Forum Activity

I remember Akron

I stayed in touch with him for a few years. He remarried. I knew that he couldn't keep that hot ass ex-wife happy. lol. (Nothing like busting balls on an old friend that isn't here anymore. lol)

Scamp

It amazes me that people can't have a good debate on a subject they disagree on and let it go at that. There were subjects that I disagreed with people that I really liked and met through the forums. You and I haven't agreed on everything but remain friendly. We've had dinner together. Poly and I argued about many things and remained friends for a long time. There are those who I think I probably wouldn't want to meet because of their posts, but I know I could be wrong about that if I had the chance to actually meet them. I know it's an overused term, but I believe people are really becoming too much of the 'snowflakes'.

I personally think that the longer people participate in the forums, the harder it is to maintain interest. Simply because after a while, there is nothing "new" to keep coming back for.

When first participating in any forum, everything is new, and one can spend hours at a time scouring every topic, and throwing in their two cents worth. But after xx number of months or years, it seems like you have seen it all many times over. Kind of like binge watching Hogan's Heroes. You can only do it so many times before you have had enough.

It's no different than belonging to a Fac e B ook group. I happen to belong to a particular boat owners group. It is great for sharing information, especially for a first time boat owner. When I first joined, I very quickly learned a lot about my boat that would have normally taken a long time. But now, when I see a post that has been covered several times, I just scroll by. If it's a question that I can help answer, I will do my best to be helpful. And, of course, you do have the snarky assholes who have been around too long that will post "This question has been asked a thousand times, just scroll up and see the old responses." A new member of the group can't know this, and that kind of response will just chase them away.

Just look at the Open Forum topics that keep at the top of the list. What's For Dinner, Word Association, Name Game With A Twist. They all have nothing to do with swinging. If it's not political or something to do with current events, it seems to have a short lifespan. I have even tried to start a couple of new threads, just to get away from the same old, same old, but they didn't last very long.

So what does all of this mean? Maybe nothing to you. But to me, it means that's human nature, especially in this ADD, instant information overload world we now live in.

P.S. Proofreading your shit before hitting the send button also makes a world of difference.

MAYHEM8

"So anyway, what DO people want to see?"

I want to see the women shamelessly throwing themselves at me.

GOODENUFF

An APP is short for an appetizer. Applebees used to advertise their Apps all the time.

Mrs Cincy's story about Melvin blocking up the toilet at their M&G was a classic.

We've met a few peeps from here over the years. Rabbit and Scamp, TrooperandPirateGirl, and a few others. The only one we are still is touch with is the female half of LiveWireCpl (i.e. not a couple anymore) who were only active in the fora for a short time. A few others such as Gina we knew from the real world before we knew them from the fora.

And of course, BobbyUSA, who lived quite close to us when we lived in Virginia. His English is much better in person.

Polygirl and pet were the Hatfields and McCoys of the fora then and while they were from NJ, the rest of the regular participants were from all over the country. Remember Akron?

I think another thing that has changed is, we used to actually meet people we chatted with in the fora. I met polygirl, Akron, perf as well as peghey, pirate girl, the Cincis and even Cayne when I was a SM. One gathering was in New Orleans before I had moved here and I met FunAhoy, BT and several couples whose screen names escape me at the moment.

We didn’t really know or care what each other’s politics were but now, virtually every thread is littered with obvious bias and animosity. Who wants to meet anyone under those circumstances.

~Scamp

Fuck the app. Whatever moron thought parents would want to download an app for swingers that children could find on their family sharing list, or just by clicking the icon on an unlocked phone probably might also be the brains behind Putin's "peacekeeping mission", daylight savings time and the final episode of Game of Thrones.

"As was also mentioned, the fora can only be viewed via a web browser and not the app, and us old people are stubbornly clinging to the site and refusing to use the app."

I'm old, what's an app?

One of the fun features the fora used to have was the ability to post specific pictures along with your post. It was sort of a fun and flirty thing we could do. Thanks to the site's many added antifeatures, we can't do that anymore.

While politics have always intruded from time to time (sometimes with relatively reasonable discussions going on), it is only in the last perhaps 6 years that the fora have been flooded with so very many complete political nincompoops. A few that have been around since before that (such as Mickey) weren't always obsessed with political delusions and turning everything into crazyville like they are now.

We had a few real characters here once upon a time. Oddballs like Robert and even Boinkster. Z and his bizarre writings, sometimes even filling entire fora with discussions among himselves. And way more cute single females or female halfs of couples posting, which improved the flirtiness. While a few like Kibbs still make occasional appearances, most others like Peghey, PirateGirl, Mrs Cincy etc are all gone. Pretty sure they lost interest in the endless political fighting and just plain stupid behavior.

As was also mentioned, the fora can only be viewed via a web browser and not the app, and us old people are stubbornly clinging to the site and refusing to use the app. So basically we are all 7-12 years older than we were during the fora's heyday. There is no reason to expect it'll ever be the same.

I use the browser in my phone to access the site. I detest the app, it’s stripped down doesn’t give you the functionality of the website and still have to go back to the site to do some tasks. I do hope they improve it but till then, I’ll stick to Safari on my phone.

We're relatively new to the SLS forums (2017), but we absolutely can see the decline in participation since then. I (Mr. C) used to spend a lot of time helping in the Better Profiles section, and it's pretty much dead now. We still get plenty of "looks" but the quantity/quality of contacts has gone down dramatically as well.

I blame the app.

I don't read anything that is more than 2 lines....unless it is about cock and cum and pussy...Mary Jo

I dont remember that many Jersey people on here. Since 2016, I remember about maybe a dozen forum regulars. Many who have since disappeared.

Well there is at least the possibility that there is more activity than indicated. From my casual observation. The Hatfield's and Mccoy's have so much of the other clan blocked that activity would of of course appear diminished.

"The Open Forums used to have a small group of "regulars", most from the New Jersey area that liked to "debate"

Ihahahaha. t was different than now for sure. It was more interesting for sure, but more annoying also.

One of the things that forum members don't see is any sort of pointer to new topics. I find them on the main Forums page when I see a recent new entry. I have noticed that when I initially create a topic, I also don't start seeing any sort of notification (i.e. red # showing unread posts) that people posted to it. You would think as the author I would automatically be subscribed to it, but I'm not.

When I notice activity (i.e. post X mins/hours ago on the main Forum page) and do an additional post to reply/comment, then I get subscribed and will see the usual red numbers indicating unread posts for that topic.

I'm sure the regulars know this, but in case anyone missed it, if you want to avoid notifications for a particular topic you are no longer interested in, you can just unsubscribe from that topic.

<p>Since FOSTA, I get a list of new threads started that I check each day. I haven't noticed any decrease in the number of new threads started (not sure about total posts). Now I will say that most of those new threads are usually a "Hot Date" type post or people stating that they are going on a cruise and is anybody going on the same cruise. There aren't as many new threads being started here in the Open Forum. </p>

<p>The Open Forums used to have a small group of "regulars", most from the New Jersey area that liked to "debate" (trying to use a nice word) with each other. Most of them are not here anymore. Some of those posters had 20,000-30,000 posts! The number of posts do seem to be down since they left.</p>

I actually started a MAke Forums Great Again thread years ago. People gave answers which is pretty well standard in that participants come and go as people go through their lifestyle cycles. It also doesn’t help that when FOSTA became a thing, the forums as well as the old messaging system was ‘sanitized’ (someone please correct me in this.)

I also remember that years ago we had some active participants and threads that would literally have responses that at times hard to keep up. A lot if it was just that people participated. Did we have drama back then — yes we did, some of it pretty great to grab some popcorn and watch. Did everyone get a long - no but I do think that people were civil to a degree. There was a lot of flirting within the threads as well. Now it’s one insult over another and responses being repeated and I don’t know about anyone else but the Covid/vaccination threads and responses just need to go away. If was great in the beginning to get information out (FWIW) but they quickly became garbage fests.

We do need to MFGA and I am sure as we get new blood that may happen but right now the participants of the Forum are as divided as the outside world.

Mayhem: good question. We like to see questions regarding to situations that happened while out at lifestyle or non lifestyle venue/party, whatever.. These forums could be and sometimes are quite useful in looking for experiences that others have gone through similar to your own. I tend to stay out of the politics section as I have found that to be nothing more than others arguing about their own political beliefs similar to what our elected officials do. I have stopped following the Covid threads as it is the same back and forth anymore with nothing of substance being added. Threads like this one are good as it allows users to discuss a topic that has a direct impact on this site.

"Forum participation has been going down since about 2016/2017."

Interesting. Isn't that about the time MAGA became a "thing"?

MFGA; that would be great.

Some of the last few entries begs the question, "What WOULD you like to see for new forum entries?" Obviously not Covid or politics, but what?

The reason I ask is I know that I personally sometimes get bored seeing things like, "I love watching my wife get fucked" for the umpteenth time. Yes, I'm aware I was one of the "umpteenth" people contributing to that ;-)

That was what I was getting at when I said that there really isn't anything new under the sun for sex related topics that haven't already been discussed.

Occasionally you'll see some new people that think the forums are a means of finding people to play with, but there are other tools better suited to that because the forum members are only a subset of the total membership.

So anyway, what DO people want to see?

Forum participation has been going down since about 2016/2017.

"...the fun just gets lost."

This is really on point. While people can come to the forums to perhaps learn some new things and share experiences and ideas, the motivation behind that is to have fun. When it ceases to be fun for someone, they will cease visiting the forums.

We agree with those who already mentioned that many discussions turn to covid or politics and people tend to lose interest. We found the exact same thing happening on another lifestyle site that we use regularly. Add some unneeded drama and negativity sprinkled in here and there and the fun just gets lost.