-
What people get wrong about camming
Hi girls,
I'm Lauren, a reporter who is writing a story on the cam girl community. I think a lot of people don't understand what camming is really about.
I think there's more to the cam girl community than the media ever writes about. Do you agree? If so, please let me know about some common misconceptions so I don't get things wrong in my story.
One thing I predict is that cam girls are really sweet and supportive of one another. Cam girl customers (like my editors) seem to think each girl exists in her own world, but I suspect there is a close interconnected community of cam girls all supporting one another. Am I right?
Please let me know in the thread. And if you'd like to talk to me privately (maybe you don't think I'm who I say I am), please email me at [email protected].
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
Can you link to stories you have written in the past please.
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MissKatie
Can you link to stories you have written in the past please.
Sure thing --
Specifically, I'm a web community reporter. I prefer to write about the different communities that spend time online. I'm not interested in writing negatively about cam girls. I'm interested in showing that there's a lot more to your community than customers see.
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
I want to clarify that I don't need names or any identifying information for this article.
Honestly, I really need your help to make this angle work. I think my editors suggested the story so they could buy a LiveJasmin account and check out cam girls on company money. They're encouraging me to use the account too, and try to talk to girls while they're working.
Let me know if I'm wrong, but I'm hesitant to try to talk to girls while they're working, even if I'm paying. There will be other customers in the chat who would rather see a show, right? I think I'd just be distracting?
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
LiveJasmin is probably not where you'd want to go - a number of the camgirls on LiveJasmin are in studios where the capacity to find a sense of online community is nonexistent or even actively discouraged. A studio is basically where a camgirl is in a room with other cammers in front of camming stations. Kind of like a 'call center' but with webcams. So she isn't alone. Id guess most of the girls on this board are not on LiveJasmin or if they are, are fairly inactive on it.
So if your goal is to find cam girls who are tied into online networks and online communities - you may want to try a different site.
For your question about whether other guys will be in a paid chat session with you - it depends on the site - for example, if you sign up for a site like Streamate.com, you can take the cam girl "exclusive" which means you would be talking to her one-on-one without others in room. Expect girls to not take you seriously at first though (since getting this kind of request is very odd. you may want to immediately be like 'I dont want to see you naked or do anything adult, Im a reporter and just want to ask questions") - and you may be booted out of their room for posting websites (many sites have scripts to look for customers using terms like 'website' 'site' 'email address', because they suspect the customer is looking to pay the camgirl elsewhere, and if the camgirl types back to you something like 'I have friends I met on StripperWeb, it keeps me focused' the site may pick up on the 'web' part and fire her, etc).... so trying to interview camgirls on BIG sites is extremely difficult to impossible.
Also Ill be honest and say I had a grad student half a year ago who was trying to interview me on a popular site and her questions weren't invasive per se... but she kept asking about other websites, posted her email once, gave me her phone number and all of this other stuff that I knew the site may catch up on & be suspicious of. So unfortunately mid-interview I had to ban them, screencap it (print screen it) and email the Administrator of that site. In case their scripts or bots picked up on the words the grad student was using, I had to make sure they knew I wasn't trying to steal their business because that could result in my suspended out of nowhere & my earnings being frozen.... so just bear that in mind that that is a big restriction for camgirls on BIG sites like LiveJasmin, Streamate, etc.
Sites that are considered more 'independent' like Niteflirt (traditionally known as a phone sex site, but its fairly expansive) definitely have camgirls who are solidly tied into online networks and communities. You can msg the girl and let her know you want to interview her via Skype or some other source. Then you'd be paying her for her time, she'd be getting a fair amount of the $ you're giving(I think LiveJasmin takes.. what 70% of the model's earnings).
You can also do this same thing on most "indie" cam sites like:
http://www.realgirlsoncam.com
http://camgirlspot.com/index.aspx
http://www.xxxcambabes.com/
http://websfinest.com/
(Im sure others have more)
Im suggesting trying out lesser known sites since the camgirl's get paid a higher percentage & cam site owners don't monitor the chat session. So itd be easier to conduct an interview, and the girl is more likely to be able to be honest and have a real conversation since she won't be risking getting fired.
I hope that makes sense.
If you have to go for LiveJasmin - check and see if once you log into a girl's room there are two options to take her private... usually go for the more expensive per minute option since that is almost always the 1-on-1 option. The cheaper option is usually where youll have other paying members in the room - and the girl won't be able to sit and chat just with you.
If I am using overly "insider" language that you can't decipher or are like wtf - let me know, it is easy to forget that everyone else isn't entrenched in this stuff.
Poking around the forum will give you some context to your article though I'm sure.
Btw, it is great you're offering to actually pay your research subjects for your research. Much applause to you.
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
Quote:
Originally Posted by
laurenrae
Let me know if I'm wrong, but I'm hesitant to try to talk to girls while they're working, even if I'm paying. There will be other customers in the chat who would rather see a show, right? I think I'd just be distracting?
If you're paying a girl in private chat, I'm sure she would answer questions as long as it wasn't personal info.
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
Quote:
Originally Posted by
innes
If you're paying a girl in private chat, I'm sure she would answer questions as long as it wasn't personal info.
Ditto :). I'm more than happy to chat to anyone about anything as long as they are paying for my time .
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
Same here. I'm on AdultWork where you can pm me and book an msn or skype show.
I think your best bet would be to sign up to a few different (popular) sites like myfreecams, streamate, niteflirt, and adultwork then message a few of the girls explaining what you want and offering to book them for a skype show to talk about it. Don't mention site links, emails, or other websites, and just see what they say.
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Missymissdemeanour
Ditto :). I'm more than happy to chat to anyone about anything as long as they are paying for my time .
Wow, I didn't realize! I've never paid for interviews before since I thought it was poor ethics to do so. But I guess this is a different story.
Thanks girls. I'm signing up for some of those sites right now.
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
If you're trying to go for an interview while the girl is working, then yes, you'd be paying her for her time since you're taking her away from other customers and that potential money.
As far as it being bad ethics, that's certainly true with most other things, and I see where you're coming from on that. But since you're actually just paying someone to relay personal experience, I don't see that as an issue. I can see how the ethical issue might arise that the person now has incentive (money) to invent the personal experience. However, the same could be said of a person who was not offered money but who has other motives of which you're not aware, like an attention-seeking issue. Of course, you're the one who has to decide what's ethically right for you.
I think the point there was that if you want to interview someone on work time, compensate. We don't get paid hourly like if you were asking for fifteen minutes from an executive in a law firm or other company; he can still get paid while talking to you. Taking 15 minutes of OUR time, on the other hand, can cost us $20-40 in lost income.
You might find some people who are willing to answer your questions thru e-mail (not e-mail attached to their site if they work on one of those sites like Streamate or LiveJasmine).
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
Great job with what you're doing! ^_^
I second (third, fourth, whatever) the idea to look more at independent and less BIG sites because of those mentioned risks, but also because the girls on the other sites are more likely to be the ones with the community aspect going for them. In fact, I'd be willing to bet a lot of them found out about those sites through communities!
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MissKatie
Same here. I'm on AdultWork where you can pm me and book an msn or skype show.
I think your best bet would be to sign up to a few different (popular) sites like myfreecams, streamate, niteflirt, and adultwork then message a few of the girls explaining what you want and offering to book them for a skype show to talk about it. Don't mention site links, emails, or other websites, and just see what they say.
Couldn't have put it better if I tried lol and I should've said I am also on AdutWork :)
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
I would say that places like stripperweb serve as an important part of the camming community. it is here that we share our stories and support each other in good times and in bad. and there's your angle. comming here to a site like this kind of answers your own question.
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
In a way we DO exist in our own little worlds but a lot of us like to interact with others in the business because no one "gets it" like we do. It's the same with any fringe industry. I suspect customers get the idea we exist in our own little worlds because that's all they see - just a girl alone in a room on a screen. We have lives just like anyone else, but since our work is a fringe industry it's easier for us to relate to other camgirls than people who work "regular" jobs. Also, the nature of the job can make it a little isolating so it's nice to be a part of a community like this.
If you read through some of the threads here you will find what you're looking for. You can see we share a lot of advice and info, ask each other questions, share rants, blow off steam, joke and laugh about work stuff, encourage each other, get into arguments and make up later, etc, just like any other group.
I'd be happy to answer more questions in exchange for a link to my site in your article ;D
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
i hate this 'Its poor ethics to pay for an interview' shit. you profit off of what you write. and what you write comes from us. so, by transitive property, we should also be profiting off of what you write. Expecting to profit off of us without us getting a cut is suspiciously analogous to pimping.
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
I am all for an interview :-)
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
I am willing to do an interview. No charge. :) PM me if interested.
It's just an interview - I am not going to worry about money with this.
Thanks!
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
I have done an interview for Lauren as she found me through my blog. She emailed me a few questions and I'm excited to read the article.
I think it can only be good for business to get people who may not have known cam sites even existed to understand the industry and maybe then they will come take a look and spend $$$
Also, Lauren, please post us a link to the article on here when you have it up on the Daily Dot :)
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
That's definitely my plan.
The story is almost ready to go. I've used seven of your interviews, and I'm focusing on the interconnectedness of the community.
That said, I'm not actually linking to this forum. Several have suggested that would be a bad idea.
The story is probably going up tomorrow, so I'll keep you posted.
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
Hi everyone,
My story will be going up tomorrow. Now I just need art to illustrate it. I'm not sure how any of the women I've interviewed would feel about having your (G-rated) picture go with the story? Let me know if you'd be interested.
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
Looking forward to reading the article. Please let us know when it's up!
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
Can you post the link to the article? Thanks :)
xx
-
Re: What people get wrong about camming
Sorry, it didn't go up today after all. X_X My editor is holding it for tomorrow AM. I know, I said "tomorrow" yesterday! Unfortunately, it's not all up to me. What is certain is that I'll definitely post it ASAP.