BoyLover.net

BoyLover.net (other names: BLN, BLn, bl.net) was one of the world's largest online boylover communities, and was the largest online message board for boylovers. The site was created by LostBoy and launched on May 1, 2002. It was completely re-designed later that year and launched again on December 1, 2002. Within six months it had attained a membership of over 1200, rising to 3000 a year after the initial opening. The bulletin board closed down in 2010, after an investigation involving illegal activity of Lostboy, the board owner. At the time of it's closing it had over 70,000 members.

In July 2003 BoyLover.net spawned a companion website, BoyLoverLinks.net, which catalogs and presents a diverse collection of links of interest to boylovers. This website is no longer functional.

Features

Though its main language was English, BoyLover.net hosted a large number of forums in numerous languages through a uniform interface. Languages ranging from Swedish to Hungarian were represented in designated rooms, as were special topics like creative pursuits and games. A popular forum offered publication of private photographs of boys.

The youth who participated had their own discussion room, in which adults were not allowed to participate. The youth-only room was closed primarily due to the amount of posers the room attracted during its existence.

Discussion was provided through the Ultimate Bulletin Board interface, which served threads "flat" (i.e. without subthreads) and automatically moved recently discussed topics to the top of each index.

Site design heavily featured: large, illustrative photographs; strong use of bright colors; and a multitude of icons. Color scheme was occasionally transformed, in recognition of significant or tragic events, to a monochromatic theme.

Members were categorized according to their post count, with a member starting as "New Kid" and eventually becoming "Elder Brother" at 5000 posts. While this made it simple to tell oldtimers from newbies, it often led to members posting playfully in order to increase their post count, and hence their status.

Site management was highly organized, and a team of Buddies were responsible for welcoming and guiding new members of the community. Highly respected members were sometimes named Mentors. Only one member, Friend, had been named Mentor.

The site also featured a free online magazine called Modern Boylover Magazine which started in 2006. The latest issue of MBM was published in December 2015.

Security

BoyLover.net's rules and guidelines were intended to safeguard the site's legality according to United States law. A complex, three-tiered organization of nearly 100 volunteers served users of the site and enforced site policy.

According to site administrators, BoyLover.net's servers were seized by law enforcement authorities in 2011.^{[Citation needed]}

Site administrators have been criticized for taking a cavalier attitude toward security problems.^{[Citation needed]}

Some portals had warned against BoyLover.net on grounds that the site allowed off-site image links, making IP harvesting relatively simple. Due to this, visitors were advised to turn off images when loading BoyLover.net forums if they are worried about their surfing habits being analyzed by unknown and potentially hostile parties.

BoyLover.net's privacy policy was visually lengthy, and within that it was clearly stated that they collected IP addresses. Further, it was stated that they (BoyLover.net administration) would share personal information of members to comply with law enforcement or to protect the board.

Mission statement

The following was taken from BoyLover.net's home page:

BoyLover.net provides a safe, supportive, and legal environment where boylovers, boys, and others interested in boylove can share thoughts, opinions, feelings, and experiences. Its forums are online meeting places where questions, advice, and debate take place freely in an atmosphere of comfort and mutual respect, and where educational material and information about boylove can be shared.

Webmaster arrested

After a three year long law enforcement investigation, Boylover.net webmaster was arrested in his native Netherlands, over a hundred board members were arrested by the police worldwide for being involved in off the board activities related to child sex. After initial contact on the discussion board members would use e-mail and other electronic channels to share child pornography images and videos.

The board, which had up to 70.000 members with only a few of them allegedly taking part in illegal activities, ceased to exist in 2010.

External links

• Discussion of server downtime from the December 2004 BoyChat Digest.
• Modern Boylover Magazine