RateARod Rises as Dick Dot Net

SAN FRANCISCO - The website formerly known as RateARod has become Dick.net. Along with the name change came a new tagline: "Social networking for your penis."

"The name says it all," creator Dick Hunter noted. "It's basically MySpace for penises."

In addition to RateARod's traditional public evaluation of men's private assets - which has become a section within the new site - Dick.net also offers user profiles, videos, blogs, groups, polls, forums, event listings and a new feature called "Cock Fights."

In Cock Fights, penises face off head to head, and viewers pick the one they find more alluring. Cock fighters may view their members' stats, including number of knockouts and win percentages. The Cock Fights feature also may be accessed at its own URL.

Dick.net, which is aimed primarily at gay, bisexual and straight men - is free to access and does not require registration. Hunter said it also should appeal to women.

"It's always bothered me that RateARod was labeled a gay site, even though the desire to know what people think of your penis transcends sexual preference," Hunter said. "One great thing about the new site is that everyone must specify their sexual preference and gender, making it easy to browse profiles and finally allowing the straight guys to be identified as such."

About 50 percent of the current membership at Dick.net self-identifies as gay, Hunter noted. Forty percent are bi or bi-curious, and 10 percent identify themselves as straight. Hunter said most of the membership is male currently, although female membership has grown since the site entered beta testing on Jan. 1.

The current membership of Dick.net self-identifies as approximately 50 percent gay, 40 percent bi or curious, and 10 percent straight. The membership consists mostly of men, but the female membership has grown steadily since the beta site launched on January 1.

Hunter, an adult webmaster for nine years, also operates the webmaster resource site GayWebmasters .