Shok has been in the industry for 10 years now. He currently
works at SICCash.
This was a live interview done directly on the board, this
is the thread.
JBM:
How did you get in this industry?
SHOK:
Around 1996 or so I was on aol experimenting with webpages.
I was obsessed with my hit counter. I was always interested
in seeing how many people I could attract to my pages.
One day I put of a topless chick picture and my hit counter
went nuts.
So everyday I kept adding more pictures I stole off other
site.
I had no idea I could make money from this, I just liked
watching my hit counter go up and up. Eventually I got up
to 28,000 hits a day on my AOL page and they shut me down.
I was totally bummed out. A friend of mine said he would
get a server and a real domain if I could figure a way to
cover the costs That's where it all began.
JBM:
Where did you work before adult?
SHOK:
Right before the adult think I was working for my dad's company
making inkjet ink for banking firms around the world. I ran
the warehouse and did all the shipping.
JBM:
Tell us about your first site
SHOK:
my first site was entermy.net
it was basically a bunch of free sites all packaged together.
we had mooning chicks, porn from the 1800's, chicks who sit
on scanners and scan their asses and boobs, it was great.
at it's peak we knocked persian kitty off the #1 spot on
sexhound and we were in the millions of hits a day
JBM:
What happened with your partner?
SHOK:
My partner was also my friend that I grew up with. We were
best friends. When the money was really rolling in at some
point he decided he didn't want to split it anymore. I remember
it was around thanksgiving and I was gonna take a week off.
I flew my whole family down to New Orleans and we had thanks
giving on Bourbon Street. That night I fired up the laptop
to check some server stuff and could not get in. All the passes
had been changed. When I landed back in town I went straight
to the office and all the locks had been changed. He fucked
me totally. It was really a dumb idea on his part because
he had no idea how to work on web pages or update the sites.
So within 3 months the sites had lost 80% of the traffic.
I was pissed, but luckily I had made alot of friends and Nancy
(Grammacash) immediately gave me a job working on her sites
which was what I needed, plus it was good to see how other
peoples sites were being run.
JBM:
How do you feel the TGPs affected this industry?
SHOK:
TGP's killed the easy money almost overnight. You could literally
watch your income drop everyday as the tgp's spread. Of course
at the time those guys didn't know any better. They just wanted
the traffic. People had to scramble to find other ways to
make money, because the bannerfarms could no longer make a
buck. But now they are still here and we just have to work
with them as another stream of traffic.
JBM:
How was the atmosphere in the affiliate world different 10
years ago from today? More specifically the legality issues
of internet porn.
SHOK:
Back in the early days, no one was quite sure if what they
were doing was legal or not. Alot of people lived in fear
of having their doors kicked in by the cops at 2am. I like
alot of people, tried to keep a low profile, just cause you
never knew.
Today people flaunt their stuff and don't seem to worry at
all.
JBM:
Tell us about your job at Cyberotica.
SHOK:
When I was running my own site, I was friends with Sharky
and Ron Levy. I had made alot of traffic deals with Ron and
he gave me special payouts and stuff.
When Sharky found out what had happened with my partner he
told me that they needed webmasters and asked me if I was
interested. I came on and for awhile didn't really know what
I should be doing. So I just made a bunch of free sites for
them plus made loads of banners and fullpage ads. They were
growing really fast. I remember every show I went to I met
more and more people they had hired. That's when I met BigB
and really got to know J$tyles. Eventually we undertook a
huge project which had us hire about 100 webmaster to makes
thousands of sites. I was one of about 5 other webmasters
that managed that entire group. It was very challenging!
JBM:
You also worked for Join4Free aka WEG. Tell us about that.
SHOK:
During that last year at CE I was doing a lot. I had started
working on their RiskyMail mailer on top of the webmaster
project. The names Jason and Jordan kept coming up more and
more in my circle of friends. When I was at the New Orleans
show, I met Jason just briefly while he was talking to RRRed.
Also KimmyKim mentioned their J4F program to me. It was just
starting out and they were growing the company.
They had hired RRRed and Brandi who used to work at S.I.C.
Cash. A few weeks later Jason contacted me on icq and we chatted
a bit about the program. Then he told me he was coming through
Dallas and wanted to know if we could have dinner. So we met
and hit it off. We got along great and he told me they were
looking for someone to help rep the company plus run the mailers.
It seemed like the perfect situation.
I took the job and it was great. We were a small family type
operation and everyone got along great. This is when I met
Gabe. Gabe and I were meant to be together for life after
the first time we met. He sat down at the table across from
me and we were introduced.
I said "Hi Gabe, I want your dog inside me after dinner"
and winked at him, and he choked on his salad. It was awesome.
Anyway J4F grew into a giant program and eventually it kinda
changed. I mean Jason and Jordan were still great guys and
all, but it kind of quit being a family environment and more
of a corporate thing. After a few years RRRed was leaving,
they had hired some other people and it felt different. Jason
and Jordan were taking a more hands off approach and turning
it over to other people. I liked it when they were hands on
better.
JBM:
How did you meet Brad?
SHOK:
It was 97 or 98. Brad was getting ready to come back from
College. He made a post on Ynot looking for other people in
the Dallas area. I emailed him and he invited me over for
lunch.
We went to Uncle Julios and split some fajitas and talked
about biz.
He was getting ready to open his program at the time.
After that I saw him alot, but never in town.
One time I took a vacation to Lake Tahoe. One night I decided
to go eat at the Sage Room at Harveys. I walked in and there
was Brad waiting for me. It was freaky. We made sweet love
that night and rode a bicycle made for 2 all the next day.
JBM:
How did you end up working at SIC Cash?
SHOK:
Over the years Brad and I always talked about it
back and forth. The timing was never good though. At the time
I was involved with Boobiebuck which wasn't exactly lighting
the internet on fire. We started talking again and went back
and forth for what seemed like a few months. Finally we came
to terms the day before my second set of twins were born.
I started work one week later. We are coming up on 2 years
already, time really flies.
JBM:
You have been in the industry longer then Brad, yet you work
under him. How is that possible?
SHOK:
Thats pretty easy. I was never willing to take the risk that
Brad was. I feel much more at home in a team environment working
with others to achieve a common goal.
As long as I can pay my bills and my family is happy, then
I'm happy.
Like Brad says "Mo Money Mo Problems"
I don't need the headache.
JBM:
How did you get your nickname "Shok"?
SHOK:
I get asked this ll the time.
It's really kind of boring.
Back in 92 or 93 I was into competitive shooting. Race guns.
Modified .45 caliber pistols made to shoot very accurately
and quick. I don't know why I was into it, but like any hobby
I get into, I go way too far. I even loaded my own ammunition.
I had a mini bullet factory in my apartment. My bullet of
choice was the "Hydro-Shok". Guys at the range joked
with me about it because it was a high dollar bullet and I
should be shooting with something really cheap, but I liked
these. Eventually they all started calling me "Shok".
About that time I found the internet on prodigy and AOL. I
wanted to make my screenname "Syko", but it was
taken, so I just used Shok and here we are.
Actually I kind of want to start changing my handle again
to my name but I'm not sure still.
JBM:
Where do you see the industry heading in the next
couple of years?
SHOK:
Keeping pretty much the same path it's been on with
the majority of traffic being controlled by fewer, larger
companies.
More and more newbies who purchased a ready to go page off
Ebay looking for instant wealth.
JBM:
Any advice for newbies?
SHOK:
I have never really been a fan of newbies. A lot
of guys like to embrace them and take them under their wing.
I never could understand that. Why not just cut them a piece
of their affiliate check every month and make them go away.
More newbies just makes the shrinking pie even smaller.
So my advice is to kill yourself.
JBM:
Who is the real pioneer when it comes to doing webmaster
interviews? You? Sleazy? Luke?
SHOK:
Well actually Sharky was doing these on webmaster
radio way back in 98. Luke has done alot of interview, but
most of them are not webmasters, although one time he did
write that I was the mastermind behind Cybererotica's success
so I got to give him props there
JBM:
Tell JBM the stories you told me and Jim about people
dying right infront of you (2 or 3).
SHOK:
Man you liked those stories way too much.
When I was in 7th grade I was playing catch with a friend.
After a few throws he said he couldn't catch his breath and
had to sit down. He was getting dizzy and laid down. All within
like 3 minutes his stomach started swelling and blood started
coming out of his ears, eyes and nose and he died right there.
A main artery connected to his heart had burst. He had a defect
from birth that no one knew about.
A few years later a girl in the parking lot at school was
sitting on the hood of a car and slipped and landed on her
head. Just like that, she died.
A few more years later a friend of mine was driving in front
of me. He went around a curve too fast and got sideways and
caught the guardrail. It didn't seem like a bad accident.
When I went to the car he was gasping for air like a fish
out of water. I couldn't figure out what was going on, then
I saw that a part of the guardrail busted open the back of
his head and his brains were coming out. That totally freaked
me out so bad I couldn't drive a car again for months afterwards.
I still drive through that curve everyday on the way home
and think about it all the time.
JBM:
What is your backup plan incase GW shuts down every
porn site?
SHOK:
I guess I could always go back to working at my dads
company.
Butt oddly I have a strange fascination for auto sales. Everyone
hates car salesmen, but I always wanted to try it once in
my lifetime. I think I could make a shit load.
JBM:
Tell us a funny story from your "hard rock"
days.
SHOK:
God there is so many and they are all equally funny.
Lets see, I once got in a fist fight with Pat Travers when
I walked in on him shooting up. He freaked out and lunged
at me. He was like 45, I was 19, I kicked his ass.
Remember Pat Travers? He had like one hit, "Snorting
Whisky, Drinking Cocain" oh and "Boom Boom Out Go
The Lights"
I hope to see him on Behind The Music someday.
I was electrocuted in Lawton Oklahoma once. Hooking up some
gear into a breaker box with a bunch of metal bracelets on.
I tasted nickels for a month after that.
We opened for warrant once in Denver. The bass player was
so drunk that we started fucking with him, unplugging his
bass and shit. He had no idea. Before their set was over,
I had completely ductaped his arm to the back of his bass,
no one even noticed.
In Colorado Springs we had a huge biker following. One night
they got me to go back to the clubhouse. I only remember bits
a pieces of that night, but it was pure craziness. I woke
up on the bathroom floor with my pants around my ankles and
in a pool of piss. I don't even think it was my piss. But
they gave me a jacket and made me an honorary member of the
Son's Of Silence.
JBM:
Who is the best looking guy in the office?
SHOK:
Helen
JBM:
How long do you think nick3131 will last in SIC?
SHOK:
Hove you ever seen that movie Trading Places with
Eddie Murphy?
I keep thinking that Brad and Chris are the two old guys and
you are Eddie Murphy.
All of this was done over a $1 bet.
Soon you will just disappear and Brads dogs will become much
fatter.
JBM:
Tell us something about "Shok" that nobody
else knows.
SHOK:
hmmm lets see
I went to a speach therapist until 3rd grade because I couldn't
talk correctly.
I have seen Jim and Greg naked. Greg more than Jim.
I like getting shots in my mouth from the dentist. It's a
weird fetish I guess.
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