Today is another birthday for me. I’ll be going out with straight friends to a cafe with live entertainment. May I can cruise the band!

I find this funny. Funny in a funny way, if you will.

BigJock.com has been written up in TechCrunch.com, the leading technology blog on the Internet. We have appeared on the pages of VentureBeat.com, Silicon Valley’s leading Venture Capital blog that also appears in the online version of the San Jose Mercury. Also, Bambi Francisco, from CBS MarketWatch - as in THE CBS TV NETWORK, as done a story about the site in her widely read blog.

However, as I sit here today, 120+ days since the website launched, we have had a grad total of zero articles about this site appear in the gay press. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Yup, pitching a shutout.

I’ve had sales people from every publication from coast to coast come calling trying to sell advertising - but that’s OK. It’s their job, and I totally respect that, because I’ve been in sales for a long time myself, and that is what sales people do - track down potential leads and pitch your wares.

Prior to site launch, most gay press editors and writers were snail-mailed a postcard announcing the site. Many have been email blasted our press releases since.

Bevin, the publisher of SF Gloss, a fine publication based in San Francisco, looks like he may be the first. But even getting into this position was trying. He sent his entire mailing list an invite to his paper’s MySpace page. While they are a fantastic site and rule the Social Network-space, they serve up all things to all people. 14 year-old girls and 88 year-old men. And everything in between.

Tongue-in-cheek, I wrote Bevin a note back chiding him for not also joining BigJock.com. We exchanged a number of emails, and had an awesome phone chat in which he offered to write an article on the site.

Maybe I am just over reacting, or maybe the site sucks so much they don’t want to waste their efforts.

Funny!

I am the first to admit it: Until today, the search functions and capabilities of BigJock.com sucked. Big time.

A lot of users were frustrated in locating other members across town or in another state and just gave up. That frustration is over… done… finished!

Say I am in The Castro’s 94114, or in Duluth, Minnesota’s 55803. Just type in the zip code and how much a radius you want by using the drop down menu. Yes, there are several members in Duluth! I love Duluth!!

With a search function that actually works and our new Chat Rooms, we are moving toward becoming a true destination site for this community… now, please tell a friend!

I finally felt comfortable with the BigJock.com Chat features to send out the launch announcement last night.

I have received a bunch of email asking when and if this was going to take place, as we originally had hoped that it would be done sometime in January. It turned out to be a bit more trying than anticipated. So I do appreciate your patience.

We had a choice on how we did this. We could have been like MySpace and had everyone download a module, but I didn’t want to intrude on your space.

With the current set up, members need to log-in and then click the Chat button. This will take you into the Main Chat Room, and from there you can head off and have private conversations with other members online, video chat and even talk using a microphone, assuming you have a camera and mike.

In the next couple of weeks we will also be upgrading our search features. Right now, I can honestly say that they suck. The new modules will allow you to search for members within a chosen radius from your location or a chosen zip code. I’ve received too many emails from a member in rural choose-your-state, that can’t find members nearby. I believe this will be a huge step forward.

I want everyone to know that we are working very hard to continually enhance the Member’s experience, and if you have any suggestions on how to make this community better, more functional, more fun or funkier, just send me an email. My address is pretty easy: richard@bigjock.com