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The DataLounge is an Internet forum for LGBT news and gossip with approximately 6.5 million page...

The DataLounge is an Internet forum for LGBT news and gossip with approximately 6.5 million page views each month according to its Webmaster (as of June 2006). Mediapolis, a New York City-based interactive media company, created the site in May 1995. The DataLounge's style stems from a core community of predominantly anonymous posters who share news, opinions, gossip, personal histories and political views from a gay and lesbian perspective. While the forum guidelines formally require posters to respect others, much of the site's fun revolves around its appreciation of wit and satire, as well as its shared history and in-jokes. DataLounge was in the news in February 2005, when a "friendly spy" claiming to work at the ABC television network, posted that actress Marcia Cross would come out as gay in an upcoming issue of The Advocate. Within days the rumor had spread like wildfire and garnered mentions in the media including CNN and Fox Television's Los Angeles affiliate, before Cross denied the rumors in an interview with Barbara Walters and her co-hosts on The View. The Advocate published an article chronicling this incident. Less than six months later, Cross announced her