- the “pornfolio” will only be released after entry to the raffle is closed on Sept 2nd.
- the “rules” are fairly rudimentary. So many variables are left unattended, and there’s no obvious link to full terms and conditions.
- Who are these people anyway? If I suspect unfair dealing, I need to know who I’m dealing with!
- – no business address (except “located in Sherman Oaks and Venice Beach”),
- – no telephone number or e-mail address except for “nikiki@gazellemail.com” and “info@fuckraffle.com”. Gazellemail.com is a private server.
- – oh, and “Our Registered 2009 Adult Entertainment Expo Booth : Not Registered Yet”. So we can’t even call the Expo organisers to ask about this mysterious new company.
- there’s about 5 times as much information and detail on the entry portal to the “free tour” area of practically any adult website, as on the entire “fuckraffle.net” site.
- no detail on the business whatsoever. Oh, there’s this: “his is a promotional tool (*read: trade promotion*) to launch 1 New Adult Production/Distribution Company with its own apparel line, talent agency, barely legal Non-Nude model company, and one adult chat platform. We attend parties, shoots, and bump shoulders with adult talent every day. OMG, it is a porn conspiracy! We are the hottest buzz of Porn Valley, and the biggest secret.”

… so we’re being asked to help contribute capital to a new business we know nothing about, run by people who remain anonymous who don’t give us any way of being sure that any of them really exist.
… not only that, we are being asked to trust our money to these anonymous people to be treated as entry to a lottery for which the prizes are pretty nonspecific.

I’m not saying that it must be a scam just because there are some suspect features. The fact that there’s a PayPal page is somewhat reassuring – but then again, it seems to be connected to the nikki@gazellemail.com e-mail address so … who knows?

The troubling things for me are effectively twofold:
1) this kind of site could easily be put up by either legitimate upstarts with no idea how to conduct a competition like this properly – or a greedy individual out to make some quick cash
2) the prize on offer is too good to be true, but so good that plenty of people will lay down their $5, $10 or even $250 almost on a whim. Heck, I was just about to shell out $250 for a chance to chat with some of the industry’s biggest stars. But then I thought to myself:
- – - if this is a new upstart, how can they guarantee anything?
- – - the biggest and most popular stars are either already contracted to a company or working their own business.
- – - I have to put my preference down when buying tickets, and the scene selection is “subject to pornstar approval. Which would include, presumably, availability.
- – - I’m from Australia, and I’ve read enough “terms and conditions” on the back of chocolate bars and mail-in slips to have a few serious questions. Are they seriously going to fly me over there and put me up for 6 nights? If so, will I be flying first class or economy? Who gets the “LA Dream”, and who gets the “We CUM to you” prizes? How, where and when exactly will the draw take place?

As much as I’d LOOOVE to win either of those prizes … *sigh* it’s just not good enough.

I think I’ll e-mail them, see what they have to say for themselves. Will keep y’all posted.