Category Archives: website

Website Downtime

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For the third time in less than a month, the server that hosts my website went down last evening. Back on June 16, the server was down for well over four hours. That’s disappointing, because thousands of people visit my website every day. When the server is down, people get an error message due to a “timeout” and go somewhere else.

Oh well, the world won’t end. It’s not like I have an on-line store and rely on sales from visitors. I just get disappointed when this happens, because the hosting service ordinarily is exceptionally reliable and has offered 100% “uptime.” This is the same hosting service that Larry of hotboots.com has used for about 12 years, and he recommended it highly.

I have been so pleased with their service and features that I am hosting five other websites on their servers now. I am hoping that I don’t have to migrate all of my websites to other servers due to this company’s servers becoming unreliable.

Meanwhile, if you have visited my website and experienced a timeout error, please come back.

Life is short: have no downtime.

Come on!

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Do you ever find yourself at your computer saying, “come on, come on, work already!” This happens to me more often when I look at certain websites that are slow to respond. My patience wears thin waiting for it to load. If those websites only had ears. LOL!

My internet connection is very fast, so that’s not the reason for slowness. Some websites are hugely complicated with internal functions that cause them to be very slow to load. For example, Lycos email, which was one of the first free web-based email systems out there, recently “upgraded” to “Zimbra” email which is absolutely horrid! It is so damn slow, it frequently times out and you can’t get anything done. I have finally migrated totally off of all of the old “free” web-based email systems that I once used (that includes “Excite Email” which has also been ruined by “Zimbra”). The nitwits that run these systems have destroyed their ease of functionality, not only with stupid “upgrades” that don’t work, but also with advertising that comes with sound. Arrrggghhh!

Fortunately, my Apache2 server on my own computer is humming along great, along with my network and other applications, so no complaints there. But web-based applications that are function-heavy? Fuggetaboutit!

This is one major reason why my website is written pretty much in straight HTML with just a few small javascripts and CSS style sheets. The Boots Wiki is written in PHP, which functions rather quickly, even though the scripts are large. But I am trying to keep it simple, so pages load quickly and the site doesn’t bog down, driving visitors away from frustration. I aim at the lowest-common-denominator, which includes people who still have dial-up internet access and who use outdated web browsers like Internet Explorer.

An early tease: I am seriously contemplating a total re-design of my website, so if you have suggestions about what you want to see, don’t like, or new features to add, let me know. Thanks.

Life is short: no time for slow internet applications. If you can’t make it load fast, then don’t look for me to use it.

Yahoo Email Cut-Off

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For about the past eight weeks or so, I have been receiving spam only from Yahoo email accounts from people I know from the Boot world. They have put my email address in their respective address books on their Yahoo email. Then some hacker or spammer grabs the list by penetrating some vulnerability unique to Yahoo, and sends links that if clicked on, could introduce a virus, spyware, or other nefarious stuff.

I’ve had enough of that. It only seems to be associated with Yahoo email addresses from men in the Boot World, and nowhere else. Thus, I have blocked all email from Yahoo accounts except for just two email addresses from close friends (including my eighth brother). If you have a Yahoo account and try to send me email, don’t be surprised if it bounces back saying “recipient has blocked this email address.” Sorry, but this situation has gotten to be more serious and persistent, and I don’t have time to clean that crap up every morning.

I strongly urge Yahoo email users to abandon Yahoo and migrate to gmail, which has much stronger hacker resistance and anti-spam features. The email of old, on Yahoo, Hotmail, Lycos, Excite, and a few others, is not being maintained to prevent spammers from doing bad things. If you won’t give up your Yahoo email, at least change your password to a very difficult one that includes numbers, capital and lower-case letters, and special characters. Then run a complete spyware scan and virus scan of your computer. Yahoo email sucks, and if you won’t give it up, then in order to communicate with me, you’ll have to use my on-line “Write to me” page.

Life is short: advance with the times to a decent free on-line email service like gmail.

Proof of My Point

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Yesterday at about 5am my time, I posted one message on the Hot Boots “Boots on Line” board linking to my gallery of photos that I took on the Law Ride on Sunday, May 9.

So far, the post got two replies, from my dear friend “KneeHighGuy” and Larry, the webmaster of Hotboots.com.

One would think, “only two replies? Does anybody care? Is anybody reading it?”

Yep… I have proof in statistical page views and visits. In 24 hours since I made that post, that gallery has received 1,085 visitors from that one link on BOL, with 3,104 page views (a “page view” is looking at one page or one picture. One visitor often views more than one page, so the number of page views will always be higher than the number of visitors.)

So if you whine or worry that you post a message on BOL and “nobody reads it” because of few or no replies, have no fear. They are. Believe me, they are.

Life is short: tell us about your boots on BOL!

Delete … Delete

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Any time you’re “out there” on the internet and you connect your email to your blog and/or website, then sooner or later you will receive messages from people who are, well, rather bizarre, or who say strange things.

I get email from Pakistani leather vendors all the time. They’re not strange, as they are persistent. They do not see or read the message on my page that says clearly that I don’t want to hear from them. … delete … delete …

Then occasionally I get propositions for sex. Well, I take that as a compliment in a way, but also find it annoying. … delete … delete …

From time to time someone will write to ask if he can “service” me or my boots. … delete … delete …

Every now and then, I get messages from some very lonely men. I feel sorry for them, but I’m not a matchmaker. Sometimes they write just to communicate with me. That’s okay, but most of the time, they write with odd requests, bizarre notions, or write so confusingly that I have no idea what they’re asking or what they want. … delete … delete …

I have received messages from children less than age 21. Either they don’t read my message that says that if you’re under 21, I won’t respond, or it could be the cops testing me. For my own safety … delete … delete …

I swear, on nights of the full moon, I have received very odd email messages offering things like a new pair of boots in exchange for [bleep] or wanting me to meet the person somewhere (more like a demand than a request). … delete … delete …

I even received a message from a guy who begged me to let him stay with us in our home because he wanted to “see for himself how a gay couple lives.” Oh Jimminy Crickets … delete … delete …

A few times, I have received a rant or negative message from a jealous wacko or one of those ultra-religious zealots … delete … delete …

Then there’s the guy who wrote me an email, and when I didn’t answer in an hour, wrote again and kept writing until I responded. I tried to explain that I don’t sit at my computer waiting for email to come in. I have a life. I’m busy. When someone gets demanding and rude about it … delete … block … delete … (“block” referring to blocking that person’s email address from writing to me again.)

While I am a tolerant and accepting guy, there are some times when I have received email from a U.S.-born-and-raised person who cannot spell, use grammar, write, or otherwise compose an intelligent sentence. Or even a sentence for that matter … delete … delete …

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In reading the above, it sounds like I receive a lot of email and that most of it is from strange or bizarre people. Actually, neither are true. I don’t receive a lot of email … enough to make things interesting, but not enough to overwhelm me. And most of it is well-composed, written by adults acting like an adult, and recognizes and respects that I am a gay man in a monogamous relationship.

I say that I will respond to every legitimate email message that I receive. That’s true. However, I reserve judgment as to what is or is not “legitimate.”

Life is short: be normal, and I’ll write back. Be bizarre, and I won’t. Simple as that.

No Apologies to Nitwitz

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On the night of the last full moon, I received three messages from my YouTube account advising me that someone had posted comments on my videos. I will allow comments on my YouTube videos but I must review and approve them first.

It was unusual, but in this case, all three messages were rude, obnoxious, and mean-spirited. Seldom do I get one message like that in a month, but this time, I got three in a night. Must have been the full moon… I cannot fathom any other reason.

Most of the comments that I receive are positive or ask some interesting questions. It is unfortunate, though, but there are some times when I have received some nasty, rude, and ugly comments. Four types of people send them: 1) homophobes; 2) ultra-straights who are afraid that their manhood is challenged by a gay guy’s video; 3) jealous gay queens; and 4) people with nothing better to do than try to tear others down.

In the case of attempted message-leaving by negative noodles, I simply remove the message and block the person from accessing my YouTube account. I believe they can still watch my videos, but they are blocked from trying to leave messages again.

These types of behaviors do not bother me, as such actions are a known risk I take when being active on the Internet. All I do is remove the comments and block the user, then silently close my eyes and say a prayer for their troubled souls to have some peace. I really feel sorry for characters like that.

I once tried to communicate with a nitwit like that a couple years ago to ask, “why?” but as you can imagine, no exchange with numbskulls results in anything but frustration. Learning from that experience, I don’t try to engage — I just delete and move on. Much like Roland has had to do from time to time, as he’s mentioned on his blog.

This doesn’t happen very often, but regretfully, it does and it’s a part of life in the Internet world. I have no apologies for nitwitz. Just prayers for their troubled souls.

Life is short: pray for those who need it.

Guide to Motorcycle Police Boots

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One of the most popular tutorials about boots that I have ever written, my Guide to Motorcycle Police Patrol Boots, has been updated.

This Guide receives visits on the order of 300 – 500 per day from all over the world. Many police agencies and governments visit, in addition to the usual assortment of others who are interested in the boots.

I received a great compliment the other day from a sergeant in a law enforcement unit on the U.S. West Coast. He said:

Thanks for that great review of police patrol boots. It was very informative and insightful. I have been wearing boots for over 15 years, but I learned from this website even more useful information. Thanks.

… that was nice. Thanks, Sergeant. I’m here to serve. (smile.)

I also received an email asking me about Hispar “Raven” police patrol boots. These cheap knock-offs that are made in Pakistan have been appearing on Amazon and Yahoo vendor “stores” since last summer. I bought a pair of boots through this vendor, and can tell for myself that they’re cheap. The leather is thin and of substandard quality. I personally can’t recommend them.

Quality cop boots remain what we know and admire: All-American “Blue Knight” Patrol Boots, Chippewa Hi-Shine Engineer Boots, Dehner Patrol Boots, and Wesco Patrol Boots.

Visit the Guide to see the update.

Life is short: boot up and ride!


Boot Information Abounds

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Since I created the Boots Wiki in February, I have added a number of new articles on it, including the following:

How to Lace Station Boots

Traveling by Air with Boots

Lined or Unlined Boots

How to Stretch Leather Boots

Shrinking Leather Boots

Regular Care of Boots

Care of Boots with Fancy Stitching and Lizard/Snake Inlays

Can Damaged Dehner Boots Be Repaired?

Do Wesco Boots Run True To Size?

Frye Campus Boots

Need Extra Long Boot Laces?

These are but a few examples of additions found on the Boots Wiki. More will follow, including boot reviews and much more.

This has been interesting, though I wish more of the registered Boots Wiki users would join in by adding more content. This is a collaborative thing, so come on, collaborate!

If you want to join the Boots Wiki team, let me know!.

Life is short: know your boots!

Internet Influenced Perceptions

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I continue to follow what people are searching and what brings them to this blog, or my personal “boot and leather” website. I remain intrigued.

What I am observing is that there is a lot of curiosity out there, and perhaps a bit of fear or confusion, especially among straight people.

When I was blogging in December of 2008 and 2009 about perceptions of Wesco Boots being “gay,” I delved into my web logs and statistics, and followed leads to posts on some blogs, YouTube, and websites such as hotboots.com. What I found was not surprising: the vast majority, if not 100%, of web-based postings about Wesco boots are by those who have a fetish interest in the boots. (I excluded vendors and the company’s website.)

I explored further. Postings about other kinds of boots, while not as numerous, are also made almost 100% by those with a gay fetish interest once vendors are excluded. For example, on 4 January, someone from Maine searched with the question “are ostrich boots gay?” and right before that, someone from Quebec searched, “cowboy jeans gay?” Seriously, I kid you not. This is an example of dozens of such questions I see every day that generate visits to this blog and my website.

Many people are searching the internet with questions like that, which they wouldn’t have the courage to ask a live human being or if they did ask someone, they would likely receive an affirming answer to a preconceived notion. (That is, they ask people who are like themselves, and who will tell them what they expect to hear.)

Straight people develop perceptions about certain kinds of boots and guys who wear them based a lot on what they are seeing from internet search engine results. Ahhhh! Run for the hills! The boots or jeans are gay!

It is not true that boots can be gay or that gay men choose certain boots or jeans to wear BUT the postings about boots on the internet (especially YouTube) usually are by a gay man (not a woman) and reflect some serious fetish-related interests.

There are a lot of postings on the Internet and on YouTube that combine gay fetish interests — leather, smoking, mild BDSM, stomping, boots, socks, feet, suits, etc. It is not surprising to me that straight people get confused and develop some pretty wild misunderstandings.

But there are very few straight people who post videos or write blogs about leather, boots, etc. (I have linked to two from this blog — Jennifer June’s Cowboy Boots blog, and the Engineer Boot blog, but there are not many others that I could find.)

My assertion remains: you won’t find many straight guys posting videos about their enjoyment of Wesco boots, engineer boots, or cowboy boots. Thus, if all you are seeing on YouTube (or elsewhere) on a non-vendor internet posting is by gay people, it is easy to jump to a conclusion and engage in “guilt by association” — if the poster of a video or website or blog is gay, then what they post about therefore must be “gay” as well. Quod Erat Demonstrandum or ὅπερ ἔδει δεῖξαι.

Interestingly, I have not found quite the same large correlation between gay fetish interests and leather gear. Sure, there are a lot of postings related to leather by gay men (and even a few women.) But there are also many postings by straight guys (particularly in the motorcycle forums) about leather gear. They are asking, “what is functional? What works? How much does it cost? What’s the value?” … all good questions.

I have noticed sometimes that in these forums in which the vast majority of participants are straight guys (including “hard core bikers”), some of them have used a search engine to explore their questions, and the results link to a lot of gay fetish stuff. Some of them post their “concerns” on the forums. I have commented about that behaviour in the past. Usually, such posts by straight guys reflect a generalization about gay people and leather gear. In order to make themselves sound more masculine and “not gay,” sometimes these insecure individuals say some very rude and/or imbecilic things. But just pity and pray them, for they know not what they say, as they do not realize how much the internet is affecting their perceptions.

Life is short: take time to understand the bigger picture. Don’t accept what you see prima facie — especially from Google searches!

Boot and Leather Videos

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A link from a recent post on Straight Acting’s blog to Jonah of Finland’s blog lists what Jonah describes as “Ten Don’ts of Leather Videos.”

Jonah has expressed his opinions, and for the most part, I tend to agree. However, the method by which he stated his comments: “don’t do this” and “don’t do that” takes a negative approach which is unhelpful to the amateur leather guy who produces the occasional amateur video for posting on YouTube for entertainment of fellow guys into leather (and boots and other fetishes.)

What I want to know is what are the “do’s” — not the don’ts — of leather (or boot) videos. It is easy to say what not to do, but not as easy to say what to do.

I have a lot of videos posted on YouTube now. Admittedly, I have created some videos which violate Jonah’s opinions of what he likes or doesn’t like. That’s okay — he doesn’t have to sit through something he doesn’t like. There are some videos that I have created by request of some men with whom I have interacted on the ‘net. I may not have created some of them unless I was asked. Okay, so be it. Done. The requester (and I) enjoyed. That’s enough.

The good thing about internet-based video is that you can view what you like and surf to other videos if what you are seeing does not please or interest you. There are a lot of videos which I started to view then stopped viewing and surfed on, because I have not liked it, the content frightened me, or was just badly done (fuzzy, blurry, and poorly edited). There are some things that I do not care to view, such a stomping stuff, or breaking things. I am not saying that those who create such videos are bad — I am saying that those videos do not interest me. That is okay — I am who I am. Those videos interest others. It’s a big world out there.

Same is true with blogs, as well. Read what you like, surf on if you do not like what you are reading. It’s a free world (except for China), as far as the internet goes. (Regretfully, the Government of China blocks access to blogs and videos posted on YouTube, along with a lot more.)

I do not like lists of “don’t do this” and “don’t do that.” Lists of what not to do are not helpful. What amateur video creators like me want to know is, “what do you want to see?” (within the G-rated limits of what is allowed by YouTube.) As Jonah says, “there are some men who have a hard time coming up with something to do [in the video…so they smoke].” Regardless if one enjoys a video with a guy in leather smoking or not, the point Jonah was making, with which I agree, is that it is very difficult to come up with something to do in a video that is both real and interesting to watch. Acting in a video if one is not an actor is not a good idea. Just rubbing boots or putting on gloves or twirling like a leather model also gets boring. Jonah says that, and I agree.

However, I want to point out that it is a bit hypocritical to offer comments of “what not to do” if one does not engage in producing his own videos. It is much easier to be a critic of others’ work than try to create a work himself. I give credit to Jonah, though, that he acknowledges that he is giving his own opinion “for an audience of one” and also that his is both a beggar and a chooser. Witty guy, he is. I appreciate his candor.

So what to do?

Remember, telling someone what to do is not the same thing as telling someone what not to do. For most people, it is easier to remember what to do (“walk down stairs in case of fire”) instead of what not to do (“don’t use the stairs in case of fire.” — if one is not to use the stairs, then they have to have their wits about them to figure out what to do instead. In an emergency, one may not always be able to think clearly, so they react, and sometimes do the wrong thing. I know this example is unrelated to leather fetish videos, but it gets my point across.)

I do not have much time to create videos, since my partner is not interested in helping me with them and I have to do them when I am at home alone, which is seldom since my partner rarely goes anywhere by himself. However, I am open to ideas for what to do in a video, what actions to show, or what demonstrations or discussions are of interest to others. I would much rather know what to do — not what not to do.

Send me a message or leave a comment on this blog. I will be happy to consider reasonable, appropriate, interesting input. Thanks.

Life is short: figure out what to do!