I used to pick the sites you saw first
For years I worked on the operator side of adult subscriptions. My job was the offers wall: which sites got the front row, which trial went on the banner, which rebill price was fine to leave in small print. I left when I understood that the part members never see is the useful part. Which networks still release, which trial converts above the monthly plan, which “new” site is an old one with a new coat of paint.
How I review a site
I join with a real card and keep the membership for at least a week. I read the checkout the way I used to write it: trial length, the price it converts to, whether downloads are in the plan or sold next to it, which boxes are pre-checked. Then I use the library like a member would, count what actually arrived in the last month, and check how many clicks it takes to cancel. Every price on a review page is one I was charged, and every “4K” claim was checked against the files, not the tour.
Each review ends with who should subscribe and who should skip it. If I would have put a site in the second row of the wall rather than the first, I say so.
What I don’t do
I don’t take a score from a press kit, I don’t rate a site I haven’t paid for, and I don’t recommend a trial without printing the rebill next to it. Reader votes on each page are separate from my score, and when the two disagree the page shows both.
Paige Holloway is a pen name. Every membership, every price and every cancellation on these pages is real.