If your group does not have a website and you'd like to be included free of charge as a Gay Talk WebPartner please read the rest of this document.

Your club, group or organization will receive ...

Here's how it works ... In all the examples below we'll use the fictitious group known as 'We Are Proud'. WAP's president is Jane Jones and WAP's volunteer coordinator is Jim Smith.

Gay Talk hosts We Are Proud's webpage.

Gay Talk sets up an account for a user named 'wap'. The http reference We Are Proud would give to people to see their webpage will be 'http://www.gaytalk.org/wap'. Or they can give out 'http://www.gaytalk.org' and then click on We Are Proud's name in the WebPartner list.

The person who will be updating wap's webpage will be given the password to access the ftp (File Transfer Protocol) account. They will be the only person authorized to make changes to wap's webpage.

We Are Proud will need to have someone who knows html coding or have a program, such as Adobe Go-Live or Dreamweaver to create the web page. *see note at bottom for alternatives

You may ask, 'Why can't WAP just use http://www.wap.org'? The answer is simple, the cost of hosting webpages at an existing server (such as gaytalk.org) is infinitesimal compared to creating a new server host. The annual cost to run gaytalk.org is approximately $1,600. The cost to host webpages at gaytalk.org is about $.12 (yes, 12 cents!) a page. This cost savings really helps groups that need to conserve their funds so they can fulfill their primary mission statement. And since Gay Talk is covering the 12 cents, the group gets webspace for free!

Gay Talk's e-mail server processes WAP's e-mail accounts. Gay Talk can provide WAP with up to five e-mail addresses.

When someone wants to send WAP's Ms. Jones an e-mail they would send it to Jane_Jones_WAP@gaytalk.org. If Jane prefers to use her internet handle, jj303, her e-mail address would be jj303_WAP@gaytalk.org.

Gay Talk's e-mail server can either forward the e-mail to Jane's AOL account (jj303@aol.com) or Jane can log on to Gay Talk's mail server using an e-mail client, such as Outlook, and read her e-mail that way.

Same goes for Jim Smith, also known as 'hotdog201'. Mr. Smith's e-mail address would be either Jim_Smith_WAP@gaytalk.org or hotdog201_WAP@gaytalk.org. Since Mr. Smith would prefer to have all his e-mail forwarded to his hotmail.com account, we'd do that.

In any case, the emails sent through Gay Talk's e-mail server are secure and cannot be viewed by anyone but the owner of the e-mail account name. Yes, surprisingly, not even Gay Talk's webmaster can read the e-mails sent across our e-mail server. Isn't technology wonderful!

Now the big question you all have ... why is this a free service?

From 1975 to 2000 the Gay Talk Telephone Hotline provided information about the community to callers. In 2000 the number of calls had dropped so dramatically that Gay Talk's all volunteer team decided to change the format of it's services. Gay Talk is now a web-based information center. To help fulfill this new mission, Gay Talk is providing free webspace for other organizations, it's that simple.

Now for the other big question ... who is paying Gay Talk's bill to be able to provide this service?

A private donor recently made available funds to Gay Talk to specifically provide this service for one year. At the end of that time period the donor will review a host of information including web statistics, responses to a survey all the WebPartners will receive, and responses to differing marketing techniques to drive traffic to the WebPartner's webpages. The donor will then decide if they will fund the program for another three years.

Now for the not-so-fun legally required stuff:

Gay Talk, Heartland Pride and Condom Crusaders are programs of Gay and Lesbian Services Network, Inc. (GLSN), an IRS classified 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation incorporated in the State of Missouri.

www.gaytalk.org, www.heartlandpride.org and www.condomcrusaders.org are registered trademarks of GLSN. All rights are reserved.

GLSN has contracted with Litterbox Designs to provide web and e-mail server space. All WebPartners are bound by the Terms of Agreement between GLSN and Litterbox Designs. Neither Litterbox Designs nor GLSN are responsible for the content of webpages posted by WebPartners, nor from any action arising from the content. Litterbox Designs and GLSN reserve the right to refuse or remove any content that may, in their sole (joint or individual) discretion, violate the Terms of Agreement.

GLSN has sole discretion in determining whether or not a club, group or organization can become or remain a WebPartner.

Perl, CGI, Java and SSI scripts are supported. Front Page Extentions are not supported. Any Perl or CGI scripts must be coordinated with the webmaster for Gay Talk.

*If you like, Gay Talk volunteers can create and maintain a simple page for a donation of $50.00. They can also teach you how to create, upload and maintain your web page(s) using Dreamweaver for a donation of $500.00. This fee includes a registered copy of the Dreamweaver software, two days instruction using Dreamweaver's basic features and help in creating and uploading your organization's first webpage. Either of these services can be scheduled by contacting .