[LOCKED]Bring back the mail

"Monthly active users" certainly matter, but to potential advertisers, vendor partners. I Other than Bliss, how much of that do you see?

They're betting on two things, imo: Users will stay through the change (but bitch the whole time), and new users will MORE than make up for those lost in the shuffle.

As for us, we are actively looking at other options, but we're also not going to cut off our nose to spite our face. If we can't find something better, we're going to stay here.

I tried opening up a ticket and was told "Thank you for your feedback. We have moved from email to the new messaging system in preparation for launching the new mobile app. So we all have to suffer so that they can launch the mobile app. Millie also stated "We are working to improve the way you send and display these messages. Please bear with us during this transition. Thanks, Customer Service"

With every advance comes two steps backwards it seems. It really makes me regret the hours spent rating the mobile pictures... Had I known then what I know now I would never have rated any of them.

What do they stand to lose?

Uh, Monthly Active Users? Which is the most important key metric for any online community. The old guard here are mostly actual swingers. Once they abandon ship the newbies will be left wandering a ghost town. SLS is betting the farm that the mobile app will bring in an influx of enough newbies to offset that attrition. Personally, that's not a bet I would take.

J&K my reference was to the underlying site and the CF framework.

Never looked at what runs the IM system.

Of course maybe this is the first step away from CF. We first joined the site under a different name probably 16-17 years ago and hardly anything has changed.

It should be pretty obvious that not only was this a considered business decision, they literally couldn't care less if anyone doesn't like it. They're going to move this site into 2020 and if you don't like it, well, bye felicia.

What do they stand to lose? A bunch of lifetime subscriptions that are a drain on resources now. That's a win from a bean-counter standpoint, when the upside is the younger, more tech-savvy crowd that will be attracted to a true App and will pay more for the opportunity.

Does your ass hurt yet, and not in a good way?

seriously_bimi, the new chat feature is built using socket.io, which is an implementation of websockets using node.js. It's not exactly cutting-edge tech these days but light years ahead of the site's main tech stack (ColdFusion). Besides the crappy functionality and abysmal communication with the (paying!) customers, I'm concerned extremely concerned about the stability and reliability of this new system.

Maintaining a real-time chat system requires a higher-level of systems administration skills and more powerful hardware than the old mail system. I bet a mortgage payment that in the coming months this new system will be plagued with outages, missing messages, and/or other problems.

Whomever discontinued Mail is very, very stupid! It was the method to respond to Hot Dates, conversations, etc. You just opened the door for someone like me who has been designing advanced gov't sites for 25 years to start thinking. Hmmmm?

LOL Same for us.

I will say posting in this thread has gotten us more contacts that before :)

Absolutely horrible message system and it seems we’re not the only ones who feel this way! Sucks big time!

Just got this reply from Customer Service, looks like email will not be coming back at all.

"Hi, No, the old email system is not coming back. We have moved to the new messaging system in preparation for launching the new mobile app. We are working to improve the way you send and display these messages. Please will bear with us during this transition. Thanks, Customer Service"

The new horrible video chat is a reason to move to that other site. Once my current subscription has expired and it is still here I will not be.

Who wants a mobile app?

Sorry the last thing I need on a phone that is accessible to other people is an SLS app.

Once, there were two modes of communication on SLS. One wasn't great and the other was terrible. Then one day, someone decided to remove the not-so-great option and double down on terrible one.

This has been very disappointing.

Honestly as screwed up as it is we decided to block single males for a bit. We did not mind sorting through the IMs (delete, delete, heck delete all from anyone) but with this system there is not the already sorted between those who IM first and those who actually take time to email with a good message. Until such time as the system is sorted we are going to limit those who can contact us first to those we may actually want to get to know. BTW we have nothing against single males and eventually want to find a new regular NSA friend for the wife but until there is some kind of halfway decent communication system to help sort the gold (or at least gold plated) grain of wheat from the chaff that search is on the back burner.

New "Message" SUCKS!! Please return to actual email with option to message...soon!

@Electricid

Very well said.

@Electricid , well said, I brought the very same concerns up with tech support, trying to use the IM in mobile is hell! The reply was they are making changes so the texts aren't chunked up, and the typing window will expand as you type allowing you to view the entire message. Eventually they will roll out mobile apps for apple and droid so I think many of these changes are geared for the mobile market, but that's conjecture on my part. What I did ask was that the messages be backed up some way so we could at least go back and make heads or tails of what was discussed and with whom, like in the email system. Right now it's a giant word salad. Add to that multiple simultaneous convos (it is a swinger site after all, right?) and it gets crazy.

The IM has potential but isnt great in it’s current iteration. The UI is clunky, unorganized and taxing to use via mobile. With the woefully small entry area and screen jumping, half the time I can’t see what I’m typing which is hell on editing and heaven forbid I try to type a lengthy response and the IM reloads. The badge system needs to be adjusted so that when I see a 3 over messages, it’s not just one person with a lot to say broken up into 3 IM bubbles.

...and these are just the technical issues. Nevermind how this sets a single male back as far as selling himself and garnering some serious attention. I can’t imagine it’ll be any easier for couples and ladies to sort through 1000s of IMs than it was for emails either. You are not tinder, SLS! This place is not mean for quick the quick fix...well I mean, not all the time heh.

I feel like with some suggestions and a little work, a good IM/email hybrid can come of this but the question is will your members wait? SLS “survived” FOSTA but at least there was some necessity, understanding and a little bit of “thank goodness” behind those changes. This one not so much.

Just finishing my previous message. I was saying SLS no longer wants to be a swinger dating site....they now want to be a hookup site.

We concur with most replies here. IM has a place but is no substitute for email. One of the more valuable features of the mail system was notification that you had a message. All gone!

It appears that SLS is no longer interested in being a swinger

888eatme----->In the SLS Email or IM system, the messages are the same. It's the people behind the messages that need changed, not the delivery system.

I know it's early in the day. However 888's comment is my initial vote for the post of the day. Communication is a gift, don't waste it.

Our subscription ended on the 26th. We too signed up again, it will no doubt be a long year. .......Very poorly designed.

IM is meant for super-short messages and impersonal communications, something we can do from our phones after a well thought out introductory email.

This morning's IM dipshit award goes to an SM: "Good morning hope your doing ok. The question is can i taste her sugar"

In the SLS Email or IM system, the messages are the same. It's the people behind the messages that need changed, not the delivery system.

~Allen

My prior post should have started, "If you can't get..."

After having used the new IM for a bit, the inability to select suggested words (auto-complete) on your phone really sucks. I have it for forum posts but not the new IM system, so that also eliminates spell check as well (both on phone and by the app).