I feel that I should start this posting with an apology as this is one of those moaning messages that regular forum users might be tired with. I can be critical, but be patient with me as you may agree with some of below. This is the best place/forum for me to air my thoughts.
Swinging Heaven has been through a lot of changes over the last couple of years, however throughout these radical changes I feel that the forums have to a significant extent weathered the storm. So this message is in part reaching out to those who have been here a very long time.
Now please do not assume any arrogance here, SH was started a long time ago and the fantastic work that was made in creating it has nothing to do with me. The point of this message is to say that for me/us, it just doesn’t work anymore. It did work for us when it was a free site, but it doesn’t work for us anymore.
We are a couple that likes to (soft) swing, but is a bit shy at parties and clubs. We need to get to know a couple a bit before we become intimate. So we have always relied on the ads systems. The SH we knew was fantastic for this. We placed ads here free of charge with a few pictures and we would receive a couple of replies a day from interested couples. The site was perfect for our needs. There was a free easy to use photo ads system and a free forum. Through using the free ads system we had some fantastic meets and great experiences suited to exactly what we wanted. Basically from our perspective SH worked in that it allowed us to meet with couples looking for what we wanted.
Now the reason for this message is that we were here before the takeover. We witnessed SH moving from this free site, to a paysite. This was a bit of a shock as SH had always marketed itself as a permanently free site. We did however receive lots of reassurances at the time that the site would be better, and improved. We were told that although the site would charge new members it would have all sorts of new features. The basic message was, don’t worry the site will be better. Now perhaps for some users the site is better? But it has been sometime now since the take over and for us it just doesn’t work properly anymore. By this we mean that we have trouble meeting couples to swing with here and isn’t that the main reason for the site?
The chatrooms are far more sophisticated, and the photo-ads, with their improved search engines and allowing more photos and videos and photos to be included are on paper much better, but the point of this message is that despite all these add-ons SH just doesn’t for us work anymore. You can add on all this fancy stuff but we feel the membership charge has for us really killed things. How can we judge this, well very easily. We advertise here and on free sites. We only use advertisements to meet couples. When this site was free all of our meets came from this site. Since this site became a paysite, all of our meets have come from elsewhere. We have had lots of meets from more simplistic free sites, but none from this site since it became a paysite. For us it is quite simple. SH doesn’t work for us anymore. I am aware that in posting our message we may be removed from this site, our inherited free membership may be deleted, but it is important to say that from our perspective the concerns raised about the take over are true. I know some people enjoy the chatrooms, but lets be honest is this site what is used to be? I have great affection for SH, but this is really the fair (and not misleading) site that SH used to be? The photo ads which were what we used to use are now a mess. Ads used to be deleted after a month or so. There are now ads on the system that were placed years ago. If you are not observant you can find yourself replying to an ad that was placed back in early 2006 and the advertiser hasn’t visited the site in over a year. Why are these ads still on the system? Obviously because they help make money, not because they are anything to do with helping couples hook up. This goes further, if we see an ad we have no idea whether the advertiser is a premium member and can reply. This obviously kills the ads system (something we rely on). Why spend time reading and ad and drafting a reply to an ad if you have no idea whether the recipients have paid their £50 and can reply. It is so much more tempting to use a free site where you know the couple can reply to your message without censorship.
So, to summarize below, does SH still work? We are especially interested in hearing from those that , like us, used the photo ads before the takeover.. I hope no one will be scared to share their thought if they agree with above.
I really miss the Swinging Heaven that used to be!!! Given the choice I would rather have the old site back.
Thank you for all the replies. I'm sorry for the .....erm.. well slight delay in replying. I'm glad other people seem to have noticed it as well.
To redress the balance will will have to start telling people we are in or 20s!
If only it was true.... :boo:
Thanks for the advice everyone... we did a little bit of shopping over the weekend... the pics are on our profile. Lene is very happy with her new dress, boots and high heel shoes.
Thanks LP, we hav sent you a message.
Thanks Duncan!!!
It looks like my credit card is going to get some action
Well, it would make a nice addition to the site to have a little section where people could give their reviews of DVDs. However, I know they have a link to DVDs on the site, so they might not want to upset one of their advertisers.
If only they could be purchased on Amazon!
Hello all,
Can anyone suggest some areas in London, apart from Camden where we can shop for fetish clothing and sexy outfits. Is there another area in addition to Camden with lots of this genre of shops close together?
Thank you for your help.
Hello, could anyone (via PM only not openly in the Forum) tell us where exactly to go for the Barn Hill Fryent Way location which is listed in the Dogging section.
The site suggests afternoon's and evenings, but is it really worth going in the afternoon? Also, is this more of a summer thing? Is it worth going now that it is getting a bit colder?
Thanks
Stay sober. Don't fall into the trap of trying a bit of dutch courage, you will enjoy things a lot more sober.
number one.........if you leave your cam on not only is it quite dull...........but also you might forget that your kids have got up and are now wondering round on cam.........
Then this would be covered by the no kids on cam rule. Many couples (i.e us) don't have kids.
other sites, emails addys and phone numbers.........well i can see why the owners don want other sites advetised...........but surley only an idiot would post their email addy or phone number on a public forum............
Well, I think this rule even blocks this in whispher in the chatroom. If someone wants to post an email address, warn them of the risks, but leave it up to them. We used to have our email address on our ad before the takeover with little harm.
capitals are seen as shouting or rude.........so it shouldnt be encouraged.........
I think this would self regulate. People will tell someone to not use caps, it doesn't need to clutter up the rule book.
and its definately fair to warn people before they are kicked from a chatroom............they may be new and not know how they are expected to behave..........or something they say might have been misinturpreted........
I my experience this rule is being ignored. I've seen a lot of kicking without warning. Perhaps you are right and this should stay. With less rules it would become more prominent. More room creators might become aware of it.
Thanks for the replies and for explaining why you want those rules to stay. I don't think the rules are bad, but I think people will behave better if there are fewer rules which are clearer. It’s great to have all these rules, but if there are so many, in different places around the site people I wonder how many people are familiar and follow them all.
I am really happy to agree to differ on views here. I might think a rule could go, whereas many others think it is vital and should stay.
To try and summarize things, I think some rules could go as there are too many and I have now listed the ones I would get rid of, whereas the Mods/ex Mods and I am sure many users think the rules are essential to keep the peace. I guess they are two different approaches.
Thank you for patiently letting me have my say and listening to my suggestions
Tim
OK, well I don’t think the rules I’ve picked are not necessarily really bad, but I think the rules could be simplified and in doing this some rules could be dropped. My point really is that there are too many rules. The more rules you make the more the site becomes a minefield. I feel if there are too many rules it becomes hard to keep track. Some of the rules are good advice, but really should be advice and not a rule.
First of all the rules could be a bit more prominent. Maybe a prominent link on the users homepage. If you don’t use the chatroom you might miss the AUP completely. It is currently linked in very small red text at the bottom of the page, next to the other legal bits people rarely read.
I would also suggest trying to condense the rules if possible, perhaps rephrasing to reduce repetition. The more text there is and the more legalistic the AUP the less likely people are to read everything. Perhaps there could be an ‘AUP light’ and a more detailed AUP, provided that more detailed information (the more legalistic stuff) is clearly available. This kind of already exists a bit between the AUP and the Terms and Conditions. Earlier in this thread Steve listed some rules, in very clear succinct English and this was very easy to absorb quickly. This I think is a good example of the sort of style of an AUP light.
Chatroom
Personally I disagree about the closing of chatrooms just because the chatroom creator isn’t there anymore. I don’t think that in general the creators of chatrooms are doing that much moderating. I am sure there are exceptions. I think the room should only be closed if there is a real problem. A previous chat service I used would let you see who the room creator is. If the software allowed this people could decide themselves if they wanted to go into a room which didn’t have the room creator. I just feel it is too limiting to only allow the room to be open when the person who started it is there. This seems to encourage the person who created the room simply leave themselves logged in, even though they are not at their PC, just so that people can keep chatting. Perhaps there could instead be a function where chatters can highlight a room to moderators if there is a problem. A bit like when you call for an air steward/ess on a plane. Or the room creator could be allowed to give other users the ability to manage the room. So if he/she wanted to log off, they could pass on the room control to someone else.
Some other chatroom rules could also I think go:
You must not leave web cams unattended for more than 10 minutes
No posting of other sites, email addresses or phone numbers
No capitals are to be used as this is regarded as shouting and rude
If you open a room you must warn someone before you kick them out
Forum
I think some of the forum rules (I am referring to the rules in the sticky at the top) are a bit discouraging for new users. I would simply keep the basic rules that you should post in the appropriate forum and of course stop anything illegal or abusive, no spamming etc
For example I understand why:
“Before you post a new topic, use the forum search tool at the top to make sure you're not simply repeating an old
But I think this is off putting for someone who is new. Just because a topic was discussed before, they might want to have that conversation again, with new people. Sure some of the obvious topics would come up again and again, but that might encourage new people to join in. How many possible regulars to the forum have been lost, because their first post was blocked for this reason, possibly because they didn’t notice the sticky.
Other rules about genital shots in photos seem unneeded.
General AUP
I would drop these:
Photos will be deleted if they contain any of the following:
Any photo ads or posts either in the forum or chatroom that are posted in order to exchange pictures, videos or offer photography services or similar
Pictures that are not on topic, eg popstars, cartoons etc.
Postage stamp size pictures.
No banned members are allowed to be invited to a munch or any kind of social event that has been advertised on this site or promoted to the site members.
Photo Ads
I would allow people to post their email address if they wanted to. This could be blocked for those that have not paid as it is in the Mailbox.
I would also allow a single person to have pictures of them with other people, but I would remind them that they need that person's approval. This goes as well for couples who might want to show pics of them with another couple. Just tell them they need permission or face a permanent ban.
Finally I don’t like these two, but if I owned a site I would of course HAVE to have them:
Swinging Heaven has the right to change the AUP at anytime without prior notice to its members, Ops or Mods
Swinging Heaven has the right to withdraw membership without notice or explanation.
I am guessing some people here were involved in drawing up these rules and I am very sorry if this upsets them. This is just my opinion, so don't let this bother you too much. I am repeating myself a bit, but I think that if there are too many rules they distract from the really important rules.
An exercise bike in front of the TV is very easy exercise. If you get into what you are watching you forget you are exercising.
Jogging is harder work, but worth trying if you are near a safe green area. I've heard it can be bad for your shins if your jog too much on a hard surface.
We are a bit picky, so it is important for there to be an exchange of face pics. Exchange is the word I would use rather than demanding.
It really saves time, otherwise we would be asking people for meets, and then turning them down.
One thing we have noticed, despite an apparent increase in people advertising and using the site, the amount of replies our ad gets has fallen following the changes to the site after the takeover. Our ad hasn't really changed much and the pics are the same, it's just we don't get that many serious emails anymore.
:x :x
ops: :oops: