I will never for the life of me understand what you guys think is so God-damned great about Gabe? Yeah he was really good looking, but then so are Trevor, TJ, Dawson and a bunch of others. And they did stuff: they kissed, they sucked dick, got fucked. Those guys did what it took to put on a good show, while Gabe was so obviously repulsed by what was going on. But that may just be the kernel of why you found him so attractive: he was sooo straight! For some of you the moment a guy's heterosexuality comes into question, he goes down several points on the hotness scale.
StudyBuddy is right: it was hotter when the 'education' process was drawn out. Of course that itself was a sham if you bothered to look at the filming dates (which you can't anymore). I think Travis went from solo to ACS to BJ to his 'first' time in the space of a long weekend.
I think a 'golden era' is a function of perception: there was that period in late 2005-early 2006 when the site really hit its stride. Logan and Lucas started doing stuff with guys and then all these hot guys started showing up: Jude, Eric, Ryan, Kurt, Palmer, and -- I hate to say it -- Mason, in addition to the 'Dean's List' ones.
I don't think the site has gone downhill so much (like
Sean Cody did when
Sean Cody went away) as become rote. The current stable of models is as attractive as it's ever been: Colby, Brody, James, Nicholas, Cain, in addition to the recent Dean's list guys. They've made a good effort to expand the concept a bit, but these attempts, like the
Bel Ami partnership, the Lucas-Dawson road trip, the current trip to Costa Rica, have made it a more professional operation. The 'amateur' charm was just a moment it the site's development.
It still has its amateur moments: I don't think Ethan was at all prepared for the juggernaut of Travis' libido. They probably assured him that Travis was 'straight', lol!