Available in English. Website bigmuscle.com | Owner AB Software LLC Alexa rank 99,116 (April 2014) | |
Type of site Online Community, for physically fit guys Created by Andrew Wysocki, William Sanderson | ||
BigMuscle.com is a social networking website operated by AB Software LLC, it facilitates same-sex introductions of like minded physically fit gym guys. It is owned by the original founders, Andrew Wysocki and William Sanderson. The site has over 14,000 profiles worldwide. It is headquartered in Palm Springs, California, USA.
Contents
History
The official launch date of the BigMuscle was March 1998. The first year it ran as a sub domain under PTOWN.COM/BigMuscle and was coded to run as a service under Lotus Notes. For recording purposes, BigMuscle has decided to use the date of the registration of the domain name as the starting date, even though it was running a year before.
According to Wysocki:
Lotus Notes gave many sorting features to the web site, but was difficult to add Photos to profiles. In 2000 I recoded in C, PHP, and mysql, this allowed the site to run quicker and allow more users, but didn't have all the sort features that Lotus Notes provided. Over the years, those sorting features were added back in.
There are many features to the site, from simple profiles to searching for guys in your country, state, or city. Along with comparing guys your height then by Age, Weight, and chest size. Profiles can send private messages from one user to another. Over the years, one of the leading questions to the owners has been Why did you create it? According to Wysocki
I'm a big guy, I stand at 6' 5". When I was working out with a friend who was 5'7" we both were working hard yet he looked huge, his arms looked big, his chest looked big. So it was discouraging to say the least. When I talked to a personal trainer he told me that because of my frame size, my muscles were longer, so it took a lot more to make them show. It was this revelation, that I wanted to create a site where I could compare other guys my height and what their stats were. The secondary reason was at the time in 1998/1999 most web sites were managed by the webmasters. Updates would be published, weekly or everyother week. I figured why wait, why not have a site that when its updated, its live on the site.
With that in mind Wysocki created the web site along with the features to compare your profile to others with the same height, and to allow live updates, when a photo was posted it was live on the site without it having to be reviewed first.
In late 2000s Titan Media approached Bill and Andy at BigMuscle to feature a group of their members in a Titan Movie The movie was a success, along with being featured at one of the BigMuscle.com's Folsom Street fair Charity Party for AIDS Emergency Fund of San Francisco.
Tom Bianchi of TomBianchi.com also featured members of BigMuscle in a Web base page of Tom's work and their profiles.
The site has evolved over its history and has found that it now provides a different service as told by its users. It has never really been used as a hook up site, yet that does happen, it is a social site where the users will find another member, contact them for location specific information, or just to meet the for coffee, lunch or dinner (dating). Many of the members proclaim this by saying "Thanks Bill n Andy" in their profiles. You can search the comments section to find these profiles. Search BigMuscle
Newest Features
2011 - Going Mobile, Native Android application Mobile Applications
Characteristics
Profiles are of a non-sexual nature though many will post artistic nudes. Sexual, Lewd and Lascivious photos are not allowed on the site, and a clear shirtless chest and arms photo is required at all times. This makes the site a community, and many times the members will auto correct itself by informing the new users that, BigMuscle is not like other pickup sites, and that they need to tone down their profile or remove photos before they are removed by the administrators.
Public mentions
In the latest mention, Author Thomas Rogers wrote a story about Anthony Weiner, D-NY and How would Weiner do on Grindr?
Feb 21, 2009 BigMuscle.com celebrates 10 years of being online
Aug 2003 BigMuscle owners Bill n Andy are interviewed by HotSapien.com
5th Annual BigMuscle Charity Event - Folsom Street Fair Weekend For Aids Emergency Fund During Folsom Street Fair weekend, BigMuscle puts on a Meet & Greet event where the men from the web site can meet in person. AEF-SF.org provides support staff for the even and receive 100% of the proceeds from the cover charge. AB Software (BigMuscle.com) and the night club cover the rental and staff for the event. Over 1000 members attend this event every year.
Village Voice
The National Ledger