The industry in it’s various forms is always splintered, and there is always the suck up factor. AVN awards are filled with companies that have ties there, the XBiz awards the same, and so on. It’s not really surprising.

It’s perhaps two things: The absence valid, non-suck up level business model to make an awards system that is self supporting, and the lack of a transparent and verifiable voting method to select the nominees and winners.

The adult awards are essentially an extension of magazines or online sites, which spend the other 364 days a year hitting these same people up for ad dollars. The temptation to tie an award to an account that pays you the most is pretty obvious.