Frequently Asked Questions

MindIsAbsent · 2005-08-07 17:46:04

This is an unusual site. And it seems to have a value system
that goes beyond pornography and towards art. And the people
who manage it seem to be concerned about keeping things honest
and open.

But I naturally have various questions. And I dont want to have
to read slowly through the forums to see if and when they
are answered in whole or part.

Why not have a FAQ? And even include questions that you
dont want to answer. And for those, if possible,
say why you dont want to answer them.

Some questions.

1) Who are you (the people who manage this business)? What else do you do?
Is this more business or more hobby?

2) What other sites do you recommend and what is your relation to them?

3) Who are your actors? Either on a person by person basis or in general
terms: Are they people otherwise in the sex business (with www sites,
or doing other X rated commercial things)? How many are totally unknown
to you?

4) How much do you pay for your clips (what is the range and what does
it depend on)?

5) What are the exact directions you give to people for their scenes?
For example, it seems like you tell long haired women to spread around
their hair. It seems like you tell people not to overdo facial expressions
(although some seem to put on a bit of a show?).

6) What are all the technical details? What camera, what sound equipment,
what lighting equipment? What directions do you give
for these, etc.

7) What means or intuitions do you use to check for authenticity (real
orgasms)?

8) What are the limits of what you will show on camera and why?

9) What are the limits of what you will reveal about the actors and
why?

10) In the forums there is, here and there, information and discussion
about various actors. Is there a reason not to have links at the screenshots
to these comments and discussions. Say I am interested in 765, should
I have to read and reread the forums to see if anyone has comments
about him/her?

Bishop Of Bath & Wells · 2005-08-08 00:01:12

Actors?! Instructions?! Just what are you suggesting?

Every single person featured on this site is a genuine contributor, there are certainly no actors or actresses involved whatsoever!

I agree that a FAQ is long overdue, however.

Bish

richard · 2005-08-08 04:00:06

Bishop Of Bath & Wells wrote:

Actors?! Instructions?! Just what are you suggesting?
Every single person featured on this site is a genuine contributor, there are certainly no actors or actresses involved whatsoever!
I agree that a FAQ is long overdue, however.
Bish

I think the only FAQ is "what's my password?"

The "about" section is the FAQ, it's just not called an FAQ.

From these questions, I'd say somebody wants to start a site of their own. The question about actors though, raises another question - why do porn actors (or actors in general) do such a bad job at imitating orgasm?

Jo · 2005-08-08 10:12:25

richard wrote:

From these questions, I'd say somebody wants to start a site of their own.

Maybe there's another possibility:

The above (nick)name seems to be program...

MindIsAbsent · 2005-08-08 12:34:50

A few things:

%%%%%
About the word "actor". Its just a word for the person performing
an act on camera. Their sincerity, honesty, opennes, whatever,
is not an issue. "Contributor" is also fine.

%%%%
Yes, the "About" section is something like a FAQ. Its just
not informative enough to near-satisfy my curiousities.

%%%%
Richard asks if I want to setup my own site?

In my dreams, yes! In the same way I'd like to see the contributors
live. But the most I hope for in this life time is the vicarious pleasure of seeing
videos and reading text. I suppose someone wanting to make a copycat site would
have some of the same questions I have.

But that's not my angle. And I doubt that I am unique.
Its more like I am the main charactor in "Sex Lies and Videotape". I just
want to know the raw story. Whenever I see sex scenes in movies, or
see porn on the internet I want instead to see the documentary, not all cutup,
about making the movie. What is the Real Thing.

That is what is so enticing about the videos on BA, whether or not some of the
contributors are, in
other parts of their lives, professionals at some aspects of sex, they are still
real people doing a real thing. But who are they and how are they doing it?
I know from my experiences and experiences with partners, a real orgasm can
show on the outside lots of ways depending on how the person chooses to
express it. All within the world of no-faking-of-any-kind one can choose to
be variously expressive with sounds, body motions and facial expressions.
So what are the parameters within which the contributors are behaving?

Another question for my original FAQ list is this: How do the actors feel about being discovered
by friends, relatives and coworkers? Does it happen? Do they worry about it?
Are they so far in the business that its not an issue?

Anyway, the questions I posted, and perhaps many more, are the kinds of
things I would really like to know and that, for me, would add to the "reality"
of the site. Anything done to increase my trust, anything that tells me more of the
context of the camera work, would add to my appreciating the realness
of the orgasms.

If some of these things are trade secrets than obviously they
can't be too-widely or too-clearly broadcast. But I guess that trade secrets
are not what make the site successful, rather the value of the site
comes from its being well-run.

At any rate, even knowing and having clearly stated what are and what are not
the boundaries of what you will reveal (and better yet, the reasons for the
boundaries) would be appreciated.

Although we all have a desire to see some skin below the camera, we all
agree that the site is better for not showing much more than the heads.
Part of the beauty of the site is what it doesn't
show. And maybe exposing too much of the business, or saying
too much about the contributors, would be analogous
to showing a nipple or penis.If we
knew too much it would take away. But for me there's much that
could be told without detracting that way. For me, knowing more about
the whole business, not identifying information about the contributors,
would add a lot.

Maybe I have to wait until one of you BA organizers is sitting next to me
on an airplane or something (and hopefully feeling chatty then).

%%%%%
Jo says: "Maybe there's another possibility: The above (nick)name seems to be program..."
I'm not criticizing or complaining. I just don't understand this comment, or even if
it is a joke or serious issue. What did you mean?

richard · 2005-08-08 16:37:31

MindIsAbsent wrote:

A few things:
%%%%%
About the word "actor". Its just a word for the person performing
an act on camera. Their sincerity, honesty, opennes, whatever,
is not an issue. "Contributor" is also fine.
%%%%
Yes, the "About" section is something like a FAQ. Its just
not informative enough to near-satisfy my curiousities.
%%%%
Richard asks if I want to setup my own site?
In my dreams, yes! In the same way I'd like to see the contributors
live. But the most I hope for in this life time is the vicarious pleasure of seeing
videos and reading text. I suppose someone wanting to make a copycat site would
have some of the same questions I have.
But that's not my angle. And I doubt that I am unique.
Its more like I am the main charactor in "Sex Lies and Videotape". I just
want to know the raw story. Whenever I see sex scenes in movies, or
see porn on the internet I want instead to see the documentary, not all cutup,
about making the movie. What is the Real Thing.
That is what is so enticing about the videos on BA, whether or not some of the
contributors are, in
other parts of their lives, professionals at some aspects of sex, they are still
real people doing a real thing. But who are they and how are they doing it?
I know from my experiences and experiences with partners, a real orgasm can
show on the outside lots of ways depending on how the person chooses to
express it. All within the world of no-faking-of-any-kind one can choose to
be variously expressive with sounds, body motions and facial expressions.
So what are the parameters within which the contributors are behaving?
Another question for my original FAQ list is this: How do the actors feel about being discovered
by friends, relatives and coworkers? Does it happen? Do they worry about it?
Are they so far in the business that its not an issue?
Anyway, the questions I posted, and perhaps many more, are the kinds of
things I would really like to know and that, for me, would add to the "reality"
of the site. Anything done to increase my trust, anything that tells me more of the
context of the camera work, would add to my appreciating the realness
of the orgasms.
If some of these things are trade secrets than obviously they
can't be too-widely or too-clearly broadcast. But I guess that trade secrets
are not what make the site successful, rather the value of the site
comes from its being well-run.
At any rate, even knowing and having clearly stated what are and what are not
the boundaries of what you will reveal (and better yet, the reasons for the
boundaries) would be appreciated.
Although we all have a desire to see some skin below the camera, we all
agree that the site is better for not showing much more than the heads.
Part of the beauty of the site is what it doesn't
show. And maybe exposing too much of the business, or saying
too much about the contributors, would be analogous
to showing a nipple or penis.If we
knew too much it would take away. But for me there's much that
could be told without detracting that way. For me, knowing more about
the whole business, not identifying information about the contributors,
would add a lot.
Maybe I have to wait until one of you BA organizers is sitting next to me
on an airplane or something (and hopefully feeling chatty then).
%%%%%
Jo says: "Maybe there's another possibility: The above (nick)name seems to be program..."
I'm not criticizing or complaining. I just don't understand this comment, or even if
it is a joke or serious issue. What did you mean?

I think a lot of the beauty in Agony lies in the mystery. If we could see the whole picture our imaginations would be switched off - and the sexiest part of the experience is inside your own head.

We don't know much about what is happening either. Many of the people borrow equipment from us and we show them how to set it up, but the rest is up to them (and sometimes their partners). Most are shot on mini-DV, sometimes with handycams and sometimes with semi-pro equipment (we have a Sony PD-170 with a Sennheiser 416 mic, but don't trust it to just anybody!)

Pretty soon (sorry to keep teasing about this) we'll be adding "confessions", interviews with the Agonees where they reveal things about their secret lives (and spill a few friends' secrets too).

I guess some people get discovered, actually I heard about one the other day - but nobody has ever given us any negative stories about it and nobody has asked for their Agony to be removed. I think many of the contributors secretly desire to be discovered, but I don't have any proof of that.

As far as we know they're all pretty much 'ordinary people'. Some have appeared on other sites, nude. Two that I know of, both Amercians, run their own sites. Most of the early contributors were known to us personally but lately there are more and more which come by mail from people we've never met. Any videos which seem to us to be 'acted' aren't shown on the site, and that's something mostly Lauren decides.

The limits of what we'll show - everything above the nipple, because the aim is to show that the face is the sexiest part of the body.

I hope this answers some of your questions. There's an interview on nerve.com ("dispatches" department) from last year, and a couple of others on the web, which might interest you if you can find them.

Jo · 2005-08-09 10:49:59

MindIsAbsent wrote:

Jo says: "Maybe there's another possibility: The above (nick)name seems to be program..."
I'm not criticizing or complaining. I just don't understand this comment, or even if
it is a joke or serious issue. What did you mean?

Sorry for posting that, it should have been a (bad) joke. I apologize for that, since during your comments I know you a little bit better now.

MindIsAbsent · 2005-08-10 11:07:23

Thanks Richard for the answers and partial answers you have given.
My honeymoon with the site continues and I am still intrigued
with learning more. I appreciate your friendly and open
style.

Some comments:

1) Information about BA on the WWW that I found includes

a) the nerve.com interview you mentionned from March 2004.
Its called "head shots". But I didn't want to get involved with
another pay site to read that. I would like to know what's
in there though!

b) a short interesting interview at
http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/000853.html

2) Just like my suggestion for the * button for the pictures
but for site information. If the information exists in the
public domain (in
forums, in overkills, in www interviews) why not make
it easy for people to find. In this case the information I
am talking about is information about the overall site
philosophy, rules, motivations, general things you know
about the contributors, etc.

3) there are hints here and there about the directions given
to contributors (for example recent "noise" forum about picking
a quiet place and time). Can you post the full set of
directions you give to contributors (even if not given to
all contributors). I am curious about,
for example, mussing of hair, looking at the camera
or not, smiling or not, talking, visibility and
audibility of helpers/partners, frame size, etc.

lauren · 2005-08-11 00:16:48

There aren't really any other instrustions that are given, the contributors are solely responsible for the way they present themselves visually to the camera, they are aware that the videos are to be focussed upon themselves, but as far as partners interacting well thats up to them i suppose, we ask there to be no nudity as we are interested solely on the individuals face. As for looking at the camera, smiling, talking, frame size etc, that again is up to the contributor.

As for articles, perhaps i'll scan my little collections for some other reviews and the like that have been written and post them on overkill or in the forums.

#1 2005-08-07 17:46:04

Frequently Asked Questions

#2 2005-08-08 00:01:12

Re: Frequently Asked Questions

#3 2005-08-08 04:00:06

Re: Frequently Asked Questions

#4 2005-08-08 10:12:25

Re: Frequently Asked Questions

#5 2005-08-08 12:34:50

Re: Frequently Asked Questions

#6 2005-08-08 16:37:31

Re: Frequently Asked Questions

#7 2005-08-09 10:49:59

Re: Frequently Asked Questions

#8 2005-08-10 11:07:23

Re: Frequently Asked Questions

#9 2005-08-11 00:16:48

Re: Frequently Asked Questions

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