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- Oct 3, 2016
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Let me start out by admitting that I am a fan turned personal friend of Dink's. I live about an hour away from him and met him years ago before he left NC and moved to San Diego. Since he "retired" I have made the drive many weekends to hang out with he and his lover on their 500 acre farm. Just before "disappearing" from behind the camera, Dink fell in love with a Marine he met from Camp Pendleton. For those who are curious, no, his lover never occurred in any AD videos. He did direct a solo of a model named "Hunter" though.
Dink's attention has been squarely focused on his land and his relationship for the last three years and he has really built a special place that seems to make him very happy. However, some weekends over a couple of beers and a bonfire I bring the subject up and ask if he'll ever return to making porn. I guess I could be accused of trying to convince him that he should. His lover (a sweetheart of a guy) is also very encouraging and says he can tell that Dink misses it. Dink tries hard to deny it, but as his eyes stare deep into the crackling fire you can see his mind drifting back to those days. There will be a long silence accompanying the stare and then a grin followed by a laugh and "Ya'll are crazy. People aren't interested in what I have to contribute anymore." When I tell him yes, yes they are, he just shrugs and says "Prove it. Show me that people still want me behind the camera and I might consider it."
It is at this point that I usually try to remind him of how much he contributed to this world we call online gay porn. I go all the way back to the beginning of AD in 1998 and ask him to tell me how many gay sites still exist that started out in 1998. I also try to explain to him, and not because I don't think deep down he isn't aware, how he was virtually the creator of the "straight guy tries gay sex for the first time" format that so many people would imitate after he blazed that trail. I mean really, how many gay membership sites can we confirm are still in operation today that started in 1998 or before? For me, AD was the first site I ever joined back in 1999. At the time it wasn't much more than a handful of video clips, some galleries and about a half dozen VHS tapes for sale.
Yes, my opinion is biased because I remain a friend of Dink's and remained a long time fan of AD and Dink both for the entire time that Dink was behind the camera. I can no longer say that, unfortunately, and the reason for me is that Dink is no longer there. For a long time I despised Dink while I loved AD, but as the site grew and more material was offered I came to understand that Dink's personality, whether you loved it or hated it, had much to do with how good the content was. Dink had a way with the boys that was unsurpassed by his competitors, he pushed envelopes, stopped at nothing until he got what he wanted and the guys seemed to do it as much for him as they did anything else. Sure, he was paying them, but there was something different about his relationship with the guys that came through on the videos. It was like he was their antagonist that they loved to hate, but loved in the end anyway. I would find out just how deep this ran once I became personal friends with Dink in 2003 and finally got an invite to his home to meet some of the guys. What I was seeing come through in the videos came through even more in person. He was their friend.
Ultimately Dink would abandon what he loved because he could no longer stand to watch what was inevitable with the invention of social media and just the growth of the Internet in general. It had come to a point where every time he posted a new hot recruit, there was as high as a 50/50 chance that someone they knew or worked with would discover what they'd done and their whole life would get turned upside down. Dink would respond by removing their videos for a "cooling off" period hoping all would quiet down after some time. Many of you, like me, will remember countless videos mysteriously "disappearing" from the site for long periods of time or forever. This didn't happen with all the guys, but it got more and more common and Dink finally just couldn't stand it anymore. Even with a protocol in place of forewarning the guys about the chances of it happening and instructing them to "lock down their Facebook accounts", etc., it still happened. Dink realized that things would never be the same, that each time he recruited an active-duty military guy, the chances of that guy suffering as a result was always going to be a very real possibility. He began to fight an inner struggle between his love and obsession with military guys and the hard reality of the situation.
With that said, I'm not saying that he is going to return behind the camera, but if I could show him positive feedback, it may inspire him to seriously consider it. I have gone as far as to ask Dink if he *did* return what his focus would be and here are some of the things he's rambled off at different times when we've have these bonfire brainstorms:
1. More reality/behind-the-scenes focused stuff
2. Not to be pigeon holed anymore by the need to recruit only military guys (his personal interest have changed a lot along the way). He's mentioned recruiting guys from the local rodeo, blue collar everyday types, college jocks and outdoorsmen. He's also mentioned having a good mix of different ethnicities.
3. A cutting edge site that not only included videos and footage shot by the studio, but with a focus also on self-directed/uploaded content from "contestants" who compete against each other for the vote of the members in the vein of "America's Got Talent". LOL which I find pretty cool.
4. A fresh format. Not a complete deviation but with noticeable difference from his usual Q&A opening interviews but says he still thinks that info is important somewhere in the video just for the viewers benefit. That was one thing I always liked about AD's format was getting that glimpse into the guy, if only briefly, and getting to know a little more about them. Another thing his banter in the videos did was bring out the guys personalities and get them to open up, be themselves and allow us that glimpse sometimes without them even realizing it. And often times I wonder if Dink planned it that way or if he even realized it at the time.
5. Much more outdoor stuff. One thing Dink has come to love since he began building his land into a place he and his guests can have a lot of fun exploring is riding four wheelers, side-by-side ATV's and even homemade contraptions that he and his friends have built. And I've even helped on. His life these days is more focused on the outdoors, and being one with a place he and the love of his life have built as their personal haven. He credits it with saving his life since he's lost nearly 75 pounds along his journey into a different life, far removed from porn, but I suspect a heart that still longs for it and surely an eye for it that is still as sharp as a tack. I've heard him say, "I'd like to film what guys do every day and build in the fantasies that many of us have after the four wheelers are cooled down, the beer is flowing and the bonfire burning."
A couple of things I've noted throughout my some dozen or so weekends at his place is an abundance of the very types of guys that Dink mentions above. It seems like he's not only built a sanctuary for himself and his love, but for the perfect examples of all these types of guys to flock to. Some of them know about his past and some of them don't, but I have a funny feeling if he whipped out a camera and asked any of them to throw caution to the wind many of them wouldn't hesitate. In fact, many of them do so own there own without the cameras running.
Another thing I've noted from talking to Dink is that he still owns ASG. I've tried to convince him that ASG would be the perfect place to hatch his new brand of porn. A suggestion he just laughs off, but you can see the wheels turning.
I have never visited these forums before, I always just look at the galleries and move on, but Dink specifically mentioned the JUB Forums that's why I am here. Forgive me if I've proven too longwinded but I'd like to prove to Dink that I'm not alone in my enthusiasm to see him return behind the camera and to put some hot guys out here for us to enjoy.
So many sites have been bought up and ruined over the last couple of years by the big straight companies and in my opinion gay porn has suffered as a result. To have someone who brought so many of us so much enjoyable content return would be a welcome diversion.
Dink claims, a claim his lover confirms, he doesn't look at whats going on in porn anymore, doesn't go to any blogs, adult industry news sites and doesn't look at porn beyond following boards of hot vintage guys on Pinterest or follows a couple of Instagram accounts and mainly by my urging watches the occasional classic AD DVD from time to time to which I once heard him respond "Damn, no wonder people thought this stuff was so hot." Dink admittedly never watched his videos after he'd shot them except to write his narrative descriptions but says of those viewings "that wasn't really watching them, it was scanning them."
Dink has ultimately given me his blessing to post on a few different blogs to see what kind of feedback I get as long as I give him the negative feedback along with the positive. A promise I'm determined to keep. As I said, I may be biased and alone in my wish to see someone who gave me so many hours of enjoyment return behind the camera so I'm here asking you.
Dink's attention has been squarely focused on his land and his relationship for the last three years and he has really built a special place that seems to make him very happy. However, some weekends over a couple of beers and a bonfire I bring the subject up and ask if he'll ever return to making porn. I guess I could be accused of trying to convince him that he should. His lover (a sweetheart of a guy) is also very encouraging and says he can tell that Dink misses it. Dink tries hard to deny it, but as his eyes stare deep into the crackling fire you can see his mind drifting back to those days. There will be a long silence accompanying the stare and then a grin followed by a laugh and "Ya'll are crazy. People aren't interested in what I have to contribute anymore." When I tell him yes, yes they are, he just shrugs and says "Prove it. Show me that people still want me behind the camera and I might consider it."
It is at this point that I usually try to remind him of how much he contributed to this world we call online gay porn. I go all the way back to the beginning of AD in 1998 and ask him to tell me how many gay sites still exist that started out in 1998. I also try to explain to him, and not because I don't think deep down he isn't aware, how he was virtually the creator of the "straight guy tries gay sex for the first time" format that so many people would imitate after he blazed that trail. I mean really, how many gay membership sites can we confirm are still in operation today that started in 1998 or before? For me, AD was the first site I ever joined back in 1999. At the time it wasn't much more than a handful of video clips, some galleries and about a half dozen VHS tapes for sale.
Yes, my opinion is biased because I remain a friend of Dink's and remained a long time fan of AD and Dink both for the entire time that Dink was behind the camera. I can no longer say that, unfortunately, and the reason for me is that Dink is no longer there. For a long time I despised Dink while I loved AD, but as the site grew and more material was offered I came to understand that Dink's personality, whether you loved it or hated it, had much to do with how good the content was. Dink had a way with the boys that was unsurpassed by his competitors, he pushed envelopes, stopped at nothing until he got what he wanted and the guys seemed to do it as much for him as they did anything else. Sure, he was paying them, but there was something different about his relationship with the guys that came through on the videos. It was like he was their antagonist that they loved to hate, but loved in the end anyway. I would find out just how deep this ran once I became personal friends with Dink in 2003 and finally got an invite to his home to meet some of the guys. What I was seeing come through in the videos came through even more in person. He was their friend.
Ultimately Dink would abandon what he loved because he could no longer stand to watch what was inevitable with the invention of social media and just the growth of the Internet in general. It had come to a point where every time he posted a new hot recruit, there was as high as a 50/50 chance that someone they knew or worked with would discover what they'd done and their whole life would get turned upside down. Dink would respond by removing their videos for a "cooling off" period hoping all would quiet down after some time. Many of you, like me, will remember countless videos mysteriously "disappearing" from the site for long periods of time or forever. This didn't happen with all the guys, but it got more and more common and Dink finally just couldn't stand it anymore. Even with a protocol in place of forewarning the guys about the chances of it happening and instructing them to "lock down their Facebook accounts", etc., it still happened. Dink realized that things would never be the same, that each time he recruited an active-duty military guy, the chances of that guy suffering as a result was always going to be a very real possibility. He began to fight an inner struggle between his love and obsession with military guys and the hard reality of the situation.
With that said, I'm not saying that he is going to return behind the camera, but if I could show him positive feedback, it may inspire him to seriously consider it. I have gone as far as to ask Dink if he *did* return what his focus would be and here are some of the things he's rambled off at different times when we've have these bonfire brainstorms:
1. More reality/behind-the-scenes focused stuff
2. Not to be pigeon holed anymore by the need to recruit only military guys (his personal interest have changed a lot along the way). He's mentioned recruiting guys from the local rodeo, blue collar everyday types, college jocks and outdoorsmen. He's also mentioned having a good mix of different ethnicities.
3. A cutting edge site that not only included videos and footage shot by the studio, but with a focus also on self-directed/uploaded content from "contestants" who compete against each other for the vote of the members in the vein of "America's Got Talent". LOL which I find pretty cool.
4. A fresh format. Not a complete deviation but with noticeable difference from his usual Q&A opening interviews but says he still thinks that info is important somewhere in the video just for the viewers benefit. That was one thing I always liked about AD's format was getting that glimpse into the guy, if only briefly, and getting to know a little more about them. Another thing his banter in the videos did was bring out the guys personalities and get them to open up, be themselves and allow us that glimpse sometimes without them even realizing it. And often times I wonder if Dink planned it that way or if he even realized it at the time.
5. Much more outdoor stuff. One thing Dink has come to love since he began building his land into a place he and his guests can have a lot of fun exploring is riding four wheelers, side-by-side ATV's and even homemade contraptions that he and his friends have built. And I've even helped on. His life these days is more focused on the outdoors, and being one with a place he and the love of his life have built as their personal haven. He credits it with saving his life since he's lost nearly 75 pounds along his journey into a different life, far removed from porn, but I suspect a heart that still longs for it and surely an eye for it that is still as sharp as a tack. I've heard him say, "I'd like to film what guys do every day and build in the fantasies that many of us have after the four wheelers are cooled down, the beer is flowing and the bonfire burning."
A couple of things I've noted throughout my some dozen or so weekends at his place is an abundance of the very types of guys that Dink mentions above. It seems like he's not only built a sanctuary for himself and his love, but for the perfect examples of all these types of guys to flock to. Some of them know about his past and some of them don't, but I have a funny feeling if he whipped out a camera and asked any of them to throw caution to the wind many of them wouldn't hesitate. In fact, many of them do so own there own without the cameras running.
Another thing I've noted from talking to Dink is that he still owns ASG. I've tried to convince him that ASG would be the perfect place to hatch his new brand of porn. A suggestion he just laughs off, but you can see the wheels turning.
I have never visited these forums before, I always just look at the galleries and move on, but Dink specifically mentioned the JUB Forums that's why I am here. Forgive me if I've proven too longwinded but I'd like to prove to Dink that I'm not alone in my enthusiasm to see him return behind the camera and to put some hot guys out here for us to enjoy.
So many sites have been bought up and ruined over the last couple of years by the big straight companies and in my opinion gay porn has suffered as a result. To have someone who brought so many of us so much enjoyable content return would be a welcome diversion.
Dink claims, a claim his lover confirms, he doesn't look at whats going on in porn anymore, doesn't go to any blogs, adult industry news sites and doesn't look at porn beyond following boards of hot vintage guys on Pinterest or follows a couple of Instagram accounts and mainly by my urging watches the occasional classic AD DVD from time to time to which I once heard him respond "Damn, no wonder people thought this stuff was so hot." Dink admittedly never watched his videos after he'd shot them except to write his narrative descriptions but says of those viewings "that wasn't really watching them, it was scanning them."
Dink has ultimately given me his blessing to post on a few different blogs to see what kind of feedback I get as long as I give him the negative feedback along with the positive. A promise I'm determined to keep. As I said, I may be biased and alone in my wish to see someone who gave me so many hours of enjoyment return behind the camera so I'm here asking you.
