[LOCKED]Bring back the mail

Joining the "bring back the mail" brigade. We just sent our first message to someone under the new system. Now, I and the wife are something of "perfectionists" and the IM forcing our relatively short message into two "bubbles" that didn't even split on a break between words? Annoying to say the least. Seeing the word "join" turned into "jo" "in"? Ugh. No line breaks, no attaching images, it's not a user-friendly experience. While I suspect it may have been done to maintain parity between the app and the site, perhaps not having parity would be a better thing...

Instead of a description in our profiles, we just put our phone number or a post office box #.
Just like we did before the internet.
The old newspaper publication.
Now, are we going backwards or is this the way of the future ?
Yahoo did away with instant messenger. Go figure........

@Mayhem8, Yes we still ONLY get emails about parties because it is ADVERTISING SMH

Please bring back email.

Enail must exist to some degree because I still get SLS LS event emails. Thinking email capability hasn't been removed. It's just disabled for regular members.

Now that we don't have the ability to email members, most are so quick to instant message a phone number. We don't have time to sit and instant message back and forth so they go right to giving a phone number I understand because MOST members HATE instant message. I always prefer to exchange a few emails till I get a comfort feel to expose my number or to use a number given to me even though I know I can hide or block numbers. Bring back emails it feels so much safer!

I became a paying member solely so I could send and reply to emails! Without paying clients you got no Business SMH
I don't use my PHONE to do apps nor get on line for instant message or emails! Who has time to sit at a lap top or computer to instant message back and forth. Sadly this site will die a slow death like My Space!

@mbj3632

We are very upset about the changes and intend on expressing our opinions to the Bliss and SLS staff on the next cruise. This is such a crock of crap. We tried their new app and it has less functionality then just pulling the up the normal webpage on our phones. Such a waste of effort and so called "New Changes" to piss off your membership.

we could not agree more. This was a terrible idea. We never liked IM to begin with and never used it. We solely relied on emails. You need to bring back that option!

Of all the profiles we’ve looked at over the years, many hundreds had comments that said they don’t use the Instant Message feature and requested contact via Mail.

I don’t recall reading a single profile that said “contact us by Instant Message only as we don’t use Mail”.

As we scrolled through profiles of people on line, many more profiles had the message feature off than had it on.

So what was the logic that led SLS to believe that members would be OK with these changes?

We just submitted an update to our profile to help address the email dissection atrocity.

~Allen

I kind of saw the writting on that wall and managed to get outside email addresses and cell #s for just about all of my friends before things went away.

For any remaining friends, they are on my friends list and I will eventually get their outside contact info.

So, instead of being on SLS to communicate with friends, the changes are driving more non-SLS forms of communication. I suspect this wasn't their intention but that is clearly happening for some members, if not out-right leaving SLS.

All of my saved email messages are gone.
I have been able to reply to some of those messages still in my other tabs (open & replied) but that one is empty. I'm not bothering to save anything any longer.

Lisandtim
We were calling up old SAVED e-mails back to still be able to send friends E_MAILS as you noted
LO and BEHOLD we went into our SAVED e-mail folder this morning to send a snow bird a note, Discovered every single SAVED e-mail beyond 90 days was deleted by SLS. Same was true for sent folders and all the other folders.
Even though we had over 250 pages of SAVED e-mails. Today we found over 200 pages had been deleted without any type of notification. Nothing left beyond that in any folder. And some other folders were pretty much blank
Think by now its absolutely apparent they have a very clear explicit thought out strategy in place to eliminate every possible tool the membership used, liked and wants.
Don't recall anyone articulating to the membership with something posted like...Oh by the way, a list of changes that are coming just in case you want to save old messages etc off line to retain names, contacts etc.
That would be helpful, and probably appreciated by most that at least they had some time to prepare for changes. Versus the daily SURPRISE, SURPRISE we seem to get.
Have to admit, It's their business. They can do whatever they want. no matter what their customers think. Last time we checked, the members didn't own the website. They did.

I am a techie who used to work at Microsoft so upgrades don't scare me. However, the fact that you took away the email program and set it up as messaging sucks. It is hard to track and when replying only one line will show so it is very time consuming to check for typos before sending. Some of my other concerns have already been posted. It has gotten to the point that I don't want to check for new messages. Please put the email system back. BTW all of our friends that use the site feel the same way!

If I am a paying member and you now remove email option from your site that as a paying member I was able to access, I should be allowed to display an alternative email address. I do NOT use my phone to get on line nor to chat. I like many other don't have time to correspond back and forth on your painfully slow instant message service. The idiot that came up with this change should of left the building went home and tried the new system from his personal Lap top. Then fire their ass. I cant even add a topic to a support ticket nor does it let me scroll down to hit the send button to submit my issue, but perhaps that was part of their plan. I often bragged about this site it is the ONLY site I pay to belong to but that is going to change unless we are able to do emails!!!!! Christ ol mighty your common sense should tell you many many site like yahoo have eliminated instant messages so why you going backwards and not forwards. The ONLY new emails I receive are from groups I belong to advertising their parties much like just another advertisement! Most other site like yahoo have removed instant message service and just offer email, again who has time to sit and wait for the instant message I cant even video chat I get a grey screen and when other attempt to video chat me I never hear any ringing and my volume is on! SMFH

Sls has become a sell out. Thanks so much for making it easier to be pestered with fuckbois, and stupid wat up texts...

If we weren't lifetime members we'd leave this dump. As it is we only use it to check club listings... Sad...

HI Please put the mail back.. We get too many IM's from SM's and can not manage correspondence from friends and couples within all the Im traffic. We don't want to block SM's and prefer to be respectful for the guys to take time to mail us. SLS must think that having the decency to respond to people is unimportant and if sm friendly couples have to block guys,,, that is not going to do much the class of "humans" that are here to fill their pockets....

Retrieving from old mail and sending it can still work

So the site did away with mail? tried sending a mail and only was given "message" choice. Can still reply to old mails saved ?

No options, no refunds. Adapt or leave.

Paraphrasing here but this is pretty much the response we have all gotten from the admins.

~Scamp

Did we miss the notice explaining the changes and if we can chose to use the "old" system that we signed up and Paid for????

New system is terrible.... OR I am really missing something.

Looking for another place to shop.

@Navybluewho, good point, had not thought of it from that angle, not sure how it would play out, what changes would be made if the site changes hands. Also, I was contacted through old system by a couple who we've met and emailed in old system, but cannot get the IM to work, and they are not dummies when it comes to tech, so I wonder how many more are having same problem. I did go to google play to see about downloading app for droid and it is right there just like Sordillo said, right next to a competing app...

I've read a lot of comments in this topic - and related ones, too. Someone in this thread or another noted that it's either change or die, and another user said that they had been booted from the site (ostensibly) for highlighting the Terms of Service. I think it likely these are related ideas, that big changes are underfoot. In checking out the SLS app today for the first time the thing that floated to the surface was this is a wholesale realignment of this "community" platform.

It would appear that the goal is not just to provide the back-end programming and mobility the site does desperately need, but may also be arranging it as a marketable - sellable - platform, particularly to a public holding company (Match Group comes to mind...).

So I would hazard that ownership may not want to be too reminded of the support lifetime members made to provide early financial stability and draw for the site. That's not likely to be an offer to be carried forward - not for an entity valued based on recurring revenue vs one (like the SLS website) more dependant upon capital in hand.

But maybe I'm wrong and the owners are just overwhelmed with the complexity of overhauling the site and moving it forward 15 years in one go. Or, maybe the lack of clarity is due to both being true...