Long time listener, first time caller.
I've had quite the opposite. Phad has been nothing but polite and awesome with any technical problems I've had... it's the man's livelihood- I don't see why he gets demonized so much. Of course he is anti piracy, selling naked pictures of pretty girls puts food in his table and a roof over his head... and the girls earn a living from it too... and I'm guessing he cares about their livelihood a bit too.
I've pirated, and I've bought (a lot), there are pluses and minuses to both sides.
I feel way more "exposed" to content I wouldn't see otherwise in this environment, and the previews(see:thumbs) are better than 5 second gifs. With stars on them.
His whole business model could use some reworking from the "pirate" point of view.
Phad is a very forward thinking webmaster.
Compare him to pattycake-- look at the websites. Like take a good look. One of these sites is working WAY harder and producing cutting edge stuff... compare him to other tease sites too.
His model isn't doing the same twirl dance in a sheer top for 8 years like Christinamodel did.
The reason he has to be so hard on piracy is in this polish.
While we are doing it, compare his stuff to Nikki Sims too... while we are here... for the record I think she is hot as hell... but honestly I have zero interest in her content until there is a penis involved.
Like I am bored... the panda squad really do understand WHAT a tease is... and do it so well, even if it gets formulaic with the new models.
But every time there's a rare brookemarks zip set or camshow backlog built up I pony up. Because of the quality. I know what I'm getting, something REALLY awesome.
With all the positives though-- at the same time I think he is somewhat stuck in a non-innovative mindset in some big regards... he can take the whole thing further than he does.
I digress, I'm rambling I think he does a fucking great job and you'd be insane to think the SOLE REASON he doesn't want to take your money is because you were introduced to his content through piracy.
The whole point was-- he has to be hard on piracy, each one of the videos is a unique work, and not a mass produced sweatshop product like pattycake or Nikki sims.
It's like comparing a Rolex vs a mass produced Chinese watch. They both tell time... but A lot of work went in to one of them and you have to appreciate that and understand why he has to defend himself so much from pirates... and it's his prerogative to do so... they kind of own the thing.
Okay I'm done sucking Phads dick with praise now... everyone back to talking about naked ladies...
He's notoriously paranoid. If Phad even THINKS you visit sites like this, he won't let you join. He claims "someone" on his "team" banned you, and will say it's probably because you visit pirate sites. Doesn't matter if you actually post his content, the mere act of visiting a pirate site automatically makes you a dirty mean pirate who is trying to steal from him.
I joined a while back, but wasn't allowed to enter the site. They took my money, but no site access was granted. Emailed for almost two weeks, no reply. Then emailed the billing company, they spent a week emailing him and said he never replied to them either. So finally after three weeks I was given a refund from the billing company, since he refused to answer any emails.
It wasn't until I called him out on another board he was posting at that he finally addressed the situation with a "I don't know...but you visit bad sites, so you're not trustworthy" and my favorite line ever from a webmaster, the epic "you don't really seem like you want to be my friend". WTF!? I wanted to access content I paid for, not organize a friggin sleepover. He's moody and temperamental, for everyone who says he treats them well, you'll find twice as many who have dealt with his EMO B.S. and paranoia.
I'm not saying don't join...just proceed with caution.