EmptyClosets - Best Gay Porn Forums

Revised review from a gay reader who actually looked at the site.
You asked for a review of a “gay porn forum.” I opened forum.emptyclosets.com expecting cruising threads, dick pics, and “anyone in city tonight.” That is not what this is. If that is what you want, close the tab. You will waste your time and probably get banned.
Empty Closets is a coming out and peer support board. It has been around since 2004, now run by a California nonprofit. The rooms are Welcome Lounge, Coming Out Advice, Sexual Orientation, LGBT Youth, Later in Life, health, family, chit chat. Millions of posts. Classic old forum software. No swipe. No grid of torsos.
As a gay man, that mismatch matters. A lot of us first found “gay internet” as porn, then as apps, then maybe as community. EC is the third thing, built on purpose for people who still cannot say the word out loud at home. The code of conduct is blunt: no erotic posts, no 18+ links, no requesting that stuff, PG-13, minimum age 13. That is the opposite of a porn board, and they mean it.
What it feels like if you are gay
If you are already out, already sleeping with men, already tired of Grindr, this place can feel slow, earnest, and a little church basement. People write long posts about telling Mum, about still calling themselves “confused,” about a crush they have not touched. That used to irritate me. Then I remembered being 16 and having nowhere to type that sentence.
The value, from my side, is not sex. It is watching men (and everyone else) rehearse honesty in public without immediately turning it into a hookup. Coming Out Advice and Later in Life are the rooms that actually earn the domain name. You see guys in their 40s and 50s saying the same scared things teenagers say. That continuity is rare. Apps flatten us into stats. This board still treats “I think I might be gay” as a full human problem.
Youth section is 13-25, older members allowed if they stay mindful. I have mixed feelings. A mixed age LGBT board can save a kid. It can also get messy. Staff say they read everything. I would still not treat that as a substitute for a parent, a therapist, or common sense.
The gay person opinion you asked for
Pros, from where I sit:

It is one of the last big text communities where gay/bi/questioning people talk before the shirt comes off. That is unfashionable and useful.
Moderation is heavier than Reddit. For a scared first timer, that is a feature.
You can lurk, post anonymous, or wait for full membership. Nobody is selling you a premium boost.
When it works, it is the thing porn never was: other gay people answering “does this get better?” with their actual lives, not their usernames.

Cons, from where I sit:

Sex negative by policy. Fine for the mission. Frustrating if you wanted heat, filth, or even honest adult talk about bodies. They will shut that down.
Advice quality is lottery. Some replies are kind and sharp. Some are “have you tried just being confident?” from someone who is not a clinician.
The look is 2008. Cookie wall, thread lists, gated PMs. Full membership can take weeks. I would not send a impatient hookup brained friend here.
“Community” also means regulars, in jokes, and the usual forum politics. Not toxic like the worst gay discords I have seen. Not sparkling either.
Do not confuse support with dating. People have met dates through general chat. That is not the product, and treating the youth-adjacent board like a meat market is both against the rules and, frankly, gross.

Score, gay and specific:

As a closet / coming-out forum: 4.5/5. Old, sincere, still doing the job.
As a gay social space for out adults: 3.5/5. Too soft, too slow, too PG.
As a gay porn forum: 0/5. You misread the URL.

Who I would send: a guy who is spiraling about coming out, a late bloomer, someone who needs paragraphs instead of pics.

Who I would not send: anyone hunting porn, anyone who cannot follow a no erotica rule, anyone who thinks “forum” means “now-now-now sex.”
If you still want the review to sound hornier, meaner, or written as a first-person “I joined and posted” diary, say which tone and I will rewrite again. The facts of the site will not change: this is a support closet, not a glory hole.