PlanetOut's Gay.com spent untold sums of cash revamping its infrastructure in the past few months, which was most visibly seen with the relaunch of its chat program — easily the most used feature on the site.

Except ever since the gay hub debuted the new version of its site at the beginning of the month, Gay.com has been plagued by downtime. By our rough science, it's been offline more than it's been online. Quite embarrassing for a company that's already had its fiscal misadventures widely reported (Queerty included), but we imagine few of you care how this affects the accounting books than it does your online cruising.

So, you tell us: How has Gay.com going offline hit you? Fewer hookups? Are you just signing up for Manhunt.net instead? Or are you suddenly abstinent? Hitting the bars more? Or banking on monogamy?

Queerty will have more on the problems festering at Gay.com — but first, we want to know if it's really affecting you, or if Facebook already supplanted the site.

(And yes, we're prepared for any number of you saying how irrelevant Gay.com is, because it's just a place to hunt for sex, and why should you care. But that's idiot logic, because plenty of fags use the site quite often. Sometimes daily.)

And below, Gay.com's open apology letter to members.

CONTINUED »

Gay folk continue to capture the collective marketing eye. And so they should!

A survey of 2,259 adults found that 68% of self-described gays are more likely to buy from a company they find gay-friendly. And there are definitely companies - and methods - coming out on top:

Bravo, Apple, Showtime, HBO, Absolut, and Levi's, are the gay-friendliest brands, while WalMart, Dunkin Donuts, Cracker Barrel, Exxon Mobil, and Samsung earn the lowest marks from gay and lesbian consumers, according to the 2008 Prime Access/PlanetOut Gay and Lesbian Consumer Study released today.
…
The study also reveals that 71% of gay and lesbian consumers said they have a more favorable impression of companies or products that feature gay imagery in their advertising. Howard Buford, president and CEO of Prime Access, noted that Levi's, one of the top gay-friendly brands, recently
featured a gay couple in television advertising.

In Absolut's case, we're assuming that includes their now famous 8-inch advert.

Citizen Culture publisher Jonathan Feit drops 768-words telling us what we already know: the media hopes to pocket the pink dollar. As historically gay media companies like PlanetOut attempt to keep up with the ever-changing queer culture, Time Warner Cable, Viacom and other giants have launched a war for gay viewers. This war, he says, provides an example of a "quiet media war" in which companies are both grabbing gays and avoiding right wing outcry. It's a delicate balance.

Well-written and thought provoking in terms of media as activism, Feit's "A Quiet Media War" also takes a stab at historical analysis:

…San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom compared today's equality struggle with the civil rights battles of the mid-20th century. Two key distinctions separate the otherwise parallel culture shifts: On-demand and globally accessible media has utterly revolutionized how we galvanize opinion. And unlike the African-American community 50 years ago, today's GLBT community commands intellectual and tangible resources that make it a sprawling, amorphous, international and upwardly mobile gatekeeper.

No wonder people are afraid of us! We gays sound horrifying, like some sort of pink gelatinous monster. The Glob?!

It's been a little over two months since gay media giant PlanetOut put itself on the auction block. So, what's happening with the company?

First and foremost, book wholesaler Bookazine snatched up a piece of the company's Publishers Distributing Company, which includes Bruno Gmunder Verlag and Starbooks Press.

Meanwhile, PlanetOut's magazines, including The Advocate and Out, remain the big mystery, with sources telling us more people were interested in a buy than executives anticipated.

While nothing's set in stone, there are murmurs that Regent Entertainment, which owns queer cable channel here!, has been circling the gay glossies. One speculator described a sale as "imminent".

Any one out there hearing more details on these developments?

How many people do you think saw this ad before in it appeared on page 62 of the most recent Out? We estimate at least three (designer, copyeditor, sales representative), but possibly more.

One alerted PlanetOut staffer had this to say, "Jesus Christ," while another offered "careless whisper". Both responses are apt, we think.

In an effort to save its seemingly sinking brand, PlanetOut appointed Out EIC Aaron Hicklin as the company's Editorial Director. In addition to working with other editors under the media umbrella, Hicklin will "play an integral role in the development of the digital media aspects of Gay.com 2.0 and will serve as the creative visionary behind the re-launch of PlanetOut.com," says an internal email.

Hicklin couldn't be more excited, squealing via email:

I’m delighted to be given the opportunity to work with the editorial teams in the Planetout family in pursuit of a more integrated and comprehensive editorial strategy. It’s a big task, but we have some tremendously talented and resourceful people working for our print and online properties, and I’m looking forward to meeting with them all in the next month and listening to their suggestions and ideas as we continue to build on our already considerable achievements.

In "the next month"?! Oh, right - it's a planet. Hope Hicklin packs a lunch!

Here's the entire aforementioned email from CEO Karen Magee. It's a truly remarkable read.

Dear Colleagues,

It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Aaron Hicklin
as Editorial Director for PlanetOut Inc. At the same time that Aaron
assumes responsibility for all of the online and magazine content
created across our company, he plans to continue in his role as the
Editor in Chief of Out.

In this newly created position, Aaron will work closely with the
Editors in Chief of each of our magazines, and our digital editorial
team, to ensure that we are maximizing our editorial resources and
talent across all of our properties. He will play an integral role in
the development of the digital media aspects of GAY.COM 2.0 and will
serve as the creative visionary behind the re-launch of PlanetOut.com.

All of you know Aaron as the immensely talented editor who, along with
his terrific team at Out, has completely redesigned and re-launched
that magazine over the course of the last 18 months. What you may not
know is that Aaron previously served as the Editor in Chief of
BlackBook magazine and as the Executive Editor of Gear magazine. Aaron
transitioned into the US magazine market from his position as the
Features Editor for Scotland on Sunday, prior to which he began his
career as a contributing writer for The List (Edinburgh) and The
Independent (London).

Please join me in congratulating Aaron on his new role.

Karen

PlanetOut's stocks tumbled this week after the gay media company announced it may sell itself to the highest bidder. We've been hearing murmurs of staff shake-ups - event marketing director Chip Stevenson, media man Rich Rodriguez both out - but our details are hazy, homos!

Meanwhile, a reader has also been picking up some chatter:

I've heard that some very prominent people over at LPI have resigned and that a few others have been let go. At The Advocate mostly. You might have already heard about this but just in case you haven't…

Any of you kids got the goods?

Gay media company PlanetOut lost even more luster yesterday.

Shares of PlanetOut Inc. sank to an all-time low Tuesday after the media company… said it may sell itself.

PlanetOut shares fell $1.45, or 23.4 percent, to $4.75 in early afternoon trading. Earlier, the stock traded as low as $4.65 _ its lowest since a reverse stock split in early October.

A PlanetOut spokesman wouldn't tell the Washington Blade whether any companies have come knocking.

PlanetOut's still struggling! Despite selling RSVP Vacations and splitting its stocks, the gay publishing company - which brings us Out and The Advocate, among others - simply can't find the cash to stay afloat.

In an effort to keep from going under completely, the company's reportedly looking for a sugar daddy:

PlanetOut announced today that it has begun searching for potential buyers after reporting losses for seven consecutive financial quarters.
…
PlanetOut also announced that it will no longer be providing quarterly or annual earnings guidance and will not hold quarterly earnings calls; instead the gay media conglomerate will report its earnings information through its periodic filings with the SEC.

The announcements came today after the close of trading, where the company's stock finished unchanged at $6.20 per share, having hovered between $6 and $8 since September, when the company announced a 10-for-1 reverse stock split so that share prices would not dip below $1 per share — the limit allowed on the Nasdaq.

Without that reverse split, PlanetOut would be trading at 62 cents per share, a calamitous drop from its $15 per share as recently as January 2005, and $10 a year later.

God speed, gay publishing, God speed…

It's official! Out owner PlanetOut officially signed over RSVP Vacations to Atlantis. Here's a publicist approved note:

PlanetOut Inc., the leading media and entertainment company exclusively focused on the gay and lesbian market, today announced that, in accordance with the previously announced agreement with Atlantis Events, Inc., the sale of RSVP Vacations to Atlantis has been completed.

On a related note, PlanetOut's stock has lost 24 cents since this morning.