Quote by WroteForLuck
Quote by TootsYou'd be hard pressed to find someone more objective than me Toots. I can't, for a minute, believe that you haven't seen a significant decrease in comments left on others profiles having met just on volume of traffic alone!
Quote by WroteForLuckThat is from your perspective, from the other side of the fence I see plenty of members hooking up/meeting, many of them go on to issue a verification as having met, I also note the many comments left on member profiles by others after having met, I haven't seen a significant decrease or even a decrease in those comments. Plenty still subscribe here, plenty still join and go on to subscribe, plenty renew, it must work for them? The 'longstanding members drift' you mention, it's just natural evolution, those 'longstanding members' have moved on from swinging or moved on from this site as they fancied a change, likewise (and other mods i'm sure) are constantly deleting new joins ups photos they've uploaded which include the watermark of another site they used previous, the drift appears mutual.
There is always going to be talkers and walkers but the balance has become alarmingly unbalanced. Maybe five years ago we reckoned it was about 15% of the active in last three months membership that actually met, suspect it is below 5% now.
It's a real shame because the site had all the ducks in a row to be the vital site, vital as in vitality. Sure, the monetary investment went in with the upgrades etc but the point was lost. I'm not one of those that eulogise the old days, just someone, like the OP, who despairs of the shell the site has become.
But in any case, for me the dynamics of swinging have changed which when coupled with the likes of facebook as a community have changed the ballpark on how people choose to interact/spend their online recreational time.
All of what you're stated has merit but for me and through it all it's simply about pricing and how it's priced, if here was to offer the same selection as other sites and in the same way I think it would muchly benefit the SH community, money is king, it always does the talking when it comes to where individuals decide to spend their money.
I'm sure that with the various and significant upgrades on the site in recent years, it is now possible to drill down and come up with some pretty comprehensive stats on specific site activity. So, from what you've said;
I strongly suspect that a lot of the longstanding members have moved on from this site for meets not a change of scenery! I'd like to know some of those watermarks from other sites, they would no doubt tell a tale...
- What percentage of the 'active in the last 3 months' membership have received or issued a meet verification in that time?
- What percentage of the 'active in the last 3 months membership' have you seen hooking up/meeting?
I do get what yer saying, I just don't agree simply because I see things from the other side of the fence, if I look back on sites I once used (not swinging related) forums I once helped populate and how many of those I've moved on from, it's a good percentage, friendsreunited/myspace/mumsnet/ebay communities/ groups/irc etc and other communities also (ok some have closed down)
I have not seen a significant decrease or i'd say so, for sure re your comment in your post above this, yes you can see some of what goes on (or not as the case may be) I personally do check some verifications by mailing (you know this as I've checked with you in the past) for sure some are suspect, but that usually comes out along the way.
But what you don't see or at least not easily is the heaving amount of 'meet' verifications between accounts that come in on a weekly basis, recently I've seen two accounts, one a single male, the other a couple (to answer in part one of the above queries) that logged on to the site at the end of November, both of them were reasonably close to me, I've watched them issue meet verifications on several accounts and those accounts to reciprocate, I've also seem them upload photos of their meets and the various 'positions' (jammy buggers *fidget) ... and they're by no means exceptions.
Peoples 'tudes' change, long established members may become hardened to the sometimes idiots/window shoppers out there, tbecome jaded, or disillusioned with the site, lament it's moving forward, look back to the halcyon days gone by with fond memories, all of which will no doubt lessen their liklihood of having fun here and now, the been there, done that scenario...but where they fail the new kids on the block (new accounts coming through) it's cyclical and thats without going on to state of the economy/less money around etc etc...a host of reasons but if the site is investing which it appears to have been recently then it can't be all bad. SH is on the move, it may not look like it but it is.