Originally posted by BDBionic
Tell us how GWW came to be.
It’s actually a long story but I’m gonna tell it anyway - because not a lot of people ask LOL

Once upon a time in a land far away from where I am now (NJ to be specific) I started pushing porn. And from the beginning, I pushed gay porn. Back then I had no intention of staying in the online porn industry, it was going to be a fast way to pay some bills (and you could make fast money then) and I was going to use what I learned and move on from there…

During the first 3 months of working free sites I started working with Samantha on her click through program. When I tried to promote it to the gay market, I found out that there was no specific place to present it. Now this was 1996 and we really only had YNOT, the Condom Project and Top Niche as the prominent webmaster resources and directories out there. I found a group of gay webmasters trying to create a community named IGGW - The International Guild of Gay Webmasters. At first the guild was an honor to join. At first - so becoming a member was a big deal for someone in porn. I was as active as our local chapter would let me. I would talk to the founders more than the guys running the local. I liked the concept but it wasn’t an easy thing to get off the ground. It soon turned into a power play between chapters and the whole thing fell a part!

Aside from the guild, I found one posting board site that we supposed to be the best gay resource out there. In fact no one posted, nothing was updated and any new submissions made were ignored. I later found out it was online as a joke. The people behind it should have taken it seriously, because I wasn’t the only one trying to get and share info.

So during all of these goings on I helped build an adult site called Gay Wide Web. It was supposed to rival Ab Male and Bad Puppy. But the owner was so homophobic, which I found out after the fact, that it never had a chance at making it. He closed it 3 weeks after opening it. At which time, I bought the domain name from him. I didn’t think I could afford the content or server costs so the site went away (If I only knew). My idea was to build a community site, directories, personals, etc (a site like Planet Out before Planet Out was even online, actually). Since I was thinking on a large scale I thought webmasters who would want info on Gay Wide Web would need a site to look up our guidelines, info and such so I bought the domain Gay Wide Webmasters. (Remember this was before I understood third level domains and dot info sites LOL)

Time marched on and while I was doing my free sites and helping people market their gay sites through email, I started to accumulate my own set of information on the gay porn markets. I put the links on a page and stored it off one of my small sites. I used to refer my friends to it for info. I was also gaining some notoriety for myself because I started the argument on YNOT ‘Gay isn’t a niche; it’s a market. You’ll see.’

In 1999 I got a call from Rick (the original owner of YNOT) about a job selling ad space. So in January 99 I packed it all up and moved to CA. About 7 months into it I realized LA and California really weren’t for me. The East coast was calling me back. So when I was leaving I asked Rick if he thought creating a gay webmaster resource was a good thing. I wanted to do one but wanted his blessing before I did anything. His comment was, “if anyone in this industry could do it, it’s you, Ga.”

That night I went online and bought a link script, a posting board script, had some logos and banners made by my buddy Mike at Webair. Over the next two days I manually input all of the information I had accumulated. I put it all together and had no clue what I was going to call it all. I started searching for name and everything I thought of course was gone. Then I looked at my list of domains and remembered I owned Gay Wide Webmasters. Viola!

So there you have it… the story - from a page of links in a free site subdirectory to what we are today.

The past 5 years have been a trip for GWW and me. The site has evolved, has been rumored to fall, grown again and has become more than I have ever expected it to be. We have the community that I longed for from the IGGW, a site that shares info with EVERYONE and satisfaction that I was, at least one of the firsts that took a gay market resource site seriously.


My best,
Gary-Alan