Some people talk about pirate sites, but my preference is to call them Archive Sites because of the invaluable public service provided by keeping material in circulation that would otherwise be unavailable, even for large sums of money because many videos did not make it to VHS, much less DVD.
It continues to shock me that there are Jeff Stryker and Harry Reems videos that are not to be found at any of the Archive sites investigated so far. That's just ridiculous, given the profound impact both of these performers have had on movies, pr0n, and American culture in general as gay-for-pay has been shown to pay off bigly for the performer, in the case of Stryker, and oral sex is mainstreamed not just in secret, but in public. Without Reems getting off down Linda's throat in a movie that got above ground promotion and attention, it would not be possible for rimming to be a discussion in Hollywood films today.
Perhaps no one else thinks about the historical purposes served by a site like this, but some of the old stuff is blazingly hot even now. Brad Posey comes to mind, a Southern California photographer who found horny young hunks, surfers and skaters in particular, and got them to wank sensuously for the camera. Not clear whether they were enjoying favorite positions they had discovered in the very few years since they discovered how to make their sperm fly, or trying out Posey's suggestions to hump the bed… and the couch... and anything else he could think of.
The early stuff from Club1821 has low numbers and was still somewhat experimental, somewhat of a novelty, with each scene not yet reduced to formula. HOT SESSIONS numbers 5, 7, and ten are unavailable here, though lots of people must have them and could upload if they want.
HOT, HARD & SOLO is another, similar Posey series where those in later years and numbers in the 20s, build off his earlier popular successful releases, but those are in surprisingly short supply here. Number 3 and teen spunkathons numbered 7 and up to 16 are major gaps waiting to be filled.
Obviously, one point of this message is to encourage people to fill in some of this missing history of teenage studs gloriously celebrating the new skills they have only fairly recently discovered -- puberty revelation these fit young fuckers already excel at turning into great white messes of orgasmic fecundity, naturally doing and enjoying what cums naturally as they revel in a hand debauch we all can identify with.
But it also can be a good opportunity to discuss my notion, surely not original with me, that porn sites are as much an important means to preserve and transmit culture and history as sites that restore original soundtracks to television shows once noted for their hip musical flourishes that fell victim to costly copyright issues for DVD release and lost much of what made them famous to begin with.
Some Archival Sites do yeoman work in creating subtitles, cleaning up inferior copies, and digging up treasures otherwise lost to the public, though they may be in studio storage vaults in cans gathering dust. Some, as indicated, struggle with sound or color fading. In the same way that a fan site can assemble photos, "pirates" (aka researchers, and in the case of porn studies, what someone elsewhere in these Forums called "doing god's work") can make the world better for all of us.
In the case of This site, availability is a major part of releasing sexual tension, but there is also a wonderful array of knowledge where comments note other names for some performers, help identify names and titles, and so on. Lots of seeking, finding, gathering, assembling. Whether big-dicked Rod Spunkel, whose face is not his fortune, is a discovery that leads a researcher to seek out as many of his performances as possible, or someone like Richard Sutherland, a str8 man who loves playing with his nipples as he fucks, just uploading even a single file can set someone off on a long, pleasurable hunt for more of the same.
Old magazines (and new ones, for that matter) can also be hard to find even at online specialty shops. (Try bookfinder.com, which indexes every online sale from Amazon to eBay to individual bookshops and see how scarce all this stuff really is.) Again, it is fans who spread the word and provide resources for researchers interested in everything from "the fag dies" theme in commercial films (as famously documented in "The Celluloid Closet") to melon fucking.
Whether it is untrimmed pubic beards to body shaving, ink, and piercings, just having so many options available helps track changes in body presentation.
Okay, lots of self-serving pbi's-- Partially Baked Insights. If ya got one of the missing links mentioned above, please upload them here and get points for yr efforts.
If you have thoughts on the utility of "pirate" sites helping uncover history, those would be welcome as well because the world changes rapidly around us. Ask friends under 30 to name their favorite b&w movies, or identify Mae West, Jimmy Stewart... for pete's sake wtf was Paul Newman before he ever dressed a salad?
Don't you think their world is poorer for not knowing such things?