@cuppednoodle I appreciate the effort it took to locate new imagery and assemble this full panel of proposed icons. As well, the B&W type effect is highly legible.

Many of these icons give me an immediate Aha! feeling, because the image clearly aligns with the category. With respect, a few of the icon images felt less connected, or had possible issues like "too dark" or "not quite a match."

For me, these would include BDSM, Black and Jock (dim lighting), Bears (needs hair), and "not quite a match" for Amateur (looks pro), Hunks (look like Jocks), and Youngblood (could be Daddies & Sons).

Again, these are one person's observations, overall it is very impressive work.

With respect, this is a file-sharing site -- it's as simple as that.

@bw170765 We are talking Reputation points, yes? To achieve a higher total, your post or comment needs to be "upvoted" by another member, each instance providing a point.

You may notice that your current total of one point translates to your one "Best Post" on your home page -- that comment received an upvote.

It's been my experience -- in the old and new Forums -- that posters get more thumbs up -- or points -- when they contribute items that are breaking news, or an interesting question that generates ongoing discussion.

Wishing people to have a good day, or other small responses, may be very positive and kind, but less likely to generate upvotes.

And sometimes I've written a topic that I thought was just crackin' good -- and no one replied, lol.

I'm sure your point totals will go up as your participation increases. Right now, other than climbing out of the Lurker category, I'm not sure of other benefits to running up point totals.

Perhaps some higher "point-total category designations" have yet to be reached by anyone, or perhaps this Forum is putting less emphasis on it. And frankly, I think that would be a good thing.

@bc22 I was pleased to see her nomination, too -- and while it's political, it's also human rights, LGBTQ and a dozen other areas of interest.

Certainly, with Dr. Levine we know that health issues of particular interest to the LGBTQ community will be addressed at the highest administrative level.

Oh, that Ricky got me by a single minute, because I wrote a book.

But it gives me a chance to reiterate, in the old Fourm, reputation points -- and the ability to be catty and assign negative reputation and the accompanying red reputation bar -- were widely abused by some of the biggest rule-breakers on GTRU -- those unkind souls are now banned and gone.

So, I'd rather keep the Forum simple, and not implement a system where people endlessly strive for points by adding material that, frankly, is often just clutter.

Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act.

The Act would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to protect people from being discriminated based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and other services, as well as access to public accommodations such as restaurants.

The final vote was 224-206, including the support of all Democrats and three Republicans.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/25/politics/equality-act-passes-house/index.html

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/24/969591569/house-to-vote-on-equality-act-heres-what-the-law-would-do

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56202805

https://www.washingtonblade.com/2021/02/25/house-passes-equality-act/

The bill needs support from at least 10 Republicans in the Senate to move forward, which is far from certain.

Some moderate-leaning Republicans are split: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told the Washington Blade that he wouldn't vote in favor of the bill, citing religious freedoms. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) co-sponsored the bill last year, per NPR.

Advocates for the LGTBQ community argue the legislation will help protect people in states where it's legal to discriminate on the basis of orientation, and add the law is long overdue.

Agreed with bc22 on the above. I began using a VPN about two years ago, after my South Florida TV/Internet provider sent me a DMCA notice about a current, premium-channel show.

The trend is toward Internet / wi-fi providers cooperating with content providers. And for now, the emphasis on "true" enforcement (litigation) seems to be shifted primarily toward public site trackers, although ones like TPB are quite adept at changing addresses, countries of origin, etc.

When your Internet company begins compliance, and if you use public trackers, it will only be a matter of time before you torrent a new TV series or studio movie that is being closely monitored by its creators or distributors, and a DMCA complaint is made.

Your provider sees you have been active and is likely to give you a warning, and I've heard that some will allow from 3 to 6 strikes before they terminate your service -- but you certainly don't want that. And will the torrent violations of terminated accounts be shared with the most aggressive content providers? Perhaps not now, not yet, but...?

So, you can either wait until your first DMCA notice, or more wisely, purchase a VPN soon. The faster VPNs, with more anonymizing locations/countries, are usually more costly. That's life. Make sure to read several independent reviews before you choose one.

I've never had a regulatory issue here at our beloved GTRU, but on those public sites, I'm much happier with the peace of mind a VPN provides.

https://www.livescience.com/pornography-sex-education.html

Porn Is the Top Source of 'Sex Education' for Young Adults

"...In a nationally representative survey, a quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds listed porn as their "most helpful" source of information on how to have sex. This made porn the most-mentioned source of information, even above asking one's own partner."

So...
At that age, did you get more sex information from porn, partners, friends, or another source?

While I'm aware no one asked for my opinion -- lol -- I like the third choice (B/W photo), as it captures Art though men in a sensual setting. It's clearly not porn, but it suggests that the unclothed male body is appreciated here!

I imagine there are other factors, such as how it will "blend" with other existing icons, and if the image works with the word "Art" superimposed across it.

I'm happy there will be a category for non-hardcore, erotic photography and nude performance art videos, for example.

@ricky See, I'm giving Ricky's last post an upvote, because I got him excited. The reasons for upvote don't have to be profound, but again, meaty responses (bwaaah!) will get you more uovotes.

While ironically, I stress, let's not make upvotes the raison d'etre for commenting and participation.

And for his generating a thread that led to some useful discussion, I upvote our original poster, bw170765.

@ricky That's a positive sign, and we can hope it's the start of a trend that continues. I've been to SE Asia a few times, but never there. I'd still be careful about meeting guys outside the right neighborhoods in the capital, but would love to visit!

Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act.

The Act would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to protect people from being discriminated based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and other services, as well as access to public accommodations such as restaurants.

The final vote was 224-206, including the support of all Democrats and three Republicans.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/25/politics/equality-act-passes-house/index.html

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/24/969591569/house-to-vote-on-equality-act-heres-what-the-law-would-do

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56202805

https://www.washingtonblade.com/2021/02/25/house-passes-equality-act/

The bill needs support from at least 10 Republicans in the Senate to move forward, which is far from certain.

Some moderate-leaning Republicans are split: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told the Washington Blade that he wouldn't vote in favor of the bill, citing religious freedoms. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) co-sponsored the bill last year, per NPR.

Advocates for the LGTBQ community argue the legislation will help protect people in states where it's legal to discriminate on the basis of orientation, and add the law is long overdue.

@ricky said in A very decent proposal.:

Maybe they take turns! I would! Ok, I would not (singing Married, But Not To Each Other) but that's besides the point!

It's the least I could do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeDeSnmkr0A

@ricky A zillion dollars if anyone can guess who's the bottom..

@bi4smooth said in I just wanted to share the logo:

Question though: what happened to the ability to edit your own posts?

My experience: We had editing ability, then lost it.

Also, the ability to "flag" posts has changed more than once.

That "three-dot button" at right seems to be in constant flux, as to its functionality,.

But for discussion or answers, I would advise you to either start a new topic thread apart from here in "logo land," or contact the Help Desk.

@raphjd said in Ari Gold, 47, Gay Musician, RIP:

@flozen

On a side note, he's not a real "Sir" as he was "knighted" by a "royal drag queen" from the Imperial Court of New York.

Yes, that's why I put the (Sir) in parens. As for the rationale behind his adopting it on social media, on the long-running HBO series Entourage, one of the lead characters, played by actor Jeremy Piven, was also named Ari Gold.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari_Gold_(Entourage)

(Sir) Ari Gold has passed away at 47 from leukemia. While he never quite broke out to mainstream radio as a solo performer, Ari had a long stretch of success within the LGBT and dance music scenes.

He sang backing vocals for Diana Ross and Cyndi Lauper, and later had several collaborations with RuPaul.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/ari-gold-pioneering-lgbtq-artist-dies-at-47/ar-BB1dHEv1

https://www.youtube.com/user/sirarigold

Curious if anyone here enjoyed his music. And while he wasn't the first, Ari did a lot for queer visibility in the recording industry -- out and loud and proud. RIP.

@ldavidbr Most of the content that is banned by GTRU violates site guidelines for the big no-nos: blood, underage, etc. So, why might the softcore Rowers might be a topic of conversation about banned content?

For a decade, the Warwick Rowers have sold videos and calendars as a charitable endeavor, promoting inclusion, LGBTQ+ rights, gender equality, anti-bullying, and better male mental health.

So, if a decision was made (or could be made) here to prohibit sharing WR content -- in the hope that people would, instead, financially support this very worthy cause -- I'm all for it.

In addition, the Rowers organization is now known as Worldwide Roar: an expansion that includes other sportsmen -- hooray!. Check them out at https://www.worldwideroar.org/

@cuppednoodle I appreciate the effort it took to locate new imagery and assemble this full panel of proposed icons. As well, the B&W type effect is highly legible.

Many of these icons give me an immediate Aha! feeling, because the image clearly aligns with the category. With respect, a few of the icon images felt less connected, or had possible issues like "too dark" or "not quite a match."

For me, these would include BDSM, Black and Jock (dim lighting), Bears (needs hair), and "not quite a match" for Amateur (looks pro), Hunks (look like Jocks), and Youngblood (could be Daddies & Sons).

Again, these are one person's observations, overall it is very impressive work.

Ricky, this is great news, as I have thousands of real and imaginary site-related issues that needed a complete resolution yesterday.

Seriously, though, you have an impressive skill set and ultra-positive attitude for the job at hand. Get 'em, tiger.