Used to be all it took to get into alternative porn — "alt," in the industry parlance — was a dream, a camera, a few piercings and an Internet connect. Now that dream is done, alt-porn veteran Lux Nightmare explains on Fleshbot. Why? In 2002, Visa- and MasterCard-affiliated banks began to require adult sites to pay $750 upfront to register and a $375 annual fee to process payments for site memberships. Then the government started requiring porn peddlers to keep more paperwork on their performers. Finally, alt-porn grew less "alt" as larger operations like SuicideGirls took over the market and began to play hardball with startups. "Most of the time," Nightmare writes, "their intimidation tactics work." Sounds just like Silicon Valley.

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