Rant our experiences with Stripchat

[cshive]

Hey,

so here is a little rundown of what happened.

We operated a site that adds some axillary features for cam sites, like notifications when the model is online and what not that also includes storing thumbs of public shows with an auto purge. It went well for the most part of almost two years and we did comply with removal requests. We have been in touch with them a few years before that and even helped them with tracking down bugs on their end.

Then we got suspended by Stripchat due to recent policy changes that we didn't got informed about and maybe some of you saw the same newsletter that they are not working with pirate sites anymore. Since the email contained the phrase, this does not affect all webmasters and we in general being in touch with our Account Manager, we assumed we would be okay.

We tried to resolve the situation with them and they told us we have to stop using any data which isn't provided by the API (all that we used was provided by the API, we only stored it) or to remove all content from them and stop using the affiliate code, after some time, we concluded that the concept would be in jeopardy now and rather decided to move on with different things.

We took everything down and redirect our domains to our chaturbate affiliate link (because why null route the traffic) then contacted our Account manager and let them know. After three weeks of waiting they said okay and gave us our account back, at that time they were already aware of the redirect and yet didn't mentioned it being a problem so that we could have discussed it, but on the day of next payment cycle, we got blocked again, this time because we are now redirecting to chaturbate, which is a competitor of them and apparently they don't like that (logically we wouldn't be redirecting to Stripchat, since our account there was blocked at the time we took it offline). And our Account manger deleted the conversation in Telegram right before we got the explanation on why we got blocked again. The explanation was as said, that we are now redirecting to chaturbate and that they decided not to release the fund because of unfair business towards them and that we only got our traffic with pirated content.

In short, they decided to keep the 70k by moving the goalpost and so much for revshare. In summary it feels pretty much like extortion.

[el_mago]

It's over, better sell your pirate sites...

[lockept93]

Edited........................

[wankawonk]

that also includes storing thumbs of public shows

found your issue.

you can argue all you want why that should be OK but models hate it when you do that. cam sites care more about their models than their affiliates.

also if you wanted to keep the relationship with stripchat, jumping ship to chaturbate so quickly might not have been a smart move.

[the_software_dev]

It's hard to believe that a business for which you provide a constant stream of revenue would take you out like that (for no reason). All things considered though, this is a perfect example for why you don't put all your money and effort in promoting a single camsite. Always diversify and always have a backup plan.

[cshive]

Originally Posted by wankawonk

found your issue.

you can argue all you want why that should be OK but models hate it when you do that. cam sites care more about their models than their affiliates.

also if you wanted to keep the relationship with stripchat, jumping ship to chaturbate so quickly might not have been a smart move.

I am not arguing if that is okay or how models think about it. I am arguing that it was greenlit by Stripchat the whole time until they turned around and blocked us without a notice in advance or anything, meanwhile keeping us thinking we would be okay. And then giving us a way to get the account back, which apparently was never reachable.

We had two options, comply in the way asked by not storing any data and only using the real-time API data, which completely defeated the concept of the site because having black photos everywhere would be confusing. Or taking everything offline and calling it a day. We picked to take everything offline and do something differently (so putting a redirect in place was the only sensible decision). We also told them about everything right away and they said okay.

There was no way on how this situation could have ended differently (in my opinion). If we would have removed all content related from Stripchat and kept the site running without them, the situation would have been the same, we advertise every other cam site except them.
Their point was that we wouldn't store any data anymore, which we did by going offline. Nobody told us that putting a redirect in place would be a problem (they also knew we planned on going offline), even when they knew on day 1 when we put it in place only to wait a month to now calling it a problem. If they would have wanted the traffic, they could have had it, we picked Chaturbate because the Stripchat account was blocked, so what good would it do to redirect to Stripchat.
If they wanted the traffic, they could have told us and we couldn't have cared less about where the traffic goes or that we shouldn't redirect at all.

Between getting blocked and taking it offline is a timespan of a few months (due to other circumstances). Then 3 weeks of being offline and blocked, then a week of not being blocked and then getting blocked again on the day of next payment cycle.

[JesseQuinn]

Originally Posted by cshive

We had two options, comply in the way asked by not storing any data and only using the real-time API data, which completely defeated the concept of the site because having black photos everywhere would be confusing. Or taking everything offline and calling it a day. We picked to take everything offline and do something differently (so putting a redirect in place was the only sensible decision). We also told them about everything right away and they said okay

not commenting here regarding the stripchat issue (which I hope can be resolved amicably) but to give you a head's up: if you're storing data of offline performers on cb you're prob gonna run into the same issue. far as I know they don't allow affs to do that either

mos def ask them, but pretty sure what you're doing isn't ok there

there is a 3rd option between not using a sponsor site or shutting down, it's adapting your plan to comply with the terms of the sites. a lil creativity within the API is prob your best bet to at least prevent future problems down the road

[sarettah]

Originally Posted by JesseQuinn

not commenting here regarding the stripchat issue (which I hope can be resolved amicably) but to give you a head's up: if you're storing data of offline performers on cb you're prob gonna run into the same issue. far as I know they don't allow affs to do that either

definitely against the chaturbate terms.

https://chaturbate.com/terms/appendix-b/

Restrictions. You are prohibited from using any images, videos, text, script(s), applications, logos and functional elements appearing on a Referral Sites, to which you do not have all legal rights, free from any and all encumbrances and third-party claims. For the avoidance of doubt, our provision of live content through the Platform’s affiliate API, iFrames, or any other means only authorizes you to use such live content for promotion of Independent Broadcasters who are currently online and broadcasting and does not provide you with the right to store the provided content for display after the Independent Broadcasters who created such content have ended their live stream of such content on the Platform. You acknowledge and understand that you should only store an Independent Broadcaster’s content, for promotion of the Platform or otherwise, if you have express permission to do so directly from such Independent Broadcaster. Further, you represent and warrant that you will only advertise on services and providers that permit advertisement of services such as the Platform. You understand and agree that if you advertise on any service or provider that does not permit such advertising, your account will be terminated without notice and without payment or liability. Furthermore, you acknowledge and agree that we may, at any time, review the contents of any Referral Site and disapprove of any material thereon that might, in our sole discretion, reflect negatively upon the Platform. Upon request from us, such material must be immediately removed in order for you to remain eligible to receive commissions hereunder.

No Cam Clip Sites. We do not permit promotion of the Platform through a Cam Clip Site. As used herein, a "Cam Clip Site" shall mean any website comprised substantially of video clips recorded from live cam shows, whether recorded from the Platform or one of the Platform's competitors, even if you have permission to use such video clips from all parties who might claim an exclusive right to the video clips.

[Tjeezers]

Some cam sites ask you to hand over the rights of the domain you want to "label" them with, it's to protect them, long-time spenders, from being suddenly confronted with a new brand on that same domain. Was discussed here a few years ago. maybe they use that rule against you now?

I hope you get this fixed in your favor!

[cshive]

Originally Posted by Tjeezers

Some cam sites ask you to hand over the rights of the domain you want to "label" them with, it's to protect them, long-time spenders, from being suddenly confronted with a new brand on that same domain. Was discussed here a few years ago. maybe they use that rule against you now?

I hope you get this fixed in your favor!

If that's the case, nobody said anything about that. And thanks.


That's verbatim the requirements listed to get the account back:
if you remove affiliate codes from the website, all our links, and all hosted content of our models, then we can unblock it


That was the response after getting blocked again:
Dear Affiliate,

We are writing to you concerning your affiliate account, which we banned after discovering that you were using pirated content to generate traffic to your site. As you may recall, we allowed you to regain access to your account and recover the accumulated revenue share if you removed pirated content from your site.

We were pleased to see that you had taken steps to remove the pirated content, but we are now disappointed to discover that you have redirected your site to one of our competitors. We believe this behavior is not in the spirit of fair competition and is not something we can support as a business.

As a result, we decided that we would not release the accumulated earnings you generated when you used pirated content to generate traffic.

We hope that you understand our position and that we can move forward in a positive direction. We value your partnership and hope that we can continue to work together in a mutually beneficial way.

[fuzebox]

I mean...

Play with fire, get burned. Sucks that they looked the other way for so long and are now taking a hard stance. Personally I would not have redirected to CB without getting the balance settled first. If you're going to do blackhat shit, you better get paid PPS

You will not find much sympathy from the average GFYer though.

[AmeliaG]

Originally Posted by fuzebox

I mean...

Play with fire, get burned. Sucks that they looked the other way for so long and are now taking a hard stance. Personally I would not have redirected to CB without getting the balance settled first. If you're going to do blackhat shit, you better get paid PPS

You will not find much sympathy from the average GFYer though.

That should be like a framed needlepoint or Tshirt:

If you're going to do blackhat shit, you better get paid PPS

I know some people just have ROI equations which are easier with PPS, but I always have found preferring PPS a lil sus.

OP, were you redirecting specific content SEOed for Stripchat to Chaturbate or did you just 301 the whole project?

[mopek1]

The issue here is that the program gave you a green light and then decided to reverse course. You were honest with them beforehand so I don't care what the T & C are.

Call me old fashioned but a handshake is a handshake.

[cshive]

Originally Posted by AmeliaG

That should be like a framed needlepoint or Tshirt:

If you're going to do blackhat shit, you better get paid PPS

I know some people just have ROI equations which are easier with PPS, but I always have found preferring PPS a lil sus.

OP, were you redirecting specific content SEOed for Stripchat to Chaturbate or did you just 301 the whole project?

All domains (so the whole project) had a wildcard redirect.

[r16]

Originally Posted by cshive

All domains (so the whole project) had a wildcard redirect.

Just curious, how much make per month from them before get banned ?

[RyuLion]

What's your URL?

This one is down: cshive.com