Well known, male, ‘pro-feminist’ blogger and cartoonist of long standing with large and (mostly) loyal readership finds his site is beoming too costly to run and he’s in a bit of a financial pickle. What do you think he does? What would you do? Find a cheaper host? Go to your readership for suggestions and support, maybe. Or solicit advertising from feminist-friendly organisations, perhaps. There are a number of viable options to choose from - some more palatable than others.
This blogger chose the least palatable option of all. He was approached by and made a deal with a buyer who wanted to use the domain name to “improve search engine ratings for his clients” - a Search Engine Optimiser. The deal, which also included free hosting, enabled our popular ‘pro-feminist’ to keep his blog going together with his catroon pages while the buyer could add pages of anything they like to the rest of the site with a link to those pages appearing on the front page of the blog.
What kind of clients do you suppose the Search Engine Optimiser is working for? What kind of pages do you think you might be directed to if you click on that link on the front page of the blog? As a feminist, what kind of ‘client’ would you least want to boost the search engine rankings of by adding to the hit stats of the site as a whole?
Alas a blog - while distinctly middle-of-the-road as far as feminist blogs go - is connected in the minds of many with feminism, anti-sexism and anti-racism. It has a huge readership and a loyal feminist following. Countless women have contributed to the blog’s success through their thoughtful and informed comments, their participation; the very success that prompted the buyer to approach Ampersand with his proposal and his money so that he could use the domain name to promote pornography under the guise of ‘reviews’ categorised thus:
Live Webcams
Adult Film Star
Amateur
Lesbian
Solo Models
Ethnic
Networks
Reality
Teen
Mature
DVD Sites
Ass
Racist, sexist material that demeans women and girls all collected under the banner ‘Amped Reviews’ sitting cheek by jowl with heartfelt feminist debate and comment seeking to address sexism and racism.
Ampersand got money for this. He sold out to pornographers. So much for ‘pro-feminism’, huh?
Major betrayal and major, major fuckery.
I am publicly stating here that I will never go to that blog or that site again.
30 responses so far ↓
AradhanaDevindra // October 10, 2006 at 5:38 am
I think in the back of our minds, we all knew that all the major ‘feminist’ websites were a bunch of sell outs. It’s too good to be true when you have more MEN posting at the major feminist blogs than you do women.
That’s the first sign of a problem. Two when Playboy names you one of the top ten blogs on politics, like they have pandagon - that’s fairly revealing.
It’s interesting how as anti-porn feminists other feminists would rather build alliances with major corporations that EXPLOIT women than build bridges with us, all the while laughing at us for supposedly allying with the right.
Fuckers.
Violet Socks // October 10, 2006 at 7:14 am
Witchy, I’m confused. I went to Alas to see for myself and…I don’t see any of those links. Where is this stuff?
Violet Socks // October 10, 2006 at 7:36 am
Never mind, I get it now. Went over to Heart’s and read the full explanation. Geez.
stormcloud // October 10, 2006 at 10:10 am
Anyone with any intelligence would have to know that a ‘back door’ deal like this one, would have to be porn.
Mysterious stranger knocks on your door, wearing a hat, dark glasses, trenchcoat, and carrying a big bag of money.
Even five year olds could see through that one.
sparklematrix // October 10, 2006 at 12:34 pm
Alas was one of the first sites I visited when I got to the ‘enough is enough’ stage with my feminism. You know that feeling *major liberation day* I went off him a while back, lots of little things building up, something that just didn’t sit comfortable with me. Bogus-pure-bogus-horse-shite.
Sarah (Ethically Speaking) // October 10, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Never been there and now I never will. I’m not even going to go and look as that just boosts his web ranking. I’d rather pop on here and boost yours!
Laura // October 10, 2006 at 2:48 pm
Yet another example of men who claim to get it, to understand, but who really fucking don’t.
And as for Pandagon…how fucking blind do you have to be not to see that there is no liberation in being supported by the industry that does the most to subjugate and harm women, to prop up the patriarchy and to ensure that the myth that we are lesser beings continues to be seen as fact???
Fuckery indeed.
Reclusive Leftist » Blog Archive » Okay, this is too much // October 10, 2006 at 10:05 pm
[...] Okay, this is too much I stopped reading Alas months ago because the anti-feminist quotient there was just too high. So I’m just now discovering what some of you may already know: Barry sold his domain to a pornographer, so now his blog is hosted alongside hard-core porn reviews. The deal is that the huge traffic to Alas — feminist traffic, generated by people who have built up that readership over years — drives up the search engine rankings for the pornographer. (Heart has a fuller explanation of the deal.) [...]
Katiii // October 10, 2006 at 11:25 pm
I live in New Zealand, heard about your site on one of the major radio networks, love you point of view.
Was considering writing “The War on Women”
isn’t it strange how men have leeched women’s timeless occupations, like Cooking: childbirth and fashion.
I’ll never be a six foot skinny model, nor would want to be, but it’s always some male fashionista’s idea of the ideal male.
I’m 61, and get so angry with women who kowtow to men. Heard one woman on t.v. talking about plastic surgery, “But you have to look good for men, who would want an ugly woman.?” What she doesn’t realise is that she already is an ugly, bonded woman, stupid bitch.
More power to your arm Witchy Woo
Alas, a sell out « Laurelin in the Rain // October 10, 2006 at 11:59 pm
[...] In understand that Ampersand (of Alas, A Blog) has lately found himself in financial difficulties and therefore has sold his website to pornography advertisers. Unsurprisingly, this has won him much deserved criticism from the radfem bloggers, who feel, for some reason that making money out of the subordination of women is kinda, you know, crappy. But I like to think of myself as helpful and thoughtful in the good ol’ feminine tradition, so I hereby present Ampersand with some advice he might like to take the next time he feels like selling out. [...]
Noumena // October 11, 2006 at 2:04 am
This analysis is only legitimate under a rather crucial assumption: that Amp knew what kinds of links would be put up on the domain when he made the deal. If this isn’t the case, I don’t see how he’s in any way morally culpable.
Stormcloud claims that “Anyone with any intelligence would have to know that a ‘back door’ deal like this one, would have to be porn.” But what is your argument for this? If you mistype an URL, you can come across the sort of hit farms that I would probably expect (try nytimes.net). These often don’t link to porn, at least not in any obvious way. Maybe this means I’m stupider than a five-year-old. But I would suggest that you’re just flinging ad hominems because you’re pissed off, not giving a reasoned case that he’s morally culpable.
I’m not claiming that I know Amp is innocent. I’m just pointing out that you need a crucial assumption to convict him, and I want to know what the evidence is for it.
Y. Carrington // October 11, 2006 at 5:00 am
Goddamn Witchy. I was never the biggest fan of Alas, but you hit the nail on the head—to many people, Ampersand epitomizes “pro-feminism” on the Internet. And sad but true—the voices of pro-feminist men carry much more weight with folks than women’s. So do their actions.
But what about the rest of us? Patriarchy perpetuates itself through capital, and there is much capital to be made through the exploitation of women. Anyone of us who work in the creative professions could find ourselves in a similar situation one day. When it’s our turn to make the choice, what will WE do?
hedonistic // October 11, 2006 at 2:04 pm
I never spent much time at Alas (or any other site dominated by men, actually). I prefer to hang with the other blogger chicks. I know it’s probably sexist to act this way, but . . . meh! Whatcha gonna do.
Feministe » Bad Ideas // October 11, 2006 at 4:07 pm
[...] Jesus. I was swamped yesterday and hadn’t heard about this. Apparently, Ampersand has sold the domain name for Alas, A Blog to a pornographer, with the idea that Alas’s traffic would drive up hits to the porn site: I stopped reading Alas months ago because the anti-feminist quotient there was just too high. So I’m just now discovering what some of you may already know: Barry sold his domain to a pornographer, so now his blog is hosted alongside hard-core porn reviews. The deal is that the huge traffic to Alas — feminist traffic, generated by people who have built up that readership over years — drives up the search engine rankings for the pornographer. (Heart has a fuller explanation of the deal.) [...]
witchywoo // October 11, 2006 at 5:22 pm
What’s a major radio network in New Zealand doing reading this little blog, I wonder? I’m intrigued.
Hi Katiii and thanks for your comment
NBarnes // October 11, 2006 at 9:22 pm
It’s pretty cool how Alas, A Blog selling out is a good chance to bash Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon for disagreeing with you about porn and feminism. You made that switch pretty smoothly. I’m envious.
stormcloud // October 12, 2006 at 3:17 pm
Noumena said:
“This analysis is only legitimate under a rather crucial assumption: that Amp knew what kinds of links would be put up on the domain when he made the deal. If this isn’t the case, I don’t see how he’s in any way morally culpable… These often don’t link to porn, at least not in any obvious way. Maybe this means I’m stupider than a five-year-old.”
The analogy was actually an in general one, that unsolicited approaches, from a sector that often has shady practices or track record, should be viewed with a great deal of suspicion (i.e. it probably has links to porn directly or indirectly), but applicable in this case. Greed cannot be used as an excuse for stupidity.
As Amp had significant contributions from anti-porn feminists, then he should have been wary that a deal may possibly (or in all probability) link to the porn industry. To ignore that, from a moral standpoint, is to thumb his nose to this sector of his contributors. Legally, he can do whatever the fuck he likes, no one is saying he can’t (and he has proven he can). It is on moral grounds that he has received criticisms, so yeah, on moral grounds he is guilty of completely disrespecting a sector of his contributors.
Added to that he was all quiet and sneaky about it. His links to the ‘adult entertainment’ industry began months ago (around July as far as I’m aware), and he only came clean when he was about to be exposed. All this time, he happily allowed anti-porn feminists to contribute to debate on the blog. These anti-porn feminists would not have continued contributing to the blog, or at least may have contributed in a different fashion had the truth been known to them.
There has been a lot of talk that these are only ‘indirect’ links to porn, and that his site does not link directly to porn sites. These links reside on a sub-domain of his site, it IS part of the main (or parent) site, even though FTP privileges can be restricted individually on a sub domain. Secondly, I personally see a direct link to ‘tits and arse’ from this sub domain.
For the disbelievers, from the main page, click Reviews at the bottom of the page (you are now in the sub domain). Then click Websites. Scroll down the bottom and click the last link (some of the later reviews have website links missing (removed?). The last link is ‘Peter North’. Click on that, then the link to that website, and it damn well looks like a fucking porn site to me.
So it’s not just a surreptitious page of links in the background to fool search engines, it’s direct links to porn. The anti-porn feminists are pissed, and have every right to be.
And if he was ever concerned about linking to the porn industry, then a water tight contract should have ensured that no links, either direct or indirect, would lead to the porn industry. Seems he didn’t give a fuck.
If you wish to claim greater stupidity than a five year old, I shall not stand in your way. You may also wish to acquaint yourself with one of the “Feminist Commandments”
Thou shalt not defend or excuse men for their actions, and hold them fully accountable for all deeds they choose to do.
Postscript:
As a designer, the duality in the Amped reviews logo did not escape me. In fact, it looks far more like the word Pimped (with a dropped “i”), than it does Amped. That intent is pretty darn clear.
Duality « A stormy blog // October 12, 2006 at 4:29 pm
[...] Fuckery and betrayal (in comments I first mentioned the duality) [...]
Fey Hag // October 13, 2006 at 1:43 am
I found Alas while trying to find out about a woman raped by Police personal in N.Z.
There were things there that didn’t ring true, so, shrugged & decided that’s how it is out there — after a couple of visits I quit.
Now I have found your blog & I am on a high. You sound just like me on a good day & hey you’re young.
Took me a lifetime to get that smart & then I didn’t believe the young were aware or interested.
You have made my day—Hell you have validated my findings in life.
stormcloud // October 13, 2006 at 2:49 pm
Witchy, you seem to have developed a NZ fan base! (and SJ in Melb)
Y’re global grrrl !
witchywoo // October 13, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Oh, this is a killer I just have to share.
Comment from a self-identified anti-feminist (with a blog so not exactly a troll) so I’m not publishing the comment because I think too many women have already been hurt by the events of this week - apart from this bit:
Did you know that men founded feminism, and their henchladies run it? It was founded to loosen the morals of sex, so women would have sex outside of marriage, and to infuse women in the workforce to drive down wages!
Try telling that to Mary Wollstonecraft Mr Verlch, you twonk
Elaina // October 15, 2006 at 1:33 pm
Goddam! I’m missing everything!
Desperate deal or not, there’s no excuse/ moral salve here for amp. It doesn’t matter if he didn’t know what he was getting into, if he didn’t give enough of a shit to find out what he was getting into.
And as a refresher/reminder to folks, pro-porn is anti-feminist. Just like pro-wal-mart is anti-labor-movement. Either you’re sick of being a commodity or you’re not. And yeah. I’m making a polemic, blanket statement. I’ve been asking and asking, though, for some sort of explication of how the whole “feminism means women getting what they want and that’s that, and if that means that other women get exploited along the way, well then, screw ‘em, I’m gonna rent a BDSM DVD” actually plays into the material reality of feminist activism. Time’s up. It doesn’t.
Anyways, love ya Witchy!
ginmar // October 16, 2006 at 2:33 am
Oh, christ, you get Verlch, too? It’s like he hits all the feminist bloggers with the same old same old.
Katiii // October 16, 2006 at 10:42 am
Witchy: There are interviews about topical subjects, one of the honchos told the world about you and your website, saying it was good value.
And for your interest, the same person also said that the majority of women in their twenties at universities are now becoming radically feminist, probably a response to the chilling nineties and early ooooooo’s. I’m getting on, and was beginning to believe I was one of the only feminist leaning people left, but your column gives me hope.
Keep blogging Witchy.
Yohan // October 19, 2006 at 3:07 am
Ampersand did the right thing, he sold, what is not lucrative.
You cannot run a website of this size without some money. Not to talk about the time he invested into his unique male feminist site to keep it running.
Why are now all these female feminists talking bad about him? Why did you not support him financially?
You - the female feminists, are to blame and not Ampersand!
Carnival of Feminists No 25 - Philobiblon // October 19, 2006 at 2:46 pm
[...] Another biggie has been the decision of a certain “feminist” blog to take porn adverts. There are again many posts on this; I’ll point you to that on I’ll Go to the Foot of My Stairs, which seems broadly typical of many of the posts that I’ve read. Again; additional links in the comments are welcome. [...]
TacoKeeses // October 19, 2006 at 9:30 pm
Didn’t Trish Wilson used to write erotica and sell chocolate penis’?
But she was born with a vagina and amp wasnt so I can see why people would get upset at him and not her.
Donna Darko // October 20, 2006 at 9:48 pm
Alas is/was a great feminist blog. He needed money. Part of me thinks it was extremely exhausting to put up with all the anti-feminist trolls and bickering feminsts (including myself) Maybe he got sick of it and went nuts.
cooper // October 23, 2006 at 6:32 am
Hypocrites all, I find it amusing that some defend him - the same people that pontificate or is is urinate all over his blog with their anti sexist, anti racist pro female blabber.
These are people that would get on the ass of anyone who wasn’t pro pro women, couldn’t comment if you weren’t pro feminist.
What was nuts was that people actually believed it was for real - it was merely an exercise, as are most of the blogs out there and sadly people feel betrayed when they are not what they seem.
I arrived here fro the carnival via slant truth.
delphyne // October 23, 2006 at 1:01 pm
“Part of me thinks it was extremely exhausting to put up with all the anti-feminist trolls”
Nope, Ampersand liked the anti-feminists. When Amp was confronted at the beginning of the year about the way he policed feminist women for so-called incivility whilst letting a bunch of misogynist bigots run riot, he explained that he preferred that set-up because it gave him a chance to develop his arguments. A number of those trolls are actually his friends in real life. He didn’t give a toss about whether women would be offended and hurt by hearing the sexism that we have to deal with unchecked every day of our lives in a so-called feminist space.
The whole contretemps is here if you are interested -
http://www. amptoons.com/blog/archives/2005/02/14/feminist-and-feminist-friendly-only-thread-civility-alas-and-feminism/#comments
Ampersand with his porn deal is just behaving the way he has always behaved to women feminists, treating them as a commodity which he can use to further his own interests.
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