[LOCKED]Bring back the mail

So we finally sent a message to someone we have been in touch with and know to see how the new system worked. Since we tend to type a lot it kind of sucks especially with formatting a message. The thing is in return we got 4 replies each one obviously where someone would hit [ENTER] for a paragraph break. Then the fun begins. They wanted to exchange phone numbers and we had agreed to it so we could meet up outside of the local club. They sent theirs along with talking about a few other things I had to wait for the wife to be here to reply to. I the male half being an idiot said "I will get the numbers into my phone (letting her type as I have fat fingers) when I reopen the messages and show her." Well I have tried to open them again multiple times and all I get is the circling arrow with nothing ever loading. It's okay I went back to the "old" system and replied to something they sent with out reply and our number but still I need theirs which should be in the system in a message I have already received and should be able to view.

Now we would not mind trying to get used to the new system if it did indeed work but honestly with it breaking on our first use we don't have faith in it or trust it.

As bad as the mail system was, it was actually sort of useful. This tin-can-and-string IM system.... not so much. Plus, I have a lot of sympathy for you couples and single ladies for the deluge of "Let's fuck" IMs that you're about to receive. Hey, I'm no better on that score, but I at least like to send some interesting emails out before indulging my inner horndog. shifty eyes

The thing that annoys me is that several of us fora regulars figured out MONTHS ago that management appeared to be planning this. When we asked for a straight answer.... crickets.

Also, one thing I'd recommend to everyone is to start backing up your archived emails from the old mail system, even if it's just through screenshots. Remember when this shiny new, creamy white and good for you IM system was put in place? All the old IMs disappeared, without advanced notice, which pissed off a lot of the community.

Bring back the mail option. Yes the old mail system of opened, replied, sent, etc was a bit difficult. Why can you just have a mail system like gmail - easy enough. Many couples, including us - don't like one liners. We want couple to send us a brief introduction. Also, when you write a message you can only see one line at a time making it difficult to proof as you have to scroll up and down to see each line. When you post it changes the format. I also like that when I look at a profile I can click on the envelop and see what messages have been send. Rather than go the messages, scroll through to find them, and then read through a list of messages - kind of like kik.

I get that you are trying to appeal to Millennials. But keep in mind you need to also maintain your Gen X who probably make up the majority of your membership. So why not keep both? We like to start with mail and then move to messaging. I also get that this is a move to compete with kik and snap, etc. So again why not keep both.

SLS is just driving everybody alway

We agree with the statements that unlike_your_ex posted below , The new systems provides the same functionality as the old mail system (it allows you to send a message) and not so long ago lots of people (us Included) were complaining about the old mail system and its many many flaws. (edit) you can still ignore people just like the old system (the only difference is that people now know you got the message instead of wondering if you got it) and if you don't like the message they send just block them :)

Yes please. The IM service is horrible!!! Bring back email. And fix the email forwarded notifications.

I have 0 interest in video IM. Can i turn it off like we used to do with IM?

Well we're have been patiently waiting for more local to us swingers to migrate to competing sites. Maybe they will come now. Thanks, SLS for firing the bullet!

Sad, really. We loved this site and touted it, but they are driving us away.

At least we can write well thought out emails here in the forums!

One other issue just came up while we were composing a Feedback ticket about this horrible change to Messages instead of Mail. A single male profile tried 'calling' us. We assume it was using the new video chat feature. We ignored it while finishing the support ticket feedback. Upon looking at the new Message window, we could see the profile the request came from. We tried blocking the profile, only to see we had previously blocked it. So, how can a blocked profile initiate a video chat with us?

My initial reactions to the messaging system (now that it is the only way to communicate):

• Better organization of mail. The opened/replied/deleted/... folders were a terrible design.

• Message history is better under the new design. You see actual messages, and there is no arbitrary distinction between archived and current.

• As others have noted, having 2 lines of text visible for what you are typing is really bad, making it more difficult to write good email. (I will write my messages in a real text editor and then cut/paste. Something that didn't used to be necessary.)

• A well-designed IM system, and email are not that far apart in functionality, the main difference being the text window issue. (Ignoring the fact that real email can be addressed to multiple people, but that has never been possible on SLS.) Texting is more immediate. But there is no reason why texting has to be incompatible with longer messages. Every phone texting application handles long messages well. This new messaging system does not.

• The search function appears to be completely inscrutable. After playing with it a little, it seems to be searching usernames, not message content (which would have been very useful). But searching usernames appears quite buggy. If I type in the prefix of a username, I get the username. If the prefix identifies multiple users, then one is picked -- why not show all the possibilities? In other cases, it's presenting me with some usernames, but I cannot figure out what the intended behavior is supposed to be.

• Video chat? I suspect I won't use it.

Overall: Different, but overall, a bit worse for the most common activities of reading and replying to messages. Providing a real text field for composing messages would make this replacement an unambiguous improvement.

As a woman playing solo I'm concerned about this new change.
Moving to IM's means I don't have the detailed information that can be shared in emails. That means that something could be missed, some indicator that meeting a particular man would be a bad decision or even an unsafe one.
It's really difficult to get an impression of someone with one or two sentences. I spend time emailing back and forth before moving offline.
Moving everything to IM's means having to open each one in case just one is a quality contact. (What are the chances?) So I am subjected to the offensive comments that I used to just delete before.
I would never use video chat and have already put that in my profile. Again that does not make me feel safe.
I'm thankful that my existing conversations were not destroyed as they would be impossible to recreate.
For those of us looking for quality contacts and long term FWB'S this is not a welcome change.

So not hoppy!!!

Stifling open conversation just pushes people to have it where you can't see it. If you want to control the conversation about your competition then be sure your product is better ; )

While realizing that the site needs to move forward and new things can be good, this new messaging system is horrible. We aren't both on the computer and aren't both ready , dressed up and willing to send video chat messages to other couples. We do have plenty of pics on our profile to open up to people.....and since many times its the male half on the computer, im sure most couples don't want a video message from a guy, not a couple. please go back to prior mail option. this is a mess, really

@ SLS_Wayne: You can look through our message history and see we're not Debbie Downers by any stretch of the imagination. Far from it, we've consistently supported the business decisions we've seen made since we've joined. We encourage the embracing of change, not the fear of it. We try to be pleasant, polite, and err on the sides of civility and decorum if at all possible.

Not this one. FUCK THIS SHIT.

We were playing CAH the other night and the statement was "________ Man. Neither the hero we wanted, nor the hero we needed". The winning answer was "Just the Tip", but it could easily be "New IM System" because it's clearly not something we wanted, nor that we needed.

What's not right about the new IM system? Let me count the ways...

1 - The ability to craft (and therefore receive) a good introductory email is gone, a victim of the character limits of a "tweet"-style system. Silly things like punctuation, spelling, grammar and oxford commas matter to us. (The latter more to one of us than the other). How can you manage that when you can only see 1 1/2 lines of text? It's like trying to paint a picture through a keyhole. While the great majority of us are on SLS with the specific goal of doing something very similar (sticking an object into a tight space to create something memorable), we'd like to use our fun bits to do that with.

2 - Quick Replies don't exist. We have several that we use, one more than others. Now we have none.

3 - We ABHOR instant messaging apps for LS activities. Each of us can type 100+ wpm, and the few times we've tried IM'ing with couples it's been a tedious process at best, and a true libido-killer at it's worst. Now when we send a reply to an email, it creates the impression we're interested in chatting. If it's a "No Thank You", it invites a discussion as to why far more readily than an email would.

4 - We don't video chat either. That's now part of the IM/Email system, so now we have a whole new bundle of "nope" to deal with.

5 - You've reduced the functionality of the main reason we use SLS (email) from "average" to "why are we here".

Please give us the ability to put our LS email address in our profile so folks can contact us directly through a functional system.

@VACouple: "The greatest indicator of how potentially interesting a couple might be to us was their ability and willingness to put together an interesting email. The ability to make that distinction is now lost."

We second that! A well-written, clearly personalized email will have both of us naked quicker than you could say "Ready for round two?" 99% of the "No Thank You" emails we sent were because the email appeared crafted by random monkeys pounding a keyboard.

You can't "craft" an email anymore. You can't see two full lines of text while you're composing on a computer. A basic introductory email takes a minimum of three paragraphs, and we've routinely written more. Those days are gone.

They just made this sight all most useless

MandKLikeToPlay:
"Sent messages are not always delivered."

It's worse then that. Text you composed may never be sent if you add a photo as that ERASES all the text you composed.

Try to send a message to yourself as a test and you can't do that either.

We have to figure out if we can rewrite our profile to tell people not to expect replies anymore

So many of us complained about the removal of the IM on/off switch but they just kept moving on to this system......I really don’t think they care

Removing email and allowing IM only is a terrible, bone-headed move that makes this site nearly useless as far as we are concerned. They have opened the flood gates for users to flow to the competition. We are lifetime members so will probably keep the account here, but probably won't use it. We'll be on one or more of the other sites from now on.

Still can't believe the ownership here could misunderstand their user base so deeply. Or maybe they don't care and are just intentionally flying the plane nose-firsr into the ground.

This change ranks up there with the fool who had the bright idea to change to the "New" Coke!

I came here to see why my mail was missing and it appears to be a new "feature"? Why would they take away our ability to communicate effectively? Nobody was ever going to confuse sls mail with gmail but it got the job done. The instant messaging never was any good in my view. Strange decision to say the least and hard to imagine non-lifetimers sticking this out.

How hard would it be to replace all of this with a modern CMS and be done with all of the custom coding nonsense and unpopular changes? There has to be an OOTB solution out there. This is crazy.

I am done.

@vabeachcouple33, correct, Wayne is tech support, and very responsive as far as we're concerned, but he apparently has no pull (or so he tells us?) but I have voiced my opinion against this MAJOR change to him before it was implemented, but by then the beta version was already in testing, so it was inevitable. How do the higher-ups make the decision? IDK, but from what I was told it was not an issue of storage (pictures take up way more storage) which was my initial thought. Tech support does read the trending forum comments, that much I know (was told by Wayne) but whether or not a change like this will be reversed remains to be seen. I hope it is brought back...clunky as it was, the email system was better in all sorts of ways as everyone has pointed out. I do hope more people chime in, it seems to me that it's the usual suspects voicing their concerns so far, need more profiles stepping up to be counted.

SLS : "DON'T GIVE OUT SENSITIVE CONTACT INFO"

ALSO SLS : "WE MADE THE ONLY THING YOU'VE REALLY PAID US FOR - REACHING OTHER SWINGERS - HARDER AND LESS EFFECTIVE, SO YOU'RE BETTER OFF JUST GIVING PEOPLE YOUR SENSITIVE CONTACT INFO SO THAT YOU MAY EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATE"

You guys took away our microwaves and left us with toaster ovens that don't get hot enough to warm up a pop tart. Do you get it yet?!

I'm going to repeat this for Wayne on the off chance anyone will take this seriously:

The greatest indicator of how potentially interesting a couple might be to us was their ability and willingness to put together an interesting email. The ability to make that distinction is now lost.

I don't know what we will even use this site for anymore.