August 2, 2016 | Online

Gay.com, as you know it, is dead

There was once a time when chat rooms were all the rage.

You could find one with a specific focus -- from bears to fetishes to twinks -- and settle in for an evening of cruising and, if lucky, a little real time fun.

But with Grindr and Scruff and all the other smartphone hookup apps, the days of the online chatroom are pretty much over. Gay.com was one of the last chatroom holdouts.

As of August 1, 2016, the chat room feature and personals section on Gay.com are gone. All personal information associated with people's profiles has been deleted for good, and the site said there is no possibility the feature will ever return.

There is an app version of the site. It, too, is being discontinued. New owners took over the site at the beginning of this month and promised they had big plans for Gay.com. A new dating feature is being developed, and, one would assume, that something akin to Grindr is in the works.

If you were a premium member, refunds are being issued .