Update on the other review site

[bobchitown]

I just happened to go to Male Escort Review (MER) for the first time in ages since a link in a posting here directed me there.

 

I was amazed to see a note from the webmaster on the home page proudly announcing 10 years of reviews and how happy they were to be able to carry on the Hooboy tradition! WTF? For a site that seems to be mostly dead, it seems like the height of arrogance.

[+ Lucky]

Well, Bob, MER has 17,000 members versus our 2600. So you see that math isn't their forte!

Here is the note that is posted on their homepage:

Webmaster Announcement It is hard to belive that we have been around 10 years now. Hooboy gave us the first review site in 1999 and we have carried on his tradition since his passing. Thank you Hoo for such a great tradition of excellence! We are honored to carry on your name and the traditions of the escort review.

We wish all a wonderful New Year and hope all your dreams come true!

 

So, belive it or not!

[+ Lucky]

The first post in the Pub, MER's version of The Lounge was four years ago:

 

Posted 06 January 2006 - 09:19 PM

I am REALLY impressed with this site! :-)

 

Clearly the management spent a lot of time on design, etc. I can't sey enough good things about it.

 

Good Luck!!

[Guest ryan2552]

Well, Bob, MER has 17,000 members versus our 2600. So you see that math isn't their forte!

Here is the note that is posted on their homepage:

Webmaster Announcement It is hard to belive that we have been around 10 years now. Hooboy gave us the first review site in 1999 and we have carried on his tradition since his passing. Thank you Hoo for such a great tradition of excellence! We are honored to carry on your name and the traditions of the escort review.

We wish all a wonderful New Year and hope all your dreams come true!

 

So, belive it or not!

 

This is a shock. Isn't it time to let HB RIP already. I do not consider this site or the other site part of his legacy. I don't feel either webmaster has ever been able to capture let alone maintain HB original vision. Since the original HB site was never continued their is no person or site that has been crown his successor. Since he apparently did not leave a will no one not even his close friends can truly know what he would have wanted. To continue to drag his name about X amount of years after his death is a sin.

 

Shame on you mer.

[Luv2play]

I agree. The original HB site is dead and gone. The reviews it contained are not available but as time goes on, they would be increasingly irrelevant anyway. It would be nice to go back to the old threads on its Forum however for those of us that participated there.

[Guy Fawkes]

I agree. The original HB site is dead and gone. The reviews it contained are not available but as time goes on, they would be increasingly irrelevant anyway. It would be nice to go back to the old threads on its Forum however for those of us that participated there.

 

and I know that your wrong! I believe that the following is the incident that caused me to take over the M/C from Hooboy.

 

http://www.companyofmen.org/archive/index.php/t-34693.html

[Guy Fawkes]

This is a shock. Isn't it time to let HB RIP already. I do not consider this site or the other site part of his legacy. I don't feel either webmaster has ever been able to capture let alone maintain HB original vision. Since the original HB site was never continued their is no person or site that has been crown his successor. Since he apparently did not leave a will no one not even his close friends can truly know what he would have wanted. To continue to drag his name about X amount of years after his death is a sin.

 

Shame on you mer.

 

Excuse me! But your not being very fair to MER nor myself. I said much the same thing that MER did when I updated the remembrance page: http://www.daddysreviews.com/content/press/rememberance.php on 1/1/2010.

 

Most of us in both organizations were close friends of Hooboy, several of us had business relationships with Hooboy. Your speculations are both incorrect and unfounded.

[+ Lucky]

I certainly feel that escort review sites carry on what Hooboy started. The humor in the MER announcement was the hint that they had been around for ten years. But, I have long teased them about their membership counts, so why not a little more fuzzy math? It's all in good fun, I am sure.

 

On a side topic, I note that the Daddy's review site claims "we are working hard...' to get the reviews from before 2005 up. I'd ask what specifically they are doing that causes them to work so hard with so little results, but, the truth is that reviews from 2005 and earlier are pretty irrelevant now, so , hey, stop working so hard!

[Guest ryan2552]

Excuse me! But your not being very fair to MER nor myself. I said much the same thing that MER did when I updated the remembrance page: http://www.daddysreviews.com/content/press/rememberance.php on 1/1/2010.

 

Most of us in both organizations were close friends of Hooboy, several of us had business relationships with Hooboy. Your speculations are both incorrect and unfounded.

 

I also disagree fully with what your wrote back then as well. Because you worked directly with or for and or were friends of HB does not give you anymore right to his thrown than it gives Totally Oz.

 

You and Totally OZ are well aware there is no will related to the site and without HB actually willing his site to either of you there is no heir. Now that is not speculation that is factual.

 

Also factual is that his family did not want his site to live on and decided not to sell the domain or old reviews. Which is a shame because HB created for escorting what Google did to search engines or Amazon did to online shopping or Ebay did to online auctions.

 

As for your friendship it appears HB had many good friends and I'm sure you were one of them. I know his passing really upset you via your posts here and hopefully with time you are healing.

[Luv2play]

and I know that your wrong! I believe that the following is the incident that caused me to take over the M/C from Hooboy.

 

http://www.companyofmen.org/archive/index.php/t-34693.html

 

I stand corrected. I didn't realize the old archives of the forum were available. I thought the whole of HooBoy's site had stayed with his estate. Sorry.

[Guy Fawkes]

Where were you?

 

I also disagree fully with what your wrote back then as well. Because you worked directly with or for and or were friends of HB does not give you anymore right to his thrown than it gives Totally Oz.

 

You and Totally OZ are well aware there is no will related to the site and without HB actually willing his site to either of you there is no heir. Now that is not speculation that is factual.

 

Also factual is that his family did not want his site to live on and decided not to sell the domain or old reviews. Which is a shame because HB created for escorting what Google did to search engines or Amazon did to online shopping or Ebay did to online auctions.

 

As for your friendship it appears HB had many good friends and I'm sure you were one of them. I know his passing really upset you via your posts here and hopefully with time you are healing.

 

"Where were you?" You see, I remember every one of the people from the site that showed up to support the family when Hooboy passed away. I remember the memorial, his mother, his sister, his friends. I remember the group of us agreeing to step back so that the family could have their time.

 

"Where were you?" that day they buried Hooboy under a cloud that will forever stain all the people the went to that burial. I remember two of Hooboy's friends having a meltdown so severe that they never recovered from it and will have to resolve that fight in the next life because StevenB was tragically taken from us a year or so later.

 

"Where were you?" that entire year we spend donating our time and efforts keeping the site going for the family while they figured out that only value of the site was intangible.

 

"Where were you?" When we met a year later for the remembrance and it became obvious that it was time move on.

 

It is so easy for you to blightly pontificate on something that is obvious that you know so little of. The reviews are still here, The message center is still here, and I am still here. Totally Oz and I may completely disagree on what the "Hooboy" legacy consists of; However we've been here for the last ten years supporting this fragile community that a great man created.

 

You and a few other like people however are one of the reasons that we're having problems healing. Your mixing of half truths and speculation does nothing useful.

[+ Gar1eth]

Excuse me! But your not being very fair to MER nor myself. I said much the same thing that MER did when I updated the remembrance page: http://www.daddysreviews.com/content/press/rememberance.php on 1/1/2010.

 

Most of us in both organizations were close friends of Hooboy, several of us had business relationships with Hooboy. Your speculations are both incorrect and unfounded.

 

What year did Hooboy start his site--could it have been as far back as 1997 or 1998? I broke my leg the 1st weekend in 1998--and thinking back it seems to me that maybe Hooboy's Review site may have helped me fill the empty hours. I was out of work 4 to 5 weeks because of the leg fracture. Whenever it was I remember being afraid of signing up to post in the Message Center initially--well from my over 1000 posts, you can see I seem to have surmounted my fear.

 

Gman

[bobchitown]

As the OP I'm rather sorry that I tore open this old wound. I was surprised to hear the relative membership numbers, and wonder how well that reflects actual users/posters. Here you can do everything except post without a membership, there you pretty much need to join before you can do much of anything. I'm sure that has something to do with it.

[Boston Guy]

What year did Hooboy start his site--could it have been as far back as 1997 or 1998? I broke my leg the 1st weekend in 1998--and thinking back it seems to me that maybe Hooboy's Review site may have helped me fill the empty hours. I was out of work 4 to 5 weeks because of the leg fracture. Whenever it was I remember being afraid of signing up to post in the Message Center initially--well from my over 1000 posts, you can see I seem to have surmounted my fear.

 

Gman

 

If I recall correctly, the very first version of the software started in something like February, 1998. That version of the message center only lasted for a few months. HB wiped it out and replaced it with with another version, losing all of the original posts in the process (to my utter aggravation ). The second version was also replaced, about 18 months later. The third version of the software was the one that stuck.

 

I think... the details are getting hazy now.

 

BG

[MsGuy]

I was surprised to hear the relative membership numbers, and wonder how well that reflects actual users/posters. Here you can do everything except post without a membership, there you pretty much need to join before you can do much of anything. I'm sure that has something to do with it.

 

My take also. I believe I read somewhere that behind the curtains the board here is actually a separate auxilliary site linked to the review site and MER is one big combined site. Apparently running as a single site creates security problems that require logging you in each visit before you can be permitted to wander freely. But I'm no kinda tech head so I'm probably misunderstanding something.

[Guy Fawkes]

Hooboy's First Review

 

What year did Hooboy start his site--could it have been as far back as 1997 or 1998? I broke my leg the 1st weekend in 1998--and thinking back it seems to me that maybe Hooboy's Review site may have helped me fill the empty hours. I was out of work 4 to 5 weeks because of the leg fracture. Whenever it was I remember being afraid of signing up to post in the Message Center initially--well from my over 1000 posts, you can see I seem to have surmounted my fear.

 

Gman

 

We don't know exactly. I do know that his first review was of Aaron Lawrence:

Review #1, 08/1999

 

Reviewed by HB

I give him an A+++ and would gladly engage him again.

Highly recommended.

 

Experience:

Aaron is heavily advertised and he lives up to everything that is said about him. Before you hire him, I recommend you take a look at his free website,

http://www.aaronlawrence.com.

There you will really get to know him and appreciate what a professional he is.

 

When I called him, I was surprised that he answered the phone himself -- no annoying answering service, no beeper, just "Hi this is Aaron." I was in a bit of a rush because I had a plane to catch and asked the impossible, "Can you make it into Manhattan, have some fun with me and make sure I'm on way out the door to make my plane?" His mission, should he accept it, meant he had to rush to NYC within the hour and take care of me in the next hour. Wham, bam thank you sir!

 

He is very short, very cute and extremely smart. He immediately set me at ease with his easy going manner and clever patter.

 

When we got down to private moments, he excelled. Not only does he have a humongous Dick that rages hard quickly, but his focus the entire time was on my enjoyment and making sure I was happy. .. He also has a set of tapes and a book. Aaron is interesting, he's cute, adorable, well-endowed, talented and takes customer service seriously.

[Boston Guy]

I'm not doubting your information but I find it difficult to reconcile with my very strong memory that we were discussing escort reviews as early as 1998.

 

Ah, well, that particular bit is probably lost to the dustbins of history.

 

BG

[+ Charlie]

I'm fairly sure that the site was quite new, and rough around the edges, when I discovered it in Nov. 1999.

[JT Brooklyn]

Aaron Lawrence

 

"Aaron Lawrence"..There's a Working Guy Name from the Past!

 

He generated a few Interesting Pro & Con Threads on HOOBOY.

[justaguy]

Copies of his book, The Male Escort's Handbook, are being sold from upwards of $160. Go goin Aaron!

[Guest ryan2552]

"Where were you?" You see, I remember every one of the people from the site that showed up to support the family when Hooboy passed away. I remember the memorial, his mother, his sister, his friends. I remember the group of us agreeing to step back so that the family could have their time.

 

"Where were you?" that day they buried Hooboy under a cloud that will forever stain all the people the went to that burial. I remember two of Hooboy's friends having a meltdown so severe that they never recovered from it and will have to resolve that fight in the next life because StevenB was tragically taken from us a year or so later.

 

"Where were you?" that entire year we spend donating our time and efforts keeping the site going for the family while they figured out that only value of the site was intangible.

 

"Where were you?" When we met a year later for the remembrance and it became obvious that it was time move on.

 

It is so easy for you to blightly pontificate on something that is obvious that you know so little of. The reviews are still here, The message center is still here, and I am still here. Totally Oz and I may completely disagree on what the "Hooboy" legacy consists of; However we've been here for the last ten years supporting this fragile community that a great man created.

 

You and a few other like people however are one of the reasons that we're having problems healing. Your mixing of half truths and speculation does nothing useful.

 

You have selective reading.

 

I never said anything about the message center not being here never said that you or Totally Oz were not around. But do not underestimate my knowledge of the situation. That would be arrogant and a incorrect assumption by you.

 

What I have said and will say for the last time is both you and Totally Oz feel you are a heir to what HB created. Neither of you were handed the keys to the kingdom by HB.

 

Both of your sites are based on a vision that HB had and executed. All your site and Totally Oz site is doing is trying to recreate what HB did neither of you have added any innovation to the genre of escort review sites. Both sites are a rehash of the amazing original.

 

After 3 posts my point is understood or not .. either way doesn't matter to me in the long run. Doesn't change the fact the HB's site no longer exists. Doesn't change the fact that many of us have been around from the very first few days of the HB site being hosted on a free service .. you and Totally Oz are not the only ones who have been around from the start.

 

 

OK this is your site so I will let you have the last word.

[Guy Fawkes]

The Final Word...

 

You have selective reading.

 

I never said anything about the message center not being here never said that you or Totally Oz were not around. But do not underestimate my knowledge of the situation. That would be arrogant and a incorrect assumption by you.

 

What I have said and will say for the last time is both you and Totally Oz feel you are a heir to what HB created. Neither of you were handed the keys to the kingdom by HB.

 

Both of your sites are based on a vision that HB had and executed. All your site and Totally Oz site is doing is trying to recreate what HB did neither of you have added any innovation to the genre of escort review sites. Both sites are a rehash of the amazing original.

 

After 3 posts my point is understood or not .. either way doesn't matter to me in the long run. Doesn't change the fact the HB's site no longer exists. Doesn't change the fact that many of us have been around from the very first few days of the HB site being hosted on a free service .. you and Totally Oz are not the only ones who have been around from the start.

 

 

OK this is your site so I will let you have the last word.

 

Talk about arrogant, you've shown more than a bit of that. You've also shown that you didn't know what the situation was or even who the players were. Starting in early 2000 I became one of the originators of the site and the technical expertise behind the site.

 

I particularly object to your putting words in my mouth and your feeble attempts to denigrate the ten years of effort that I've invested. I was a partner and I was perfectly willing to take that matter to court, something the estate decided that they did not want to contest.

 

This site is a continuation of the "Vision" that Hooboy and I both worked on. There was no need to recreate, the look that you see now was already well under way and was one of the three looks that He and I considered. Just as the next version of the site is reaching completion in the wings.

 

Your suppositions are incorrect no matter how many times you shout them from the roof top. The site started out at Verio, and shifted to my computers when he got his first $4,000 invoice, that happened in the first few months of his operation. A fact that you can verify in this Message Center's archives which strangely you believe doesn't exist.

 

The The Site still exists, Reviews still exist, The Message Center still exists, and I am still here. That being said, you don't get to decide who gets the last word. However, I do...Thread closed.