Let me reference a couple of articles I found today.

Calling a Troll a Troll

BEAR | NOT BEAR: WAY TO BE A TROLL, ASSHOLE

I swear to God that I’ve talked about this before.  It sounds so familiar. 

Jabba The Bear Is Still A Bear

Oh yeah, I remember now.  I have this feeling that the creator of Bear | Not Bear, and the editor of Bear Magazine should hook up.  They both seem to have the same stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking, hair brained, bigoted nerf herder ideas of what a bear is.  I’m going to contend yet again that there is no solid definition of a bear.  Most, if not all of the images that appear on Bear | Not Bear are of bears.  He even posted COLTV010: Mr HOT Bear Contest ’09 Part 2.  As there is no contact information for the owner of the site, I have sent the request to the Tumblr Support Team.

This site is as offensive as the Bear Magazine’s editor’s comments on the Bear Community.  Every time I see something like this pop up, I’m infuriated.  This is not how the bear community was formed and I will not see this happen to it.  There’s more to bears then just fur, masculinity, and muscles.  Like all of mankind we are made in different shapes and sizes and there is no way you can give a solid definition of Bear.  I’ve always said that Husky, Hairy, and Homosexual was the closest, but I always say, “But that’s not completely true.”

When we start talking about labels within the bear community, I take them as a sign of our own diversity.  There’s Big Bears, Pocket Bears, Panda Bears, Black Bears, Muscle Bears, cubs, otters, puppies, wolves, and a plethora of other names.  In the end, we’re all bears.  Hell, even chasers and admirers are bears.  Anyone defined as just a bear to me means that he just can’t seem to be classified in one of the other subcategories.  Nothing wrong with that, you just don’t need another descriptor.

So, to you, owner of Bear | Not Bear.  FUCK YOU!

• Best Bear Performer – DJ George Roussus
• Best Bear Artist – Ruben Gauna
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• Best Bear Campsite – Grampians Retreat with the VicBears
• Best Bear Business – Cameron at Louie’s on Castro St in SF
• Best Bear Bar – The Ally Bar
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• Best Bear Run – Provincetown Bear Week
• Best Bear Fundraiser – Joe Mannetti
• Best Bear Podcast – Bears In The City
• Best Bear Publication – Bear Magazine
• Best Bear Website – Bearbook
• Best Bear Porn Site – BearFilms
• Best Bear Porn Star – Jim “Gagbear” Growwl
• Best Bear Video – BearCity
• Best Bear Resource – Scruff
• Bear of the Year – Scott Abrahams

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Anyone else think Bear Magazine are stuck up SOBs?

January 14, 2011 5:21 pm via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@Boxtech

Jeffery Anderson

I am very sincere in my apology, and hope that Bear Magazine will accept it. They won Best Bear Publication of 2010 fair and square. Who am I to judge the magazine for what it has done for the community, especially if people like it enough to vote for it?

Then comes the question. Will I retract my tweet? Will I delete it so no one will see it when “Bear Magazine” is searched for on Twitter? No. That’s the way I thought about it at the time. Okay, so this is all the editor’s fault that I think this way. And I don’t like the images in the magazine. All this animosity I’ll eventually get to.

On the other hand, ALL BEAR and Euro-Bear are both published in Europe and the voting for the Best of the Bears is strongly US centric; 100% Beef and A Bear’s Life both seem to be fading. Also, did anyone think that Harbour City Bears Weekly Newsletter would have won anyway? Bear Magazine has been continuing to publish and attempts to appeal to the Bears. Bears at Large? Not necessarily, but to Bears none the less.

So where did my opinion of Bear Magazine come from? Let’s turn back the clock to 2009 for a bit and visit Bear Magazine issue 69. In the magazine, the editor, whom shall not be named, wrote a scathing article about how chubby does not equal bear. (Planet Bears posted an article that linked to a response to the article posted to LiveJournal. Both articles post the contents of the original article for everyone to peruse.) In this assertion, he is correct. In order to be a bear, you do not have to be chubby. Although not to my personal tastes, muscle Bears and the not so chubby bears are still bears in their own right. Where he goes wrong is asserting that chubby bears are not bears at all. He claims that BearFilms and Cyberbears have been continuously creating chub porn without a fit bear in sight. I don’t know about you, but looking through at least the BearFilms.com catalogue, I find plenty of fit bears alongside chubby bears and otters. Yes, I’m calling bullshit on claiming that BearFilms and Cyberbears do not include fit bears. I don’t want to just call out muscle bears as some of the bears in Bear Magazine don’t have six pack abs. Some do have a little bit of a rounder middle, but you must admit when scanning through Bear Magazine or it’s X-rated companion BearPlay, they are all fit bears. Does this show as just the ideal for the bear community? Is there an ideal for the bear community?

I beg to differ. I believe there is not one. There are bears of all shapes and sizes, as well as color and creed. Should a magazine that is trying to represent itself as covering the entire bear community not show more of a variety of men? Maybe, maybe not. How can I put down someone with a particular business model? It’s their choice to only present these types of bears in the magazine. While some may think they really should be calling it Musclebear, they were the first to snatch up the name of Bear Magazine before anyone else did. 100% Beef came out of the original Bear Magazine and they show bears of all types without discrimination. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen anything of the original Bear Magazine, but I feel comfortable that 100% Beef continued the tradition that started with the original Bear.

Did the editor ever apologize to the community for his assertions? Nope. While in the next issue of Bear, there was a response to his article about how wrong he was. This was a letter to the editor and not from someone who was also part of Bear Magazine. In the documentary Bear Nation directed by Malcolm Ingram, the editor was interviewed about his article and claimed that he just wrote it to spark a discussion in the community, not to stick up his nose and alienate a good portion of the community. I’m sorry, Mr. Editor-In-Chief. I didn’t believe one word of it.

After this recent debacle I decided to think upon my words. Do I have an impression of Bear Magazine that I really shouldn’t? They did get a large majority of the votes in the Best of the Bears Awards 2010. They must be liked by a good majority of the bear community to that. So I picked up the most recent issue of Bear Magazine. I must say I do not regret my purchase. Not because it gives me ammo, but more of the opposite. It’s actually pretty good!

This issue’s cover features Robert Gonzalez. A muscle bound, neatly trimmed bearded, lightly furry Latino. While not to my personal liking, he’s not half bad. This trend in the models continues through most of the models in the magazine. As I said before, some of the bears in here don’t have 6 packs, but are definitely more fit. The closest to someone my type was on page 23 who I couldn’t quite figure out what his name was. (I would have loved to be the tailor measuring his inseam.) The articles in this issue are all interesting and some are very artful. The pages are high quality gloss and the images stand out because of it.

Ooooo. They even have a short review of Starcraft II. However, Mengsk? A Hotty? I don’t see it. Totally Jim Raynor. And why wasn’t Tychus mentioned at all?! Never mind, I’m going on a tangent.

The magazine includes articles about woofy Top Chefs, Music reviews, and an article on Bearracuda. This is really a very well put together magazine. But . . .

Mr. Editor-In-Chief. Yeah, I’m talking to you. I assume that the layout, and approval. and editing of the articles are all you. I appreciate what you do to create this wonderful magazine. I have one piece of advice for you.

SHUT. UP.

Is there anything you yourself can write that would not antagonize a majority of the bear community? Your editorial in this issue, a year after “Jabba The Bear I Am Not”, just brought the whole thing back again. Starting off by childishly sticking out your tongue at the backlash from the previous article and saying “Ha ha! Take that suckers. We’re still around,” then continuing to defame the community you are trying to be a niche of by putting it in quotes! Yes, Mr. Editor-In-Chief, to you we’re not the Bear Community; we’re the “so-called ‘Bear Community’”. I just quoted that! Issue 73, page 8, paragraph 2, sentence 3, word 12. You’re simultaneously trying to be a part of a community while spitting on it like some piece of disgusting garbage on the streets. You love your muscle bear niche, Mr. Editor-In-Chief, I get that. I really do. However, your editorials are representing the rest of the bear community as scum. In the movie BearCity, Tyler referred to the muscle bears as the “Third Bear Reich”. I feel like you’re demonstrating the truth of this in your articles. Unlike you, by the end of the movie, the truth is shown. Muscle bears are just another niche of bears, and are still part of the bear community.

I respect your opinions, Mr. Editor-In-Chief. In reality, I disrespect the way you arrogantly say them. I can understand a statement stating that most people think bears are what happened “after you lost the battle of the bulge” (Simon from BearCity), that not all bears are chubby, but please, do not disregard them as not being bears. Do not alienate anyone who is not fit from being a bear. Do not invalidate the bear community. Bear Magazine is part of the bear community. Invalidating the community will invalidate your magazine.

Bear Magazine and its companion BearPlay are representing a niche of the bear community that may not be as well known, the fit and muscular bears. That’s perfectly okay. Keep doing what you’re doing. However, Mr. Editor-In-Chief, as your staff deserves an apology from me, I believe that the entire bear community deserves an apology from you.

Most bears are already on Bear411.  Fortunately Buddybear Greg has graciously provided for this members a mobile version of the site.  Let’s take a look at what it looks like on both an Android and iPhone.

Hmm, okay, so we have to hit mobile.bear411.com to get to the mobile version of the site. Or you could just browse directly there.

Okay got the login, nice and simple.  It’s looking a little antiquated but hey, its perfectly functional despite it’s Web 1.0 look.  Time to log in.

Again, simple yet functional.

Oh look!

Mr. Kim: You got a message.
Korben Dallas: Yeah
Mr. Kim: You’re not gonna open it? It might be important.

Oh sure.

Hey, this looks familiar.  Well, it’s not the bottom that keeps thinking about me.  This looks like the regular Bear411 Chat box without Webcam image ability.  Well, I’m going to shoot him a message back with an emoticon.

The emoticon windows looked to be handled differently between Android (left) and the iPhone (right).  I’m actually liking the iPhone handling better.  Let’s check out our Pal Lists

You can switch between your online, offline, and refused contacts. And below that you have images of people who have recently viewed your profile.  Let’s check out who’s online.

Hmm, I can see more men on the iPhone verses Android.

In the end Bear411 Mobile is a very functional version of the site for chat.  However, there isn’t anyway to take a look at someone’s profile.  All you can do is send them a chat message.  I’ll just give it a Meh, it’s alright but not attractive at all.  Come on, Greg!  Bring the site into the 2010’s and show us an attractive site.  Either that, or quit.

Okay, I have two questions, 1) Who uses the notes feature on Bear411?  Leave a comment.

and 2) What do you think of the Bear411 Mobile Site?

I have been a listener of the podcast since episode 1, and it has remained one of my top podcasts since those early days. Though I do not agree with everything that is said, I enjoy the stories and hearing everyone’s different points of view. While listening to episode 125 this morning on my way to work, I know I am a little behind, Jeff read a letter about bears being the new twinks and becoming exclusive to those that do not fit the typical bear look. This is a topic of discussion that is quite personal to me.

I am 32, 5’10”, 150lb and hairy. I guess I would be considered and otter or a wolf or a cub depending on the term that people feel fits. I am not by any means a bear, but I identify with the premise of the bear community and I certainly love a hot bear, preferably naked, but I digress. I have attended my share of bear runs and am a former member of the local Atlanta bear group. I guess you can call me a chaser.

I have to say, after all these years in the bear community, I watched it transform from a very inclusive group that would accept just about anyone, to a more exclusive group that has its ideal look.

My first bear run was Bear Pride in Chicago a few years ago. Though there were ALLOT of bears at the event, I spent the majority of my time hanging out with two other cubs; because, the bears would have nothing to do with us. We were told by guys that we were too small. Though the three of us had a great time hanging out we all commented that “cubs need love too.” I brushed this off as just the personality of the run.

My second bear run was Bear All in Atlanta and a very similar situation occurred. I roomed with a friend who definitely fits the stereotype which was good for me since I was able to meet some nice guys as they tried to talk to my friend. Again, I just brushed off, but still enjoyed a weekend of heavy drinking and bear watching.

When I started to realize there was an issue was at IBR in San Francisco. Again I went with my bear friend, and again a group of us cubs hung out together because we were ignored by the bears at the event. I was able to make some good friends having my bear friend as good bear bate.

I am not an overly shy person and I do approach people to strike up a conversation. I then decided that there is an area between twink and bear that makes guys like me invisible to most of people in either group.

I don’t think the issue is necessarily that the bear community is ultra exclusive; just like I don’t think the twink community is ultra exclusive either. I know there are bears that like smaller or non-bear men, thank you Griff. In my opinion the issue is most gay men are not willing to strike up a conversation with someone they do not necessarily find sexually attractive. This issue is worse online than in person since it is considerably easier for someone to close a window or click the delete message button than to actually shun someone to their face.

I have been on bear411 since its inception and I have also been on various other bear chat sites. Not that I can say that I have not tried to use those sites to hook up, but in general I love talking to new people and making new friends. I tend to say hi to everyone. Again, try being a guy that does not fit the typical bear mold and see what kind of response you receive. You guys are a prime example of this, not that I love you any less because of it; I have tried chatting with Jeff, John-John (when he was on the show), and thegriff with little to no success. Tim don’t feel left out I just could not find you online to chat with you and I am not a big fan of email after sending hundreds of them a day at work. I figured I have listened to you guys for a long time and it would not hurt to say hello. I am not what any of you consider your “type”, but I feel that I have things in common with you all and I could make some new friends in this world. This reaction happens to me, my other smaller cub, and non bear friends quite often. Please do not take this as me being bitter or saying that you don’t have friends that are not your type; because, I am not upset and I know that you guys have friends that fall outside of the type of guy you are attracted to. I am simply making an observation.

Back before there were websites and people would talk to someone without ever knowing what they looked like, this was not an issue. I remember good old BBC and IRC groups where people would just talk to one another to form friendships. I don’t consider most bear chat sites as hookup sites, but I know many people do.

The gay community has become so sexually focused that we shy away from anyone that approaches us out of fear that the only reason someone would approach us is to hit on us. This is even more so the case for people that post “only looking for friends” or “just because I say hi does not mean I want to get in your pants” on their profiles.

This goes for bears, twinks, and everything in between; there are some of us that just like to talk to people.

The bear community over the 13 years I have considered myself a member, has become allot more exclusive and has gained the twink mentality of shunning people. I think it is time we took a step back and remembered our roots.

I know this was discussed on the show, but I just wanted to add by two cents as someone that lives in that in-between world. This is not something that will be solved by a podcast or that I expect to change anytime soon, but I wanted to let you guys know that it does exist and is more prevelant that you may think.

I love the show and look forward to many new episodes, and for all of us cub, otter, or whatever other names you want to give to someone that is small, sometimes hairy and homosexuals, hello bears.

I ask that you do not read this entire email on your show, but I do think it is an important topic of discussion for the gay community and the bear community as a whole.

Jason

Today I went to HRC‘s front page to see what they thought about this whole Target/Best Buy contribution thing considering that they have ranked both companies very highly on GLBT issues.  I’ll let them explain

Target and Best Buy have donated $250,000 to a political action committee supporting a rabidly anti-equality candidate for Governor of Minnesota, where both are headquartered – a man with ties to a Christian rock band that advocates violence and death to gays.

We’ve drafted an open letter calling on Target and Best Buy to make it right by donating an equal amount to support fair-minded candidates who will fight for equality. We’re publishing it in a full-page ad in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Will you help us ratchet up the pressure by adding your name?

Sign The Letter

Does a bear read on the beach?
You bet your sweet woof he does!

Event announcement:
Everybear’s invited to Two Free Lit-BEAR-ary Events during Summer Bear Week!

Jeff Mann, Lammy-winning bear author,
visiting from Virginia to present his books:
A HISTORY OF BARBED WIRE &
 EDGE: TRAVELS OF AN APPALACHIAN LEATHER BEAR
Friday July 16th, 12:00 noon-1:00pm
Unitarian Universalist Meeting House
236 Commercial Str, Provincetown, MA 02657
Facebook event page: http://bit.ly/cdxjqq

A reading, book signing, and reception for the new anthology
BEARS IN THE WILD: HOT & HAIRY FICTION
with contributor Jeff Mann and editor R. Jackson
Saturday July 17th, 11:00am – 12:00 noon
Toys of Eros
200 Commercial Str, Provincetown, MA 02657
Facebook event page: http://bit.ly/bdvY6Q

Both events are free, and open to the adult public — non-bears welcome!
Hosted by Northeast Ursamen, Bear Bones Books, Toys of Eros, and BearRadio.net