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Maybe you haven't heard. There are a lot of people who are getting more and more frustrated with Bear411. It looks bad, it doesn't work well, and the webmaster treats his customers like shit, but people keep using it because it's got lots of guys on it. Well you know what? There are alternatives. Now's the time to do something about it.
These are just a few of the reasons:
- Censorship. There's a list of words that are censored, and if your message contains one of them, it will be deleted without telling you and the recipient will never receive it. Messages with the names or URLs of other bear sites are also deleted without any notification. You might send a message to a friend and he'll never get it. In the "Buddybear communiqué" he wrote when this controversy erupted -- he's since deleted it -- the webmaster of Bear411 openly admitted that he does this, claiming that it's "spam filtering." And if you tell your friends you're going to another site, he'll send you a legal letter.
- Changed Profiles. If there's anything in your profile that the webmaster thinks is too commercial, even if all you do is mention that you're a comedian or an artist or a registered massage therapist, he'll edit your profile without notifying you. And good luck linking to a profile on any other bear site.
- Unfairness. Just ask the guys who run Bearcelona, the bear club in Barcelona, why none of their events show up on Bearguide.net, a sister site run by the people who run Bear411. Their events just don't appear there. Or ask the founder of Lazy Bear Weekend how Bear411's webmaster treated him.
- Discrimination. People have had their profiles rejected because they're too skinny or don't have facial hair, or just didn't look "bear enough." If you don't fit in or you're not the right color, you might not ever get your profile approved.
- Privacy. One person says he was kicked off Bear411 for sending messages to friends about a competing Bear site. How would the webmaster know what was in his messages to friends? Because the webmaster reads and archives private messages, and has admitted this in writing. There's no privacy policy on the site. Does the site comply with the requirements of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act? We don't know. The site doesn't say.
- Security. Because the site is coded poorly it's possible to circumvent the requirement to have to pay to get certain features; all one has to do is know the right URLs in order to do certain things. What's more, it's been demonstrated that the site leaks URLs allowing other people to view your pal list and your messages AND EVEN TO LOG IN AS SOMEONE ELSE! How many other security holes are there? Nobody knows.
- Bad taste. The site doesn't comply with web standards, is full of unprofessional and poorly written english, and is just plain ugly.
Sure, it's their site and they can do what they want on it. But nobody says that you should have to accept poor customer service, an arrogant attitude, and an ugly, poorly designed site just because it's been around for a long time. If you want something better, it's up to you to do something about it.
There are a few things you can do to try and change things.
- Speak with your wallet. Cancel your subscription. Go to another bear site. There are plenty out there: Bear 24/7, Beardar, Bearciti, BearForest, Bearfront, BearWWW, Biggercity, Big Muscle Bears, GayRoyal.com, Musclebear.com, and more. Set up a profile on one of those sites and start chatting there instead of on Bear411.
- Spread the word. Tell your friends why you've moved off Bear411. If you have a blog, write about your bad experiences on Bear411. Add a banner to your site or link to it so that everyone knows why they shouldn't use Bear411.
We're just regular guys. We're not affiliated with any of Bear411's competitors and we're not in this to make money. We're just people who are tired of Bear411, and we're not the only ones. One person has created a list of links to people who have had bad experiences with Bear411. Check what others are saying about Bear411.