Ordinarily, Jon and I consider URNotAlone a member of a community. One of many different transgendered sites, all of whom fill a niche and contribute to aspects of the community. Some sites cater more to the political activist side of the spectrum, some sites more to the finding friends side. Even when a site directly competes with us, we are more than happy to see competition. You see, its that very competition that keeps everyone growing and enhancing.
Every once is a while though, a newcomer bursts onto the scene, claiming to be all things to all people. They directly compare themselves to their competition and in some cases, blatantly steal from their competition and deceive their members.
One such site was translover.net. They started off innocently enough. Simply a personals site where transgendered people could find others like them. They even purchased advertising from URNotAlone in the very beginning.
Then however, something went horribly wrong. Jon and I began to notice a large number of profiles being added to URNA that linked back to translover. This in and of itself is fine with us, and we encourage people to promote themselves or their favorite sites. We then noticed that ALL of these profiles were created from the same IP Address in Belgium (Where Translover was based). Then these profiles began bouncing their email because the mail boxes were full. After some investigation, we discovered that all of these profiles had been posted by translover without the original members permission, for the sole purpose of driving traffic to their site. We disabled these profiles and contacted them, assuming that the issue was closed.
We watched quietly as translover began to modify some of their approaches. They billed themselves as the ONLY FREE Transgendered Personals Site. Considering that I can name about five off the top of my head that are completely free (including URNotAlone), this seemed a little disingenuous to us. Upon joining their FREE site, you then find out that you can only post a profile. Browsing profiles or contacting members required that you purchase a subscription. Hmm, so not really free after all.
The last straw came when we discovered that they had stolen text directly from URNotAlone, word for word and placed it on their pages. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, ask any drag queen, but when you actually BILL yourself as Cher, it becomes theft.
Several attempts to contact them resulted only in snide responses and insults. I’d love to blame this on the fact that they are French, but honestly, their are juvenile mentalities in all cultures. Since much of URNA is copyrighted and we’ve been around since 1995 (10 years!) we began to research the possibility of copyright infringement.
Then something funny happened.
Translover.net simply ceased to be. If you go to their web address now, you will see that their site has been suspended for non payment. It’s hard not to find humor and irony in their predicament.
I guess the point to this is that there are many sites on the internet for Transgendered people. They range from sketchy porn, to positive activism and of course, personal home pages. Honestly, there is room for everyone. Even Jon and I know that we will never please everyone. We have found a model that pays our bills and keeps the site running and growing. Depending on what you are looking for, URNotAlone may not be your best choice, but we have a lot to offer. We like to think that we fill an ideological middle ground.
The one thing that can be statet as a matter of fact, is that we are hands down, the busiest and most popular Transgendered site on the internet. You can see for yourself by checking Alexa and comparing us to other sites.
There are so many great places to go on the internet for Transgendered people. Vicki Rene has a great site for girls and she’s a long time friend. TGForum is a wonderful resource for support. Honestly, there is something for everyone out here, and there is no reason we can’t co-exist and even help each other from time to time.
So in closing, we merely want to thank our members and friends for helping URNotAlone grow into what it has become today. To everyone out there looking to make a quick buck, who thinks they can do this job. Think again. The sites that are successful have been around the block. We have been through both good times and bad. We have learned and grown, and the process will always continue.
URNotAlone has been around for 10 years. That makes us ancient in terms of the Internet. We plan to be around for at least another 10 years, and its hard to imagine how we won’t be with such great members and friends in our community.