An exasperated reader just sent us this love note:

As awful and as incorrect as this sounds: WHY IN GOD'S NAME IS NO ONE REPORTING ON THE FACT THAT MANHUNT HAS BEEN DOWN FOR TWO DAYS?!

To answer your question, sexually frustrated reader: we don't know anything about it. We're not big Manhunters. The men come to us, you see, thus we've really no need. But we're sure some of you low down dirty skanks out there knows a thing or two, so we'll graciously accept any information you can provide.

Hopefully this will start a tidal wave of concern, otherwise Gayville will be consumed by a tidal wave of pent-up sperm. That would be horrible. And messy.

Some of you are quite familiar with the online space devoted to hooking up. Perhaps too familiar? Gay.com might exist at the more mundane end of things, but sites like Manhunt.net and Squirt.org exist for the sole reason of pairing up guys for anonymous sex. And when you're in the business of matching sex partners, surely – within the depths of morality – these services bear some responsibility for encouraging safe play among their membership. And then you see that just about every third ad lists someone looking for "PNP" and there are chat rooms strictly devoted to barebacking. So what's a hookup site to do?

Manhunt.net is taking a novel approach: It hired a safe-sex outreach advocate to chat among the horny troves, bringing up safe sex methods to prevent HIV and other STDs among the "hrny bear lking 4 NOW" and "young hung twink needs daddy." No word yet – and perhaps there never will be – on whether screenname "VIPBoy" is yielding many results, but now it's time to push for more than just one paid chatter to be responsible for the masses.

Gay internet dating service has a safe-sex message [Pink News]

There are plenty of sites devoted to your Xbox, PS2, and myriad offshoots — but GayGamer.net seems to be the foremost destination for those addicted to their PSPs who subscribe to Electronic Gaming Monthly and Out. "For boys who like boys who like joysticks!" is GayGamer's tagline, and it makes plenty sense: The site takes a look at the queer side of gaming, from the homoerotic appeal of game characters to the hotties pushing all the right buttons. Oh, and they've got your standard gaming geek info on the future of E3, but you're headed over there for the skin pic analysis, aren't ya? (NB: Seems the gayest content can be found in Japanese games. Who knew?)

GayGamer.net (via)

When it comes to planning our excursions, usually we first hit up Kayak, Orbitz, and Travelocity to find a decent airfare. Then it's off to Tripadvisor to read hotel reviews, so we know which new bloated display of luxury is going to offer free wifi and an International Herald Tribune each morning while still situated close enough to nightlife that we can stumble home without finding a metro stop. But a whole new web service just entered the fray, adding the MySpace factor to travel. It's called Tripmates, and it's hoping to be the stepping stone between getting the travel bug and showing off your holiday photos on Flickr.

Founded by "Los Angeles’ hottest under 30 power couple, entertainment lawyer Sam Rogoway and publicist Emily Dahlberg" (from the press release, hah), Tripmates takes new factors into consideration when traveling, such as your relationship status and whether you're looking for a traveling partner. (Thus far, however, we're disappointed that it doesn't take your sexual orientation into account, or at least offer to.) Throw in features like blogs, photo albums, travel log, and destination forums, and you're looking at an excuse to lose hours as you throw darts at the map on the wall.

The signup process was pretty easy (though our "dream destination" of Antarctica wasn't recognized as valid), though like any new launch, Tripmates suffers from the inevitable lack of community (read: forums are all but asleep) so far. But even MySpace had only a few members when it first started, so there's plenty of room for Tripmates to grow. And as avid travelers ourselves, you might find us as one of the most active charter members.

TripMates

We realize that Google's Arabic translation tools are still in Beta, but we're happy that the folks at the Middle East Gay Journal spotted a big, fat mistake in the way it translates the word "gay." We'll have to take their word for it since we can't read the Arabic alphabet, but when the word "gay" is entered into the tool, it returns the result "luti," which comes from the name of the prophet "Lot" in the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah and basically means "sodomite."

While not as offensive as "fag," the word is still inappropriate and the Middle East Gay Journal started a letter-writing campaign that prompted Google to promise to fix the error, which they claimed was a result of using inaccurate online dictionaries.

Google vows to change derogatory gay translation [PinkNews]
Middle East Gay Journal [Official Site]

Even though we're hunting through MySpace to find some lookers, not everyone's convinced the social networking giant's pretty factor is high enough. Enter 24-year-old model Jesper Lannung. So turned off by "poseurs and wannabes," he's starting his own social networking site — but only the hotties need apply. ModelsHotel.com is taking the Friendster trend to a new niche; the same way A Small World is only for the wealthy, Lannung's site is only for people who wouldn't look out of place walking a runway. In fact, if you don't walk the runways, you probably won't make it past registration: you need to be registered with one of the "top 50" modeling agencies to snag a username. Is Models Hotel taking superficial to a new level? Certainly. But it sure makes finding a hot housemate that much easier.

Models Hotel
MySpace, But For Models Only [NY Mag]

It's MySpace meets MTV or, rather, MySpace meets your iPod. While blogs like Stereogum and Fluxblog can help introduce you to new music, a new service launching today aims to match your musical preferences with its entire membership roster. Instead of making MySpace friends through a common interest in, say, Beverly Hills 90210 reruns, MOG will put you in touch with the same folks who enjoy T.I. and The Sounds.

Granted, you have to download the service's software to take part, but given MOG's backstory – started by a former MTV marketing exec – we've got a good feeling it's the logical next step to Pandora. Now you just have to figure out who you're going to put in your Top 8: the guy across town who only likes Britney Spears mash-ups or the Aussie who's going to introduce you to The Whitlams.

MOG

KnowThyNeigbor.org, a website launched in Massachusetts to identify residents who support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, it spreading its roots — to Florida. The controversial site, which lists the names of anyone who signed a petition to get the gay marriage ban bill in front of Congress, has teamed with a Jacksonville church to raise awareness of the gay marriage debate.

The sites's supporters claim the searchable database meets two goals: fighting signature fraud and providing a means to engage in "open and meaningful dialogue" with petition signers. Others (the most vocal, of course, on the right-wing) are more skeptical: the site could just as easily be a means of breeding intimidation in those who don't support your views. That is, the same way publicly listing the names and addresses of abortion doctors and supporters can encourage violence against them, even a list of publicly available information could do more harm than good.

Another website to list gay-marriage foes [Boston Globe]
KnowThyNeigbor.org

Online dating not scary enough for you already? Try dating in the hetero world, where your online profile (and real life details) might end up on DontDateHimGirl.com — a website where women sound off on the losers they dated.

While Kevin Federline's name has yet to pop up (we're guessing), men whose names do appear on the site are, predictably, quite upset about it. One of them is Todd Hollis, a private attorney whose listing on the site is accompanied by plenty of negative reviews, where women "accused him of giving them a disease, dating two people at a time and being bisexual or gay."

Now Hollis is taking DontDateHimGirl.com to court on charges of defamation, though the website's operator, Tasha Joseph, is taking a hands off approach: as a web service provider, she claims, she isn't responsible for the content on her site. And if the courts rule in her favor, we just might have a business proposal for Tasha: DontDateHimBoy.com.

Man Fights Back After Bad Dating Reviews Online [ABC 7 Denver]

When Orbitz first launched its specialized gay travel section a few years ago, we were delighted to see even us "outcasts" were being welcomed into corporate America. And now Yahoo, the search behemoth, is making a move that just might steer us away from Google for a few days. The Sunnyvale, Calif. company just launched a Gay Pride microsite, bringing together Flickr-powered photos, Upcoming.org-powered events listings, dating, and custom answers to any questions you might have.

All of this just in time for Los Angeles Pride, which kicks off in West Hollywood Park. Well, the parade begins there, but the partying will certainly begin in full force at The Abbey. Naturally, we want your photos, so bring your Nikon along with you and keep our email address close.

And whatever you decide to wear to Pride, it might be wise to remember which stores aren't welcoming your cash.

Yahoo! Gay Pride
LA Pride

(Click image for larger version)

Your ability to update your MySpace page during work? Being able to hit up BitTorrent for and endless supply of gay porn? Surely you don't take those freedoms for granted, because so much of the world will never be allowed to do any of that, let alone have an email account that goes unmonitored or read any online news source of their choosing.

It doesn't begin and end with Google pairing up with the Chinese government to offer a toned down version of its search engine. From Cuba – where a "black market in Internet access has sprung up," which we've seen first-hand – to Vietnam and China, many of the world's citizens with access to the Internet aren't seeing the whole picture, thanks to government censorship.

But America's federal government isn't the only bloated bureaucracy that has a hard time with tech. Since many countries rely on out-of-the-box solutions – the same software moms and dads pick up at Best Buy – they're easily circumvented.

But it's still too soon to know whether censors will be able to keep the Web under heel. Most governments are not sophisticated in their attempts at censorship—they rely on simple filtering technologies that can be defeated by a determined political opposition. Even in China, information is seeping through. The regime is having trouble staying on top of the 111 million residents now online—less than 10 percent of the country's population. It's hard to imagine how it will keep up as that number swells.

Though if you read the New York Times Magazine article on Internet censorship in China, the picture seems a little brighter: citizens, it's argued, just don't want to escape the censorship. Or at least that's true for citizens willing to have their names in print.

The Web Police [The Atlantic]

Even if you're only a casual observer of all things MySpace, you've probably come across a few news articles about the social networking realm. Friendster is passe, MySpace is the shit, and a whole new crop of competitors, like TagWorld, are gaining momentum as the next "It" social site. And while all of these sites seem to be overpopulated with hipsters, the gays have taken to 'em from high school age to professionals. Who needs Gay.com anymore when MySpace can link all your previous partners, help you find news ones, and let you blog about it at the same time?

While MySpace might sometimes seem like a homo haven (especially if you only click the profile links of young gay men), there are others betting it's not being all things to all gays. Enter EffinHot.com, a social networking service aimed specifically at gay men (and, we're guessing, the younger set). As the name might suggest, EffinHot is all about showing off.

Nothing about the new contender seems to rival MySpace's hoard of features, however. You can upload photos, add friends to your profile, list an item in the classifieds, and publish your own blog on both sites. You can customize your EH profile page with the same means as MySpace. Meanwhile, EH seems to suffer the slow speeds of Friendster: an immediate turn off.

All that said, the site seems to be in its baby phase. Its forums only have a total of 100 posts, though its photo gallery is already chock full of 20-somethings showing off. We're willing to revisit in a few months. Until then, you can find us, and your mother probably, on MySpace.