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Sunday, February 15, 2009

I received word that Bear411 has sent a letter of cease and desist to the webmaster of Bear411Sucks, stating that Bear411Sucks is "deliberately attempting to cause harm to (their) client's trademark in perpetrating unfair use of Bear411)". The webmaster of Bear411Sucks has scanned and posted the legal letter on their site, which you can read here.

Bear411Sucks is a site which has been up and running for 2 years, making many claims against Bear411 such as security issues, discrimination and censorship. Bear411 countered this by creating Bear411Love, demonstrating that Bear411 users do 'love' Bear411 and the services they provide. I will keep you posted as more develops.

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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Everyone remembers Bear.net aka Bear Networks... right? It was one of 'the' Bear sites back when the net was in its infancy. Actually, (I might be mistaken here) but I believe it was one of the very first 'profile' sites, before there ever existed Bear411 or Bearwww.

Bear Networks opened its cybernetic doors back in '95 and for a decade it had some kind of influence on the internet Bear world. Thousands of homepages had a Bear Network link on their front page. But then one day, the site just closed down. I can't remember the reason why the site shut down (most likely because the site was much too work and not enough income came in from it, but that's just a guess), but once Bear Networks was no more, it felt like we lost something.

But then it came back... but then it was gone again... and then it came back. Yet each time it came back, it never reached the popularity it once had back in the 20th Century.

Now there is a new notice on the main page. Owner Dale Therio (who's an incredibly handsome Bear) is once again thinking of bringing the site back. From the main page: "What is going on with the site? Good question. Right now I am in the process of deciding if I will completely re-vamp the site at this time, or bring the site back online as it was before. Now is the time for you to submit your suggestions. And for those jerks that sent the nasty and harassing emails, you can go screw yourselves".

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

On the main page of UrsusMag.com, it reads "It's Over", meaning they are no longer running their site... however... they point us over to UrsusWeb.com, and once we go there, it brings us to 'another' Ning site.

What UrsusMag (articles) used to be (before it expired) was a profile site for Bears: create a profile - add photos - add a description, etc. We all know what a profile site is - the biggest for Bears being BearWWW and Bear411 and BearWWW... and the next-generation TubeBear right behind them. But they decided to no longer work on their own design and went over to Ning.

You don't know what Ning is...? Well from Wiki (here) "Ning is an online platform for users to create their own social websites and social networks". So what does that mean...? Well say you like buttons and you want to have a website which will connect people who digs buttons... rather than making your own site, you use the 'Ning' platform and everything is preset for you... all you have to do is wait for the people to sign up; essentially, Ning gives you the tools to make a profile page.

That's fine and dandy, however there are more and more people who are making Ning sites, it's almost becoming out of hand. There are at least a dozen Bear Ning sites, one for Chubs that I know of and several for Leather. And each time you want to join that Ning site, you have to make a new profile (altho you can use the same user/pw).

Again, from Wiki, Ning "Ning hopes to compete with large social sites like MySpace and Facebook, by appealing to users who want to create networks around specific interests or have limited technical skills"... In my opinion, Ning is a good idea, however once there are 100 Bear Ning sites and you have to create a profile for each one and add pics to all of them and remember which buddy belongs to what group, then these Ning sites become a chore.

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Friday, October 3, 2008

Got Fur? (website - you need to register - it's free) is once again holding their 'Best of the Bears' ballot. What this means is that you get to first nominate and then vote for what you think are the 'Best of...' in several Bearish categories. In 2006 (article) it was Bear411 that won for best website. In 2007 (article) it was BearCiti. Who's it gonna be for 2008...?

Below are the categories to nominate/vote for. Right now they are taking your nominations and they will be doing so up until November 15th. Then the voting will begin - and you'll be able to vote from November 16th thru December 3rd. Copy and paste and email your choices in:

Best Bear Website...
Best Bear Blog...
Best Bear Nonfiction Book...
Best Bear Fiction Book...
Best Bear Podcast...
Best Bear Porn Site...
Best Bear Video...
Best Bear Porn Star...
Best Bear Business...
Best Bear Celebrity...
Best Bear Publication...
Best Bear Club/Organization...
Best Bear Run...
Best Bear Bar...
Best Bear Fundraiser...
Best Bear Campsite...
Best Bear Accommodations...
Best Bear Play Party...
Best Bear Resource...
Best Bear Artist...
Best Bear Performer...