Wetlook World Forum

To answer NC Greg's question first about when I first discovered wetlook (online that is...cos I have been doing this since the early 70's...and folks like Sopping and Wetfan were doing this in the 1950's and 60's)....from an online perspective...the wetlook community online was largely assisted by 2 things in the 1980's...and that was COMPUSERVE and Wetfan (and his newsletter). Compuserve and Prodigy were the only public email systems in the mid 1980's, and prior to the Internet...the only thing you could do was chat with others in their forums...so my earliest contacts with people online were via compuserve forums in the late 1980's. This ultimately led me to find Wetfan. The first known (official) wetlook newsletter was called "Pumping Water" in the early 1980's...and when that newsletter ended...Wet Fan took over as editor and created his own Wetlook Newsletter in the early 1990's...and in those days...this was the holy bible for wetlook fans...the best thing one could find on this subject matter. Wet Fan ran his newsletter for 5 years until the mid 1990's, and then the first evolutionary change happened...and the internet became widely available to the public in 1995. Rob Blaine and I were the first 2 wam websites to go online in 1995.

In 1995...you could count the number of wetlook producers and websites on one hand...and today you have well over 400 wam producers of all styles.

Addressing the point about why there were loads of free pics from producers years ago...and there appears to be less today and more producers have to have membership sites instead...there is an easy answer to all that. Back in the 1990's, most wam  producers financed their video productions thru the sale of video products. Models and Locations are not cheap, and the average video needs to sell quite a few copies before costs are recovered. The simple fact of the matter is...10 years ago...there were more wetlook videos being made...in a more lavish way (e.g. the elaborate productions made by Aquantics, Splosh etc)because there were very few sources for wetlook media on the net (no Webshots and no Southern Charms in those days) so videos were supported, and the producers were able to keep on making their productions, and could give away loads of free pics on the internet too...cos their productions were supported thru video sales.

The situation today has changed dramatically...aside from there being 400 more wam producers today than there was 10 years ago...more variety, more choice etc...you also have a multitude of "outside the genre" sources to entertain the wetlook fans...i.e. Webshots, Southern Charms, Nastschict etc. The wet fans no longer support the producers video products as they used to...because many satisfy their needs thre non wetlook sources like Webshots..and the only way to cover operating costs these days is to run membership sites instead. All the longtime producers I know (including myself) sell 80% less videos today than they used to 7-8 years ago. Many companies like Artscene  & Aquantics and Buff Films (Splosh)..just stopped making videos entirely. Others like Nigel have just had to slow the pace down for their productions, and some folks like me resorted to opening a members site instead...not cos I wanted to....but because I had to...in order to stay viable and to continue making further videos (the videos I produce mostly lose money...but I can make up the difference thru my membership site).

I do not believe anything has gone wrong with the forum....it is just the fact that times have changed...and the producers have to change as their environment changes. It is swings and roundabouts...i.e. while there maybe less free pics being posted today than there were a few years ago....you now have hundreds of Webshots and Southern Charms links to entertain you each week instead.

Also....the average wetfan is far more sophisticated today...than he was 10 years ago. Back in the 1980's...all you had to do was place one girl in a bath tub and turn on a camera for one hour...and everybody loved it. These days..unless you have great locations, great models, the best digital quality video , the best lighting, lots of different scenes per tape, the most interesting candid or public events etc...then everybody just yawns and clicks onto the next thing instead.

Also...because there is so much wetlook stuff flying about these days....wetlook complacency may have developed. Think back to what it was that caused you to get interested in wetlook in the first place. I know...for me...it was the site if the rare, the unsual...seeing something as a kid that I rarely saw. Thats why I think most of us are wet fans...and we would never look twice at a girl in a bikini...because if something is so common...then you have no interest in it.

That could be the danger with Webshots pics...i.e. you all see so many wet pics each day...that now this is becoming such a common thing to see...so what is interesting about wetlook any more...when you see dozens of pics like this every day...it is becoming passe' ....like working in a brewery...eventually you get sick of beer too.

Therefore...it is becoming harder and harder (no pun intended) to please folks on the forum these days...cos they can see wetlook every day from so many other different sources...

None of this means anything has gone wrong with the forum...it just means...times are changing. I agree with Ray...that many of us have now started to think about going onto doing other things in the future instead...me too...cos wetlook seems to have lost it's "thrill" to me these days.

Perhaps it is "age" creeping in...cos I have always said...that wetlook is a young person's sport (or hobby) and I enjoyed it a lot in my teens and 20's....but once you are past 30 and into your 40's...it is time to find other pleasures in life (take up cricket or bowls...ha ha).

I don't enjoy doing video shoots myself any more....it is just "a chore" for me to have to go thru the motions of booking models and dunking them in the pool". I get more pleasure out of seeing what the youngsters and new producers are doing....cos they bring some fresh ideas to the genre...which is all the more reason we should all support and encourage new people to the forum. Some of us have already had our 15 minutes of fame...and it's time to let the newcomers and younger producers show us their creativity now.

MK