There is a lot to be said for building relationships in this business. It’s a culture that almost demands it. Those that understand this see the variety of business-to-business gatherings as an ideal environment for rubbing elbows - and sometimes more. They’re not wrong either.

Business gatherings do offer the best opportunity to make friends and establish a trusting business rapport. After all, nothing beats good old fashioned face-to-face interaction. Unfortunately, these gatherings attract a very small number of the overall industry population. In fact, less than one percent of the adult industry affiliate webmasters ever attend the events.

The alternative is to hang out at one or more of the industry webmaster forums. By their nature, these forums create a virtual community of individuals who share a common interest. Thus, relationships are forged and business gets done. In contrast to the off-line business gatherings, a greater number of affiliate webmasters congregate at the on-line forums. The forums are free, available 24/7, and have a global reach. Consequently, webmasters attend regularly - often several times a day.

One would reason those taking full advantage of the off-line gatherings would also jump at the networking opportunities found in the webmaster forums. As it turns out, most do - on the straight side of the industry. However, only a handful of the industry reps. regularly hang out at the gay webmaster forums - despite the fact all, or some, of their properties are gay. For whatever reason, the gay webmaster communities tend to get ignored.

From a business perspective it’s difficult to understand this behavior. These companies spend tens of thousands each year to attend off-line gatherings, and never get in front of their target audience - the affiliate webmasters. At the on-line forums, sponsors have easy access to the affiliates, 7 days a week, and at no cost. With only two active gay webmaster forums, there really isn’t any justification for the lack of participation. Yet it seems as if they couldn’t be bothered.

There can be no doubt that the hand full of sponsors active in the gay forums are please by the absence of their competitors. They are reaching the webmasters, establishing trust, and building relationships. Most telling is when a webmaster posts a request for referrals and the vast majority respond with the names of those companies active in the forum.

Of course, any time a webmaster asks for referrals, all the usually absent sponsors or service providers come out of the woodwork like starving cockroaches. They make their sales pitch, and disappear as quickly as they came. Like junk mail and spam, this self-serving behavior is not lost on the webmasters.

One can only speculate as to why these sponsors and service providers ignore the webmasters. Regardless of the reasoning, it’s their loss and a competitor’s gain.