A
month and over 100,000 site hits after launch, YourMVP is
going strong. We're carving out an audience we are proud of, and one
we feel admires and appreciates us for what we are. We provide an
array of content not to be found anywhere else. Thank you to all that
have supported us--reading our features, telling friends and family,
bookmarking the site and returning to see the latest updates. |
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At
the same time, we're faced with misperceptions and ignorance from
people who refuse to take more than a casual glance at the site
before casting their judgment. Over the last several weeks, staff
members have been routinely contacted by individuals who label our
site "porn." Many staffers are concerned that our initial--
and lasting-- mission to produce an interesting, informative and
unique blend of adult-oriented features, reviews and commentary is
being overshadowed by this false perception. All are uneasy about the
"porn" label and the fact that people are applying it to
us.
Am
I bothered by it? As Editor-in-Chief, the person responsible for
guiding the public's perception of our product, of course I am. The
last thing I want is my mother to hear about her son running a porn
site. The fact of the matter is, however, that I'm not.
YourMVP
is certainly an adult-leaning entertainment destination. It is that
way by design and for a reason. We feel that the mature man can
balance both a professional and personal side, that he can be equally
interested in sports, world events, and what is going on in the
entertainment industry-- including the adult entertainment industry.
This
makes it easy, at a glance, to misinterpret the site's content and
purpose. Since we refuse to deny our audience's interest in sex and
beautiful women, we visually market the look for men. But it's far
from a porn site. Even members of the adult entertainment community,
such as this update's cover story on renowned Internet pin-up girl
Danni Ashe, never take a foray into raunch or even particularly
distasteful material.
Instead,
YourMVP interviews all celebrities, regardless of their
background, with the same approach--asking questions we feel our
readers, "normal, average, everyday guys," would want to
know. In fact, the content appears to have a cross-gender appeal that
has garnered us a number of comments such as "It's not what I
expected--I actually enjoyed the articles," from female readers.
Were
we porn, we would feature sexually explicit photos, not simply
scantily clad images that could be found on the cover of any
supermarket tabloid. We would fill our site with "Penthouse
Forum"-style details instead of "Ask Rina" openly and
honestly discussing sexuality and relationships. We would be
detailing and displaying sex acts, full-scale nudity and other . . .
this is the key, folks . . . pornography or pornographic material.
Not surprisingly, we're doing none of this--and yet still we acquire
the label.
Perhaps
we'll have to remember a valuable lesson Ashe says she's learned
through her years in both adult entertainment and the Internet
industries. For most people, things are black and white. That's fine
with me. If people want to think we're porn, I have no problem with
that . . . look what it's done for Ashe. And, from a publisher's
standpoint, there's always that age-old cliché "What's
black and white and read all over?" I can only hope that,
eventually, the response might be YourMVP.
--PEP
YourMVP
Editor-in-Chief
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