This sounds like a dangerous idea to me.. Creating a map of swingers, is a bit like stalking.
What are the benefits of such a map?
This is not something that would be taken up on site. We already have facilities for people to make the first part of their postcode available on their profiles for other members to view if required.
A significant number of members do not want other people in the wider world to know what their personal habits and interests are. It could lead to all sorts of difficult and compromising situations.
The reason why we don't allow email or postal addresses, dogging locations with specific meet times or telephone numbers to be published on site or in chat is because it is a risk to personal safety.
Some people join sites such as this for reasons other than what it's intended for. These include journalists, those looking to expose people they know (or complete strangers) and those looking to sell dubious services.
Personally I'd steer well clear.
Swinging to most is a private matter.
They use the site to make contacts and for generally chit chat. They do not want to feel a part of a big group..
Making a swinging map is a bit like showing where the local pubs or corner shops are. It sort of degrades the who scene
I see what you are saying, so Ill be removing the map. I dont think it is generating that much interest anyway.
But for the sake of discussion, surely its not providing any more information than is already available on the site? If you want your postcde listed, then it is attached to your profile. no?
All it is doing is making the currently avaiable information more easily understandable.
What I mean in is that I *could* do a 3 mile radius "my serach" and come up with 100 local postcodes, or I could open a map and see the same approximated postcodes laid out geographically with information about driving and bus routes, train lines, hotels.
I dont see the security difference, only that it is more convenient as a map.
again, I see what you are saying, and I apologise if I have caused you offence.
But when you do a search on SH, you are presented with results in a one by one index down the page. In my opinion it just isnt the most intuitive way to display the information. Nothing would stop you for searching for people with the same interests, age group, male / female / couples, just that the results are all presented simultaneously in a 2d map. possibly with rollover effects displaying further information.
And saying that swinging isnt about convenience isnt necessarily true. Some of us are very busy people for whom having friends close is just as important as having good friends.
I think the problem might be with how much information would be required to provide an accurate map reference.
SH members have options whether or not to show the first part of their postcode (and town/county) and whether or not to allow other members to calculate distance from them. So you can set it so give away very little about where you actually are, whilst providing other members with a reasonable idea of distance.
Also, the first part of a postcode can pinpoint an address to within a few houses for a significant part of the population. I suspect that a lot of people on here who have their postcode visible have actually chosen one near them rather than the real one.
As far as I understand it in Google Maps, you'd need to give a specific location for a placemark to be accurate enough to be useful. IMO for this reason it may be too much public information for members to be comfortable with.
I think Atom is also right in that people tend to meet on here primarily because they have the same interests rather than being driven primarily by location.
By the way, don't let this stifle your ideas. It's great to see someone coming up with suggestions for improving the site so keep them coming. :thumbup:
Varken, with respect, your understanding isnt accurate.
Google maps will approximate the address if it is only partially given.
Well I have to admit I impressed myself that you are looking to improve the site..
I know I have 100s of ideas myself, but have never got around to posting them etc.. lol
no no, I have no access to any actual site database.
It was more a proof of concept sort of plan.
that turned into this thread which is more a discussion of human computer interfacing and swinging ethics. lol.
All suggestions for change are worth discussing and looking at. Some may get shot down in flames, others may tread a well-worn path (there are loads of other ideas about chat changes for instance) but keep em coming :thumbup:
Would it not just become usless and inaccurate if only a small percentage of people use it? Only people that agree to have there information on it will be searchable, so you would be filtering out all the people that have not agreed from your search.
Would it not become more of a novelty and not really a useful tool?
therefore giving consent :dunno: or is the information taken from the database that already exsists here ? 
