Fun, but Flawed 31 October 2013 Reviewer: Dick Junior from Toronto
213 of 360 people found this review helpful
Squirt is run by Pink Triangle Press - the publishers of Xtra, based in Toronto. It is heavily used in Toronto and Ottawa. However, its demographic is skewed towards middle age+ guys who are not very connected to the gay scene. It caters mostly to more closeted guys who are looking for anonymous or NSA encounters, rather than making any kind of connection. Guys who are more interested in who's nearby and available now than who their partners are or what they look like. It does have comprehensive cruising site listings, but this is a concept which is increasingly less relevant in a world where gay men can meet openly. Squirt's main ethos is that it is pro-sex and while I agree with that, it will leave you feeling empty and disconnected if that's all you pursue.
Squirt has a very dated look and your options for navigation are limited. For instance you can't search profiles by keyword or for who's online now. The chat function is a real pain. If you close a chat window and then try to rejoin the chat once the other person has replied, you have to wait long period before the system will let you. You can't tell whether a message you've sent has been read - the symbols that are supposed to show this are non-functional. Tech support does respond, but generally tries to get rid of you with stock responses without addressing the issue. Al in all, I think the site does have a role to play, but I get the impression that this site is a cash cow for PTP in the face of their failing newspapers and they just want it to keep generating income with minimal effort.
