Bakla Ako, May Reklamo?

I have already deleted my accounts in most of the gay social networking and dating sites about two months ago. This means that I should no longer be seen on sites like PlanetRomeo, Downelink, Connexion, Gaydar, Gay.com, etc.

However, recently, an office friend told me that he saw me on PlanetRomeo. I told him that I don’t have an account there anymore and that he probably saw it some two months ago. He retorted and said that it was fairly recent that he saw me there. Or at least he thought it was me. Apparently, someone thinks I’m goodlooking enough that they used my photo for their accounts.

So my dear friends who are on PlanetRomeo, if you see a profile with a photo of me, it only means one thing, the guy is an impostor!

To the impostors who use my photo, thanks. At least someone thinks I’m goodlooking enough to use my photo for the betterment of their dating and sex lives.

In 2007, I posted entries that listed different gay social networking or gay dating websites (Part 1 here, Part 2 here) that I could recommend for Filipinos here and abroad. When I revisited those posts about three months ago, I noticed that some of the sites are now non-existent or have been sold or have merged with other sites.

It’s now 2009 and boy how things have changed! Some of these sites have added new features or have redesigned the site and have changed platforms. And I think it’s about time I write an updated list.

Guys4men used to be the “it” website but when it merged (aka sold out) with PlanetRomeo, a whole new ballgame has started in Filipino Gay Social Networking and Dating Websites. The response to the merger was not that positive and its members went scrambling online, looking for a new place to meet other men.

The Filipino Gay, a blog that “has the ambitious proposal of providing an avenue for gays to open up themselves to people, explore their inner side, and create an interaction between ourselves,” has posted a paper on Online Gay Social Networking Sites: Effects and Marginalization. The paper “tends to focus on online gay dating sites, the trends, how the users utilize the possibilities of social networking, and present some issues resulting thereon.”

The 6-part series is a very good read! Here’s a list of the parts:
Part 0, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, part 6.

Here is my list (in no particular order) of online gay social networking sites for Filipinos (and admirers of Filipino Men):

1. GayRomeo (also known as PlanetRomeo: the Gay Romeo and Guys4Men merger)
2. Gaydar (dot UK or dot Net – the same)
3. Gay.com
4. Gaylog
5. PinoyG4M (a Filipino dating website running on a platform similar to Facebook; adapted the nickname G4M of the erstwhile guys4men)
6. SingleGuysManila (also Filipino-owned; running on the Ning platform)
7. DowneLink
8. Manjam
9. Manhunt (will undergo a system upgrade on July 15)
10. Connexion
11. Fridae
12. DList
13. DudesNude (similar platform with the old Guys4Men)

These are only the few that I know of (and have profiles with – except DudesNude). I’m such an online whore (but an offline bitch) that I have profiles with most of these sites.  What do I use them for? No, not sex. At least not anymore. Not since 2007. Now, it’s merely all about… social networking! Like seriously!

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Some random thought while doing Number 2.

Back in the heydays of my sex life dating life, I slept with met a lot of guys. And some most of them I met online – mIRC, guys4men, downelink, connexion, gay.com, manjam, gayromeo, gaydar, even craigslist. More often than not, I used mIRC as it was the quick and easy way to hook-up meet men (I think it still is to this date).

ASL. Stats. Name?

Name? Whenever I was asked what my name was, I would give an instant Marc. “That’s Marc with a C, by the way,” I said. Since I wasn’t out and since the gay community in Davao (then) was too small, I did not risk telling my men my real name. I’m not famous, but as they say, the gay world is really small. I wasn’t out then so I knew that if anyone from my university found out that I was gay, I would be in deep sh*t.

After I came out and after I moved to Metro Manila, I still used Marc. I named my gay self Marc Terrence Garcia. When I first chatted with him, I introduced myself to my first boyfriend as Marc. He, Mike. We both knew that those were not our real names but we just played along with it.

Eventually, the name Marc was getting too old for me. Besides, Kevin Garcia III sounded more “saleable” then. I thought Kevin Garcia III was gonna be my last online identity.  Until Andreii came.  Andreii Garcia, that is.  Countless men later, I decided to just drop the Marc, the Terrence, the Kevin, but kept the Andreii.  But whenever I talked to someone online, I’d tell them that my guys4men profile said my name was Andreii (with two unnecessary letter “i”s at the end) but they can call me AJ.

I wont pretend to be prude and say that I’ve only met quite a few men online, because most of the men I’ve met in my life, I met online.  What were their names?

Carlo, Mike, Miguel, Jeff, Mark, Marc, Josh, Joseph, John, Paul, Paolo.

These are the most common names given to me.  Were these their real names?  Some, yes. Most, not.

What about you, what’s your name?