Comments on 1476 | MetaTalk

At the moment, I'm working on the Valentine's Day section for my newspaper chain, and the topic of the centerpiece this year appears to be "cam girls". I've never bothered with them, so I know bupkis; anyone have links and enlightenment to get me off to a start?
posted by Perigee to general weblog-related at 6:21 AM (22 comments total)

Internet Gossip should be a good start. It focuses mainly on camgirls and the E/N scene.

You can also check out the Salon article on camgirls.

And for fun and nostalgia, check out the day survivorcam invaded MetaFilter and MetaTalk.
posted by dogmatic at 6:35 AM on December 6, 2001

Do we get a cut of your paycheck if we do your work for you?

Hey! Anybody want to do some accounting for me?
posted by ColdChef at 7:08 AM on December 6, 2001

The ultimate information portal for anyone (not just the ones who have "newspaper chain" and are "Gon Fishin'" with no emails in their profiles^*):
http://do.my.work.cause.i.am.a.notalentassclown.org
It really works!
posted by tamim at 7:30 AM on December 6, 2001

There's quintessential camgirl heartthrobs Chelle and Nay, and to get some perspective on the anticulture, you can look at Daign's camgirl/boy reviews and the Anti Webcam Girl Coalition. The above-linked Salon article is also extremely informative.

Writing for Valentine's Day this early?!? Wow.
posted by brownpau at 7:49 AM on December 6, 2001

dear internet:

how do i love thee?
let me take off my top
and you shall send me things
i would like a new camera
pretty please

happy valentine's day
posted by moz at 8:02 AM on December 6, 2001

Yep - Valentine's Day already. Just finished the December Holidays, so they shifted me onto the next. The rest of the staff have to do the real news, so when it comes to these special sections, I'm on my own from writing to build-out; so the earlier it's started, the better it can be. And the sucker has to be up 30 days before, in order to be (theoretically) sellable to advertisers.

posted by Perigee at 9:57 AM on December 6, 2001

I love the word bupkis.

I just was talking to my roomate who had never heard of the concept of "cam girls" before. I was finding it really hard to explain to him "well, they're sort of celebrities in their own little realm, but do a lot of their living in front of their cams sort of but not really for the benefit of other people's voyeuristic gratification..." He had never heard the term "fluffers" either though so he may be out of the loop a bit.

posted by jessamyn at 10:53 AM on December 6, 2001

So if you need a fluffer on Valentine's Day, log on to a cam girl?
posted by liam at 11:17 AM on December 6, 2001

Yo! Fluff my bupkis!

ba-da-bang-ba-da-bing!
posted by Kafkaesque at 11:19 AM on December 6, 2001

Kiss my bupfluff.

ba-da-bong! Definitely bong.
posted by liam at 11:30 AM on December 6, 2001

WordWizard Clubhouse: Leo Rosten wrote in The Joys of Yinglish (1989): bupkes / bobkes / bubkes / bopkes
From the Russian for "beans" and the Yiddish for "goat turd." Pronounced BUP-kes or BAWB-kes. Yinglish expletive used in show business circles to dismiss or register outrage over:
1. An offer or percentage that is so small, or so "insulting," that it should be dismissed out of hand.
2. An outrageously inadequate price or proposal.
3. Insignificant quantity, bordering on nothing.
4. A heated demarche, equivalent to "Nuts!" "Forget it!" or "Drop dead!"

posted by Carol Anne at 11:40 AM on December 6, 2001

...It's also the name of the song Rob Petrie helped to write that his friend stole.
posted by Perigee at 2:22 PM on December 6, 2001

When I think Valentine's day I think about barely legals behind webcams with amazon wishlists a mile long. Are you trying to make the holiday even more commercial than it already is? Is that possible?

posted by skallas at 3:27 PM on December 6, 2001

Actually, I'm more interested in the psychology of it, skallas - on both sides of the camera. Last year, I did a twelve page thing on Internet romance you may have seen listed here; and the company is looking for something with an Internet angle.

Love and romance is fine: but there's something in this, I think - some need for attention and validation that is not entirely dissimilar to our need for love. And even more interesting has to be the psychology behind the viewers - especially the ones who buy them things. Is it a vicarious relationship for them? Are they involved with someone in the real world? Is the engine of motivation in this whole thing simply the ultimate in safe pseudo relationships?

I dunno.

Maybe not, and I'll come up with the same flat surface you see; if so, well, I guess that's the story. But, I guess I'm gonna find out.
posted by Perigee at 4:18 PM on December 6, 2001

Peeping Moe. For all your camgirl/guy/couple needs.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:20 PM on December 6, 2001

I have to agree with Perigee here--it is a fascinating phenomenom. I was just thinking about it while vacuuming the hallways of the building this afternoon after binging on brownpan's links. All these wishlists and that same camgirl stare into the webcam. Exhibitionism obviously plays a part but certainly as a sex worker job it has the advantage that the only viruses you can catch from it affect only your hard drive. I suppose I like to look at naked women now and then as much as the next guy but there is something touching about it, too, to read their journals--it's easy to mock their greed and shallowness, and I do, but they are real people--and feel this mixture of lust, envy, a certain sympathetic joy and then this sadness at never being young again and foolish enough to think the world your oyster.
posted by y2karl at 5:50 PM on December 6, 2001

there is something touching about it, too, to read their journals

It's true. This used to take at least a century and a half. Chambermaids' and stable boy's diaries from the 1850's are promised in publishers' lists for Spring 2002, at $39.95, from obscure academic presses.
We're very lucky, I think, to have so many slices of life available, for free, with no emotional involvement and, like y2karl, I feel it's not only ungrateful but stupid to scorn them.
We should be porous, right? As we Jews say, who's to say our blood is redder than theirs?
(Though it's a pity they don't find us inturletktchual geeks half as interesting as we find them)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:12 PM on December 6, 2001

I think, to have so many slices of life available, for free, with no emotional involvement and, like y2karl, I feel it's not only ungrateful but stupid to scorn them.

Gawd Miguel, get off it. Not everyone's ramblings are some kind of poignant social statement. We're going to face the harsh reality that a lot of camgirls are exactly what they call themselves - CAMGIRLS. Girls in front of cameras being opportunistic about showing a little flesh and when successful getting prizes in return.

I've met camgirls, I've been to their sites, I've read some of their craptacular writings. Its as shallow as expected, but don't let the facts stop your rationalizations.

On the opposite side of the spectrum there are those who do it for the art and not for the prizes. Anna Voog comes to mind as a good example.
posted by skallas at 11:13 PM on December 6, 2001

Spoken like an Ultimate Pantologist.
posted by y2karl at 1:10 AM on December 7, 2001

but there's something in this, I think - some need for ...... simply the ultimate in safe pseudo relationships?

They take their tops off, men send them stuff. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Hypothesise all you like but at the end of the day, most of them have found a way to get stuff they otherwise wouldn't have from people they don't have to meet for very little work on their part. As deep as a puddle and about as stimulating (both physically and intelectually).
posted by Markb at 7:33 AM on December 7, 2001

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