8 August 2020
Brand New Video Chat
I'm very happy that the new dudesnude webcam chat is out of beta and has launched! With this upgrade, we are now the #1 gay camchat on the web... and totally free.
Here are just some of the new features:
- Private 1-on-1 webcam (very stable and works well)
- Popups (cams and private chat) manage their location on the screen-- they don't all just overlap in a big pile
- Dudes on your block list won't see you and you won't see them
- Dudes on your buddy list have a blue ring around their avatar and they're sorted to the top of the user list
- Audio notification when there is a message directed to you (optional, you can turn it off)
- Message notifications in the chat room when someone turns on their cam (optional, you can turn it off)
- And MORE improvements to come...
2 June 2020
Black Lives Matter
Dudesnude stands in solidarity with all those affected by injustice, inequality, bigotry, violence, and systemic racism. We specifically stand with our black members, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and fellow humans, at a time when once again they are faced with the reality of deep injustice. We understand the importance and value of allies, and we are ready to stand as allies to them, to listen, learn, and actively help their voices be heard.
Today, we share their pain and amplify their pleas. Tomorrow, we will continue to create opportunity, open doors, change hearts and minds, and influence our world to be a little more fair, just, and honest.
We will continue to fight racism on the site, and maintain a zero-tolerance policy for racism and hate speech.
As part of this, and as a result of direct feedback from dudesnude members (both people of color and white members), as well as discussion with advisors and among the team, we have removed the "ethnicity" (race) search option from the site. (Grindr and Scruff have already announced they are doing the same, and Planet Romeo has said they are having an "internal debate.")
You may still indicate your race on your profile, if you wish, but it's completely optional and up to each member.
If you don't understand why this feature is being removed, I STONGLY encourage you to read this excellent Guardian article. Here's one quote from it: "Racism has long been a problem on Grindr: [research] found 96% of users had viewed at least one profile that included some sort of racial discrimination, and more than half believed they’d been victims of racism. More than one in eight admitted they included text on their profile indicating they themselves discriminated on the basis of race." Additionally, research from Cornell University found that dating apps that allow users to filter their searches by race, or rely on algorithms that pair people of the same race, "reinforce racial divisions and biases."
27 April 2020
The New Forums are Live!
I'm so excited about this... after 17 years with the old home-grown forum software, we've upgraded to brand new, modern forums!
I've always been a fan of the forums because you get a sense of the community on the site and the other members... dudesnude has always been known for having a very friendly group of guys, and the forums are a great place to meet them and have some good chat. There are very active topics about politics and current events, or if you're looking for something a little more sexy and naked, check out the popular Hot Stuff category.
(And if you've visited the dudesnudes forums in the past: in addition to the powerful new software, we also removed the unmoderated topics, which were a bit of a mess. I've already heard from many members that they're very happy about this change... so please come discover the difference.)
23 March 2020
A Quick Comment on Covid-19
A few members have asked me why dudesnude doesn't have a big statement about Covid-19 on the site. I've actually thought a lot about this, and the right approach for our community.
For now, I think dudesnude can best serve as an escape from everything that is going on... there is so much news and information out there from the newspapers, tv, radio, government, and social media that I know many members are experiencing a bit of "news fatigue." Which I guess is a fancy way of saying it's just getting to be too much sometimes. ;-)
So I want dudesnude to be a place people can go to have fun, and not see a lot of reminders of what's going on right now out in the world. This isn't about encouraging ignorance, it's about providing a place to get away from it all.
Needless to say, PLEASE inform yourself about the virus and how it can be transmitted. (The New York Times has an excellent FAQ.) And just in case it isn't completely obvious and clear: meeting/hooking up in person is not a good idea right now... there will be time for that after we're through this.
The good news is, we are seeing a huge influx of new members from across the globe (no surprise, since so many of us are stuck at home)... SO many hot new guys to check out and message. And the webcam chat room is very busy with loads of hot dudes showing off all the time. It's definitely worth a visit. ;-)
There are also active threads in our forums where members are discussing the situation (and related current events), which you are welcome to engage in— or not— as you wish.
So. Our main priority in this time is the same as always: to provide a great, fun site for the community, where you can check out hot guys, connect with other dudes and have fun on cam (watching or showing off yourself!).
Please take care of yourself and drop me a line if you wish. We will get through this, together. ❤️
10 March 2020
Easier Viewing of Private Photos, New Icons, New Message Page
As you've probably noticed by now, there have been a few changes to the site over the last couple of weeks!
- No more opening private photos one by one: clicking on a big profile pic will always take you to the next photo, even if the photo is private!
- The background of the site is no longer bright-white (making it a little easier on the eyes at night), and we have a refreshed, more modern site logo.
- Supporters (who have paid to support the site and get an upgraded account) are now marked with
- Verified members are now marked with
. If you haven't verified yourself yet, it's free and a good idea!
- The messages page (inbox, saved/sent/deleted mail) has been overhauled to be more clear, fresh, and easy to use.
- The home page has also had some tweaks: you'll notice a new status area at the top, and the thumbnails of all the members below have been reorganized slightly. Again, the goal is to make it more clear and easy. I also changed "hot members" to "popular members"—-- as someone pointed out, one guy's definition of hot may not be the same as the next guy. ;-)
As always, many more changes coming, including a number of exclusive supporter-only features.
23 January 2019
Who's Online Now? The Dot Knows...
A small change: the "online now" indicator has changed to a green dot (instead of a red asterisk), which is much easier to read and understand. (You'd be surprised how many people asked "what does that red asterisk mean?").
16 October 2019
Webcam Chat Improvements
There has been a major upgrade to the internals of the webcam chat room that should fix the connection issues some folks were seeing. If you had problems in the past, please give it another try. If it's still giving you problems, be sure to read the help doc. (We've learned that an ad blocker can interfere with the chat room.)
Also added some new features!
- The "sort by cam" button now keeps the list updated as folks turns their cameras on and off. Same with the "sort A-Z" button, as members enter/exit the chat room.
- Clicking the user's icon in a private chat window or on a webcam window will show the options menu.
- If have a private chat window open with someone, you'll be notified if they leave the chat.
27 August 2019
Spammers Attack
We had a brute force "credential stuffing" attack! This is a primitive type of attack, where someone has a huge database of emails and associated passwords, then tries them out on other sites. (Here's WIRED magazine explaining it further, if you're interested.) In this case, it means that for several hours, there were hundreds of thousands of attempts to log into the site. (To be crystal clear: nothing was stolen, nothing was "hacked," your credit card is safe, etc. It was just some bad folks trying really hard to get into dudesnude member accounts.)
Two things happened because of this:
- For approximately a 10-minute period, members couldn't log into the site because the server was so overwhelmed with the hackers trying to get in. That sucks.
- The attackers did discover some valid email/password combinations; this means they were able to log into the accounts of a handful (less than 10) members' accounts, because they were able to guess the passwords on the accounts. When they gained access to those accounts, the attackers immediately started spamming other dudesnude members! (Since dudesnude doesn't have any banking or credit card information stored on our servers, I suspect this was always their goal.) We've since stopped all this, deleted all the spam messages and strengthened our spam checking algorithms, and those members whose accounts were compromised had their accounts suspended to prevent further spamming.
dudesnude has excellent security, and the data we hold is safe. NO billing information of any kind is stored on the web server. The real issue is that if a member has a crappy password (or a leaked password), someone can guess it and get into that member's account. Some of our members use the same password and emails on multiple sites, which is a bad idea: once hackers have figured out the email/password combination that works on another site, they will try that same combination elsewhere (like here on dudesnude). The lesson here is please, use a strong unique password for every web site. You should:
- Use a strong and unique password for dudesnude. And hey, use the free password manager built into your browser (or even one of the more powerful third-party options like 1Password)... then you don't even have to remember your passwords, your browser will do it for you.
- Check your email address with the free service Have I Been Pwned? to see if you have ever been subject to a data breach on another site. If so, you would be foolish to not immediately change any passwords you've reused on multiple sites.
Everything is back to normal now and operating fine. If you have any questions please feel free to send me a note by clicking the big blue 'help' button below. Thanks.