The Internet Adult Film Database (IAFD) is an
online
In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...
of information pertaining to, in United States, the
pornography industry
The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related ...
:
actors,
actresses
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...
,
directors,
studios,
distributors and
pornographic films.
History
The predecessor to IAFD was
email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
- and
FTP
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data ...
-accessible database of adult film actresses called Abserver that had been created by Dan Abend in 1993.
IAFD was started by Peter van Aarle, who had collected data on adult movies since 1981, when he began keeping notes on
index card
An index card (or record card in British English and system cards in Australian English) consists of card stock (heavy paper) cut to a standard size, used for recording and storing small amounts of discrete data. A collection of such cards e ...
s on adult movies he had seen or were reviewed in ''
Adam Film World
''Adam Film World'' (''AFW'') and ''Adam Film World Guide'' (''AFWG'') were American magazines about pornographic film, starting in 1966 as ''The Adam Film Quarterly.''
History
Knight Publishing Corp. had launched ''Adam'' magazine in 1956 as a ...
''.
In 1993, he began contributing to the
Usenet
Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...
newsgroup
A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are discussion groups and are not devoted to publishing news. Newsgroups are technically distinct ...
alt.sex.movies, where he met Dan Abend. The two exchanged databases and began work on a
WWW
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
-based database.
Van Aarle later collaborated on this Web database with Ron Wilhelm, who went by the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
of "Heretic". The first version of the IAFD was brought on-line in 1995 by the programming efforts of Wilhelm, who used the project as a training ground for
SGML
The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML; ISO 8879:1986) is a standard for defining generalized markup languages for documents. ISO 8879 Annex A.1 states that generalized markup is "based on two postulates":
* Declarative: Markup should des ...
programming which he was learning in college. After Wilhelm left the Internet to join the military, the site eventually fell victim to
link rot.
In the fall of 1998, Van Aarle was at a
trade show with Jeff Vanzetti, who asked if Van Aarle would be interested in resurrecting the IAFD — this time under its own domain. Vanzetti was looking for a project on which to teach himself on-line database programming using
SQL Server, and this seemed like a natural fit, since they were both
co-moderators of the newsgroup rec.arts.movies.erotica (RAME), and members of the newsgroup would often
lament
A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about somethin ...
about the passing of the original Internet Adult Film Database.
The beginning of 1999 brought the first steps towards the relaunch of the IAFD. Initially, search boxes only searched females, and data was restricted to movies released post-1989.
Van Aarle said on this:
In those early days of the IAFD I had made one stipulation: I did not want the movie info on movies before 1989 to be available. The idea behind this was basically that if I would ever decide I wanted to do something commercially with my database it would be a good idea to keep the most valuable parts of it off limits. The data on older titles was clearly the most difficult to compile (and very few people I ever talked to had much info on the older stuff, with a few notable exceptions like Jim Holliday), and therefore the more valuable part of the data. The cut-off date of 1989 was a compromise to include at least the titles of Buttman
John Stagliano (born November 29, 1951), also known as Buttman, is an American entrepreneur, former pornographic film actor, producer and director who founded and owns the Evil Angel pornographic film studio.
Early life and career
Stagliano ...
, who was one of the most popular directors of the time.
Van Aarle died on September 18, 2005 at the age of 42 from a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
. In 2011, he was inducted into the
XRCO Hall of Fame.
On March 1, 2007, the IAFD rolled out information on over 18,000 gay titles and some 39,000 gay performers.
According to Vanzetti, IAFD adds about 500 new titles a month and processes thousands of corrections—corrections that anyone can submit for review. IAFD takes user corrections though forms on the site. The forms are not automated and corrections the site receives are manually updated after having been reviewed by the site's staff. IAFD has a "team of editors" that exercises editorial control over what's posted on the site: "If it's submitted by a fan of the performer and the working editor trusts the submitter, it gets listed. If it's published by someone else, it might get added—we are skeptical of user generated sites since anyone can submit anything to them regardless of accuracy and then it becomes 'fact'. Otherwise, no data."
IAFD's policy on releasing real names of adult film performers is: "The exception to this rule is when it comes to real names. We're not interested in linking your real name to your porn name, so if your real name appears on the site, we will remove it (assuming we know what your real name is). However, if your real name appeared on a boxcover due to a mix up in the Art Department, there's little we can do about that."
IAFD gets "paid by sponsors for ad banners", and they "get an
affiliate commission from products purchased" via the site.
Review and research
The site has been used as a reference by a variety of outlets that include newspaper articles, books, and research studies.
The academic and non-academic writing community has also used the site's information to varying degrees.
[ In 2011, the site released a report of compiled data for the year.] Included in the statistics released were the number of new titles added that year (9,384) and a ranking of who the busiest performers were. The report also included site data, such as that it was visited by 20.7 million unique viewers and that visitors to the site viewed nearly a quarter of a billion pages. An editor at ''AVN'' magazine stated: " tunderscores the fact that a lot of people not only like porn but want to research information about movies and performers."[
]
Media outlets
On October 1, 2007, an article about the Internet Adult Film Database appeared in the online equivalent of the Brazilian newspaper ''Folha de S. Paulo
''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in São Paulo by the Folha da Manhã co ...
''. Considered the "Internet Movie Database
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
" of the adult entertainment world", the site is also routinely quoted or referenced by the majority of the industry trade publications, such as '' Adult Video News'' (''AVN'') and XBIZ.
Deep Inside: A Study of 10,000 Porn Stars
On February 14, 2013, a study was released by freelance journalist
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
Jon Millward that sampled the data from 10,000 actors (7,000 women and 3,000 men) from the site to, among other things, compile a profile of the "average porn star" as well as generate some statistics about adult industry actors based on IAFD data. The study was written about several days later on Playboy.com. It showed that the typical female porn star was a five-foot-five-inch brunette with B-cup breasts.
The survey was started in 2011, with the researcher's first visit to IAFD.com, with the bulk of Millward's research taking place in the six months prior to the release of the study. For comparative results, the study also cites Center for Disease Control and U.S. Census statistics as well as information from a Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
linguistics professor.
The survey covers roughly a 40-year span of the adult industry and presents statistics on categories such as age, race, state of origin, chosen screen name, biological data (height, weight, hair color, etc.), and the type of sexual acts performed over an actor's career.
See also
* Adult Film
Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include eroticall ...
* Adult Film Database
Adult Film Database (AFD) is an English-language adult website database that attempts to keep records of all pornographic movies and adult film stars. This includes filmographies, partial biographies, reviews, labeled and categorized adult film ...
References
External links
*
"Remembering Peter Van Aarle"
''IAFD.com'', September 21, 2005.
*
{{Movie databases
American erotica and pornography websites
Internet properties established in 1995
Online film databases
Works about pornography