Ghosting
Cutting off communication abruptly without explanation — common across all online dating, including lifestyle sites. In the lifestyle, ghosting after an established meet-and-greet or scheduled meet is treated as a meaningful breach of etiquette because it leaves the other party uncertain whether to continue planning. Most active couples build a small reputation across platforms, and ghosting habits travel with the profile.
The verb entered mainstream dictionaries in 2017, when Merriam-Webster added ghosting with the definition: "the practice of suddenly ending all contact with a person without explanation, especially in a romantic relationship." Wikipedia's behavioral entry traces broader use back to the early 2000s and ties its rise to the spread of dating apps, which lowered the social cost of disappearing because the parties rarely share offline networks.
Research summarized in that Wikipedia article finds that ghosting is more common than direct breakup conversations: a 2014 YouGov survey found just over 10% of Americans had used silence to end a relationship, and a later study reported women ghost more often than men. Common motivations skew toward avoidance — most ghosters in surveyed samples reported they simply "weren't into" the recipient and chose silence over confrontation.
For recipients, the cited literature describes ghosting as one of the more painful exit styles because it removes the social information needed to process the ending. The ambiguity drives ostracism-style stress responses, which is why lifestyle-community etiquette tends to treat ghosting after a confirmed meet as a heavier breach than radio silence on an opening message — the cost is loaded entirely onto the person left waiting.
Sources: Wikipedia · Merriam-Webster
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Related Terms
- Profile — A user's self-description on a lifestyle dating site — couple or single, photos, bio, what-we-seek section, kink interests, hard limits. Profiles double as filter targets for search and as conversation openers. Etiquette: write the profile yourselves as a couple, keep it current, and read others' before messaging them.
- Meet and Greet — A no-play first meeting between couples (or between a couple and a single) to gauge compatibility before any sexual encounter. Often held at a public restaurant or bar; commonly recommended as a safety and chemistry check.
- Vetting — The process of confirming that a prospective play partner is who they claim, has compatible expectations, and has no community-flagged red flags. Lifestyle vetting includes profile-photo checks, video calls, mutual-friend references, and sometimes shared recent STI test results. The most common shortcut to a bad encounter is skipping vetting.