Having used it fairly frequently, if reluctantly, my chief problem with IM, even over the low quality of initial IMs is that my phone's autocorrect/autofilled doesn't work on it. There is some limited spelling correction, but no contractions, etc.
That is pretty primitive programming and I fail to see how it would appeal to a generation whose spelling is likely worse than mine.
I suspect this will dead end the site, and cause groups to disappear. I guess it's time to start looking for alternative websites. Any suggestions?
How will Group Administrators send out announcements? Bulk IM's?
The problem is that the bread-and-butter customer base has already paid for the website.
I would say that a lot of the older couples are lifetime members. Their value is essentially zero. If a lifetime member leaves - well who cares? They already paid, you just have them sucking up server charges right now.
SLS is first and foremost a business.
SLS has a number of pricing plans, but I’d say the most popular for new people is probably 3 months for $29.95.
So let’s break it down.
Right off the top, Visa and MasterCard take 2%.
The Federal government gets their cut - that’s 21%. Then Florida gets their cut. That’s 5.5%.
So now you’ve got $21.41.
A good programmer will cost you at least $110,000. So you need to sign up 428 new members ever month just to pay one programmer’s salary. And we haven’t even covered the costs of hosting, other personnel, electricity, the office, the alarm company, janitorial, E&O Insurance and the 10,000 other things a business needs to stay afloat.
My husband started a software company with $4,000 and grew it into thriving company- it wasn’t easy. Now THAT was like eating a bowl of glass every day. And his product is not even a taboo product - SLS has and will always have a limited user pool.
So before we rant and rave, remember how special and how very unlikely it is to have a functional swinger site at all.
So keep that in mind going forward when complaining about a lack of this feature or that. SLS is trying its best to stay relevant and if you are a lifetime member, your opinion actually matters less than an recurring member.
Pics can be attached to IMs.
Younger couple here. We much prefer the mailbox than to IM.
Besides all that has been mentioned regarding the “hey” or “what’s up” type messages, you can’t connect pics and . . . . . . most don’t use or like IM as it rarely works well. I agree that a generational thing and “app” vs “on-line” shift may be driving all this, but if somit sure looks like management does not understand their bread and butter customer base!
The site is going backwards. Days of old where you posted in the newspaper your alternative address for communication.
The tech dept does not want anything to have to fix. $$$$$$$
It will be interesting to see the average age of people who comment on the lack of email. I'd concur with V&S that this change is more toward attracting new people from the app and for the most part, app users are younger. Yes, there will be a ton more of hey messages. Me (the Mr)? I prefer email much more than a Twitter, 180 character type contact. In the age appropriate category, count me in on liking email versus instant messages.
Given all the suggestions I've seen a lot of people make you hope there are more significant improvement than REDUCING a mode of contact. LOL I'd guess one of the improvements is not going to be eliminating pictures that are 4+ years old. There are active profiles that time has forgotten as it relates to what they look like today.
When I singed up Hear. For A life time Membership. We had Mail that worked! A IM that Worked! You deleted all of Our mail With out even giving a notice so we could save it. Now You are taking that away! along with not having New rooms In chat. Taking days to post On Hot Dates. What next?? Get dumped from the Site!???? To save some space .The original contract did not give you the Right to change the contract!!!
The IM thing is an interesting change. The problem with IM is that I think it will increase the number of "hey" messages. At least with email, you are more likely to sit down and develop your thoughts.
But it may just be the direction people are going. You need to adapt or die. I'm sure the admins sat down and looked at email traffic and saw that the average email was less than X lines. I also think that SLS is trying to position themselves in the app space, which is more condusive to short messages than long emails.
In the old days, you had to post a message in a swinger magazine. Your "profile" was attached to a voicemail number. People in your local area would call that number and leave a message and you would use that to decide to meet. Email was just the next itteration - literally the same kind of virtual mailbox.
Now that people are used to using apps like Tinder or Bumble, they are probably used to sending short messages.
I was single for most of my 20's and 30's. I would honestly rather eat a bowl of glass than go on Tinder or Bumble again, but I can't deny that people in their 20's and 30's are more used to short messages or using apps. So you have to adapt or die.
Personally, it would be nice to see the ability to like photos and see the age of the like so you can guage the age of the photo from that, but we'll see.
No more mail ?
WTF........
Everybody on the site uses the mail service. Management has really made mistake. But they never asked the membership. $$$$$$
Guess it is less work to manage now.
A flirt or like button would be appreciated and better mail controls.
We don't see a flirt button but after a week of trying we were able to change our default picture!
We're so Excited to see what the improvements will be! Maybe a long awaited flirt button (sarcasm) or maybe changing your default profile picture will work again!!!
What kind of surprises can we expect ?
