RIP BNSkin

[spike-the-cat]

I only ever got laid once thanks to BNSkin--but it was fucking incredible. When I found the site in the early 2000s, it quickly became one of my favorites.

It never had great design, and it was kind of a mess--but the guys were hot and were pigs and the forums were among the best: guys talked honestly about their fetishes, their experiences, their desires, their limits and their fears. You sometimes get that here in the General discussion, but somehow the architecture that linked you from topic to hot picture-filled profiles and back to all the topics that user had contributed to led to more of it there. And the discussion here usually sticks pretty close to barebacking and bug fetishization, while the sorts of pigginess discussed at BNSkin was much more far ranging (snot, piss, incest). You could learn a lot about a guy, what really turned his crank, and how he got to that point by seeing what discussion threads he had contributed to and what he had said there--more than from the profile itself. It's one thing I wish this site did better.

It was an international site, and there were never many guys from my area. The one guy I hooked up with was halfway across the country--somewhere I had to travel for work. And it was a hot fuck that developed into a good friendship.

When they started trying to charge without improving the architecture, traffic dropped off. It's been limping along with few people logging in or writing in the forums for months. Now: Server cannot be found. Either they stopped paying for hosting or they stopped paying for the domain name.

I'm not surprised. The site had been comatose for a long time. It was past time to put it out of its misery. Still, I'm sad to see it go.

[seaguy]

I agree, though you would think the site owner could have at least posted a warning to members.

[Guest]

I have messaged the owner on Facebook and received no reply. I enjoyed being on BNSkin, the addition of a Forum to a dating site really did make it more interesting, I agree with everything that Spike-the-cat has said.

[ripig]

I will miss the site, mostly for the forums.

[RawPozLust]

It was a great site, the first place I posted stories about my adventures giving and taking poz loads at Steamworks in Berkeley and other baths. I also enjoyed the forums and liked that the site allowed more room to post your profile. Sorry to see it go.

[BBeard]

Super sad about this. Used to be an active member in the forums. The site hasn't been what it once was in a long long time. But I would log in every now and again just to check it out. Was sort of like visiting an old friend. Very sad indeed to find this morning that it is just gone.

[kylecigarbear]

BN Skin isn't the only site to go defunct since it looks like barebackbears.net is gone too.

[Handpuppet]

Also sorry to BNSkin disappear had only found it about 6 months ago, and was just really getting in to it and making some (although far away) connections to people and feeling part of the group.

[AlwaysOpen]

Well, come on now guys- everyone should have expected it a year or more ago- the site owners put up that apology message 2 years ago after they servers all crashed- and never changed the message in the 2 years since. I sort of expected they would never return after the crash-- maybe this is just another "server crash" issue and they were not told about some upgrade that has taken them down-- but from the lack of care they have shown, it is just another idled domain name, ready for someone else to take it and bring it to life again - probably selling organic Blankies and Nappies for delicate babies Skin <g>

[Guest]

I will keep an eye on the domain renewal date, but not sure I want to be a website owner tbh - i'm sure it's a thankless task..... eh RawTop?

[fisterm8]

sad to see it go.

unfortunately it does cost money to run and maintain a website and if the figures dont add up then no matter what it just aint worth the headache.

R.I.P. .........BNSkin

[rawTOP]

If anyone knows the owners I'd love a dump of their discussion section... I'd be happy to take that and put it into a format where it can be preserved and reread for years. There were some incredible discussions there. The popularity of BNSkin and Bug Share were the reason why I knew launching this site was a good idea.

[Deaner]

Agree w/ RawTop... making connections on the site was a bit sketchy, but the discussion forum was awesome! Totally no-holds-barred discussion of everything from pop music to ultra-extreme kink. There was some good stuff going on in that forum because it had a good and wide variety of contributors. Probably the best opinion section I've ever come across on the internet, only because the 'peanut gallery' was so diverse.

[Guest TravelGuy4Bareback]

Wonders what happens to all of our validation photos????

[spike-the-cat]

Agree w/ RawTop... making connections on the site was a bit sketchy, but the discussion forum was awesome! Totally no-holds-barred discussion of everything from pop music to ultra-extreme kink. There was some good stuff going on in that forum because it had a good and wide variety of contributors. Probably the best opinion section I've ever come across on the internet, only because the 'peanut gallery' was so diverse.

The users were great, but the structure of the site had a lot to do with it, as I said above. The fact that you could see and link to the threads a user had commented on from his profile--and link to the profile from any comment. The fact that the threads were reverse chronological, so you always started with the latest comments.

The commentary on this site is as good as it is DESPITE the site architecture. Whatever system they were using, the profile and forums sections--and the ways they interconnected and led the user weaving back and forth between them--was well-conceived. Other parts of the site (party-planning, video sharing) were substandard.