardest part about making money online--getting the prospects to the pitch. The LPSG seemed like fertile ground for a forum marketing experiment.

In order to make a stab at this, I was going to need a few things...

A NAME: I needed a name. I decided I was more likely to grab fast attention if I kept my femininity intact, so I quickly Googled a list of the sexiest female names. The top entries seemed a little obvious, so I went with a monicker that finished among the top 10 on multiple lists: Melanie. For some reason, I decided I should go with a foreign surname. Russian seemed like as good an idea as any other, so I did a search for Russian surnames. Tarasov hopped right out at me. Say hello to Melanie Tarasov.

AN EMAIL ADDRESS: Gmail was the obvious choice. I decided to go with something involving the new name and the particular subject matter under exploration. Grow4Melanie was available. I thought it was sufficiently "penis".

A SITE: I needed somewhere to direct that traffic. I thought a full-scale website would make the process a little too obvious, so I decided to create a blog at Blogger.com. I used a URL that echoed the email address. It took about five minutes to create a simple blog and to customize it a little bit. I started with one general "I like big penises" post to "hold space". After I took a look around the forum a little more carefully, I thought, I could tweak it as necessary. Plus, it didn't make sense to dive in too deep without having monetization methods in place.

FORUM MEMBERSHIP: I set up an account lickety-split. Mentioned "size queen", etc. Picked an avatar by Googling for "100x100 avatar". It was a face shot of an animated character from "Anastasia". I thought that went well with the Russian name. Of course, I linked to my blog from my forum sig. and within my member bio.
MONETIZATION: This was a hit-and-run project, so I didn't do extensive research. I read some posts, got the feel for the forum, used a modicum of common sense and determined a direction for the blog and its monetization. Adsense was out of the question due to adult content, so I tossed up an AVNads skyscraper. I registered with an adult affiliate program that included a few large penis sites. I also signed up with a penis enlargement affiliate program and found four or five PE products on Clickbank to promote. I did a write up with links to one of the CB projects and put it on the sidebar along with some of the PE affiliate stuff. I didn't straight-promote the porn in the sidebar. Instead, I decided to use their content samples (linked to tours, of course) as imagery for my blog posts and occasional "in post" linking. I put a banner or a button ad for the PE product at the bottom of each post.

Here's why I chose what I chose: Although the member base wasn't necessarily (at least not admittedly) interested in PE products, I noticed that the forum was getting a lot of attention from readers who weren't members. I could only assume that a lot of those eyes were part of bodies attached to smaller penises with owners interested in enlargement. I did know, based on a slew of IMs I received from members and other factors, that there were plenty of dudes in the forum interested in watching porn involving large penises. I also discovered that some "smaller" men were about, looking to be mocked/humiliated for their perceived shortcomings.

CONTENT ADJUSTMENT: I could've just posted occasional messages in the forum, hoping to get a little curiosity traffic and using them to boost the blog's backlink count. I could've worked at becoming a favorite member and developing a little cache. Those would both be long-term endeavors. I wanted some fast action. The fastest route would be controversy. I did some digging in the forum and quickly learned that "small penis humiliation" was a topic that stirred controversy like few others (aside from circumcision--they are always fighting about foreskin in that joint). So, Melanie the size fan became Melanie the hater of small penises. I was a lightning rod waiting to happen.

It requires a bit of delicacy to make this kind of thing work, though. If I waltzed in, said "I hate guys with small penises and hope they're forced to be slaves of huge men and the women who worship size", I'd be immediately disregarded as a faker or a spammer. I decided to take a slightly more subtle approach.

I churned out a few quick blog posts that were pro-size and anti-small. They were tame by many small penis humilation enthusiast's standards, no doubt, but they left no ambiguity regarding Melanie's opinions. Just to be a little different, I almost completely avoided profanity. It was as close to PG-13 small penis humiiation as you could get. I thought that made it seem somehow more sincere and a little different. In some ways, I think it made the whole thing seem more cold and heartless (read: even more controversial).

I was ready to begin in earnest. Little did I know that I was going to hit a minor jackpot.

MY SIMPLE INTRODUCTION: I made a few other posts around the forum, but it turns out that the simplest one would create the biggest stir. It was a simple introduction explaining my appreciation for large male genitalia. It also served to put a link for the blog on the board. Seven words. Bigger is Better--and that's a fact!

It took members about two seconds to follow that link. Immediate traffic. Little did I know, however, that I would end receiving over 1,000 unique visits as a direct result of that thread within three days! Most of that traffic, of course, didn't come from members. They came from the giant mass of otherwise-silent onlookers. The thread was growing and getting attention, it was a magnet for the curious.

My blog content pissed people off. The ads in the blogs pissed people off. The fun part, though, is that I really didn't have to spam the forum to make it happen. My actual remarks within the forum were, relatively speaking, tame and inconsequential. I wasn't spamming anyone! I didn't make excessive calls for attention to the site. Seven little words in a signature. I was in a great position to argue with a long line of self-proclaimed penis-toters. So, I carried on the discussion as long as possible.

That's really all I could do. This was a quick ploy and I knew it would play out in a hurry. Massive flames burn out quickly, after all. So, I kept it up. I posted "my photos"--culled from an online source and consistent with the little personal information I had passed along. I played innocent. I was confrontational and snotty enough to enable the flame war while being demure enough to encourage its continuation. I received an onslaught of IMs from guys who wanted to get on camera and show me their junk, too. Weird stuff.

The weirdness led to some great traffic, though. The big question was whether or not that traffic would convert.

Today, the number of unique hits had exceeded 1,000 and I decided to shut the project down.

THE BENJAMINS: I did make money off of the project. Not enough to get rich, of course, but enough to justify the total time spent on the experiment.

The PE stuff didn't attract many hits and didn't produce a single conversion. No money there.

The ClickBank stuff? I snagged a few sales.

I don't have AVNad data yet, but I'm betting it adds up to a few cents at most.

The adult sites, marketed a little more surreptitiously, did better. Signups plus recurring subscription commissions. I'll be contributing earnings to an AIDS-related charity.

My total time expenditure was a little under six hours. I was able to handle this project a few minutes at a time, here and there.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE LPSG: This is an active community of both gay and straight guys who are interested in large penises, guys of all proclivities who have them, a few women who really are single-mindedly obsessed with size, a few decent people who just found some friendly conversation, and many more, shall we say, fictional participants with phallic preoccupations. The homosexual content level (obvious and found in subtext) was surprisingly high to me. I found the place very accepting of most alternative perspectives on sexuality (mine excluded). Overall, it's sort of a neat board with smarter-than-average membership.

APOLOGIA: Yes, I basically lied about my stance on penis size and misrepresented my true identity. Do I feel bad about that? I'll get back to that in a minute, but I want to outline some of the guilt mitigators first...

First, it gave those who feel that disdain for the small-penised is wrong a platform to express their perspective. Second, it gave those who do have kinks in the sph direction an outlet. Third, I'm relatively certain (based on examining forum contents) that LPSG is a hotbed for fakery, anyway. If it's not an expectation for those folks, it should be. Fourth, I'm relatively sure that some of the people who argued with me enjoyed the opportunity to do so. Fifth, I admitted the errant nature of the viewpoint expressed in this blog's previous incarnation in my final forum post. Sixth, I think that most of the people who did get upset will be happy for their "I told you so" opportunity. Seventh, it's hard to feel too bad about being "Melanie the size queen" when you're reading messages from self-proclaimed 19 year-olds with allegedly 14-inch penises who claim to be banging everyone in a ten-mile radius since they were 11 years old. Eighth, I am donating earnings from this project to an AIDS-related charity. Ninth, I got tons of reaction from members who did enjoy my perspective, taking it in stride as part of the obvious exaggeration it was. Finally, I think many people there are laid back enough to get a kick out of this whole process.

On the other hand, I think I did offend some people. When I created this size queen persona, I assumed the material was so over the top that people would immediately interpret it as exaggeration for effect. I thought it was obvious hyperbole and that no one could take it too seriously. It was, I believed, completely outlandish.

Apparently, some people did read it as legit and offensive. I thought it was caricature. Some perceived it as portrait. That's unfortunate and I do sincerely apologize to those who might have been offended by what I believed to be a clear "unreality". Apologies.

I also didn't realize that some of the membership took the LPSG quite so seriously. I know that relationships and communities can grow around any topic, and large penises are no exception. However, my cursory examination of the board revealed sufficient outlandishness that I interpreted the forum as being a bit more freewheeling and "loose" in that regard than it actually is (at least for some members). I apologize for the interruption to community and wish all of you the very best.

THE REAL ME: I'm a self-employed thirtysomething woman who likes to experiment with online marketing. I do wear a b-cup bra, I am relatively fit, and I do get a sly grin on my face (and do experience a little jolt of excitement) when I see a larger-than-average penis. I'm also happily married to a guy with a completely average-sized penis who didn't seem to experience any kind of confidence issues throughout this project.

Yours truly,

"Melanie"

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

ANSWERING A FEW FINAL CRITICISMS...

Right before I closed the book on this project, "Highroad" at the LPSG forum wrote an impassioned plea to everyone to reject the kind of material formerly found at this blog. I think his post illustrates that the LPSG crowd has some very bright members and brings up some interesting issues. I'll republish it here. My remarks are in red. I think HighRoad is a little over the top, but he's also persuasive and intelligent...

Just because this forum deals with sexual issues, does not mean the members here are fair game for the sexual perversions and fantasy scenarios of con artists using erroneous identities.
Just as we do not accept this kind of behavior in public, we should not accept it here.

In my estimation, there is a great deal of fantasy material found on the board that wouldn't pass muster based on that standard unless there really is a secret rash of adolescent-on-adolescent mutual fondling and assorted other weirdness. In any case, "the jig is up" and Highroad won't have to worry too much about the erroneous identity factor. Of course, I doubt mommy and daddy Road ever had a son named "High".

The above person is a prolific offender in this regard. Using the people here as fodder for his sexual fantasies and perversions through deceptivley false identities which he dishonestly plays off as real. Allowing this to go on lowers this forum's viability as a place where real information and genuine interaction occurs.

Well, it wasn't really fantasy-motivated. It was a little deceptive, but a board that's all about large penises clearly attracts plenty of deception. Did my participation lower the opportunity for genuine interaction at LPSG? Well, let's take a look at some of the other recent "genuine interactions". Those included: Comparing opinions of Mario Lopez's penis size based on swimsuit photos. Sharing links to free porn vids featuring massive dongs. Organizing and participating in "jack off clubs". A guy who plans to grow his penis bigger and to start up his own porn business. True stories of gym sex (it strains all credibility to think those tales were all true). The wonders of "man smell" emanating from sweaty genitals. Oh, and a whole section devoted to penis jokes--making fun of those large and small alike! I'm not AGAINST any of that, per se. I just think that some folks might be taking LPSG a little too seriously. I also think some folks are in denial if they believe the bulk of the stuff written there.

I encourage all of you not to accept the innappropiate postings of this person, who goes by the names Veronica Devine and Grow4melanie, as well as some other male and female identities which I suspect. This person is simply an online sexual offender, using this forum to prey on unwitting forum members as a means of playing out his own sexual perversions and fantasies.

No fantasy motivation. I don't know a thing about Mr./Ms. Devine. Stop using "his" and "he".

Do not be fooled by denials and twisted attempts to unravel our discovery of the scheme, this person is not healthy, needs psychological help, and we should not aid and abet his acting out here in our public space. His posts reflect unhealthy sexual perspectives, and it is sad to see people in this forum duped into seeing these ideas as based in reality. While he is free to expose his fantasies in the fiction forum, where consenting people may participate in reading fictionalized stories, erroneously playing out fictional scenarios that are disguised are real is inappropriate and offensive.
I never depicted any interaction between people as real. It's interesting that a fictional caveat is carved out, too. My posts at the forum never reflected anything but an appreciation for big penises, which is sort of the idea behind the forum. This is basically Highroad expressing his frustration with Melanie, and that's fine. I just don't want anyone to take the rant too seriously.

Do not be fooled by postings of erroneous photos played off as real. Any authentic person who is roundly being accused of deceptive postings could merely post a photo of themselves with some proof, such as a current-dated newpaper in the photo, or a handwritten message. This is common photo-verification technique on this board and many other internet forums. If a person is suspected by a number of forum members of posting false photos, and yet does not respond by providing a verifiable photo, it is strong evidence of inauthentic identity. Don't be duped.
I ask the moderators of this forum to investigate this person's IP addresses, or to examine this issue and take action such as banning this person, so that we can maintain the honesty and integrity of this board.

No need. I'm gone! Again, this seems a little intense to me, though...

This person's recent posts amount to nothing more than hate speech, thinly veiled as "sexual preference," and are offensive to many on this board. The idea that humiliating and insulting unconsenting people in pursuit of sexual gratification should be acceptable is flatly unaceptable, and it is alarming that these kind of sexual attacks are happening here in this forum. If he wants to engage in humilation as a method for his sexual gratification, that does not give him the right to use unconsenting people in this forum as fodder for his sexual fantasy.

Redundant. Asked and answered. Now gone.

This should not be allowed when the vast majority of people here are genuine members who seek information, fellowship and guidance.

Yeah, like sharing tales of cousins showing them how to masturbate? I know, that's an oddball sort of thing, but you get the idea. Comparing notes on celebrity crotches and discussing the scent of sweaty balls, however, doesn't seem to be the kind of guidance that warrants this kind of response.

This person has a behavior pattern of ignoring these concerns from other members, and continuing to post under these fake identities, do not feed into his patterns, take a stand against this kind of behavior.

We have a choice to make in regard to this kind of behavior on our board: Will we ensure that this board remains a viable and safe place for mature adults to confer? Or will we allow it to be a place where offensive, hurtful and misleading sexual behavior is overlooked?

Well, you're sort of already there on both fronts, Highroad. My opinion, anyway. I am gone now, however. So you can rest safely.

I don't want to completely discount your concerns, but I do encourage a sense of perspective. As part of my apology and penance, I will be making a donation to an AIDS-related charity. Hope that shows you that I'm ready to take the "high road".