All change please...this is the end of the line

Nothing to add.I am in complete accord with your sentiments.

Hi Fetch, thanks for the response..
Perhaps I was a little to precise with my preamble...cobblers

I have been thinking the site may have just been a victim to the same effect witnessed by other social media sites..
One day you are a household name, the next another site appears and everyone starts using that media to chat..
They have all suffered the same fate, leaving behind those that love the medium to stay and post funny films of cats.... Or in this case, less funny photos of cocks!!!
Perhaps the site was destined to fail even before the changes...

I think that the saddest thing - and I agree wholeheartedly with everything that you say - is that I am still here rather than voting with my feet. To say things are but a shadow of how they were would be an understatement. Let's not be overly downhearted though, many things from before were not nice, with some nastiness in chat and the constant barrage of pms for the girls anyway (it was never really an issue for me I have to say).

There seem to be enough paying guests arriving at the door though for all of that to be immaterial, so I suppose that the reason that I stay (other than the obvious one!) is to try and maintain the sort of effortless spirit and atmosphere that previously existed.

Wish me well.....

Rigger..
A man with stamina and staying power will go far here..
And of course, good luck.

Welcum: I saw your attempt to append this to another thread yesterday, and I did reply to it before both posts (predictably) got torpedoed (which I thought was sadly ironic and encapsulated the whole issue). Recently there was a very long thread that touched on all the issues you raise, and which ran and ran before it disappeared. Perhaps the site thought they would let it stand in the hope that people would use it to get all the gripes out of their system :-)

All this site does now is annoy me. However it's probably counterproductive to reiterate everything that has been said already. I think I am probably the blogger who has been on this site longest, although I only started contributing to the blogs 3 years back when it was worth doing so. I'm still here simply because I was fool enough to sign up again last Jan, so my main reason for sticking around is probably to be as annoying to the site in return for as long as my money allows me :-)

In the previous blog that criticised the site, one of the things I touched on was the possibility that adult dating sites have had their day. When they started to emerge 10-15 years ago, I think everyone was excited and wanted to give them a go. Things were much more straightforward re. getting dates, and you could be practically certain that profiles were real. Of course that has all changed now. Another thing is that most people who were of the type of mindset that would have prompted them to sign up for an adult site have now done so, tried it, and moved on. So I honestly think that this type of format is now dated and doomed to die out. There are simply too many ways in which sites like this can be manipulated to the detriment of the "consumer". What is on offer here and elsewhere on the met now is almost tantamount to fraud in some cases.

It's been a pleasure crossing words with you, Welcum (and everyone else). Funnily, I was in your neck of the woods last March, and I sometimes see friends in the area, so if ever you fancy a pint sometime drop me a line.

PS: I see FFP is the latest one to do a vanishing act.................

Doris: To tell you the truth, I'm almost getting nostalgic about meeting women in the old fashioned way: you know......that glance across a crowded room, and all that :-) At least that way you know a person is real, and not just a string of binary code somewhere on the ether :-) Rather than having site "socials" where everyone is not supposed to have carnal thoughts and to behave impeccably, maybe some sites should help members put together "gatherings", which are analogous to house parties where people are free to follow their own instinctsdesires. It seemed to work OK in my student days (lol).

At first glance the car keys idea sounds excellent. Then I remembered that the Italian and I go back a long way and so I would get very anxious with the keys in someone else's hands. The likely outcome would be that I would be so worried that things would be a disappointment in the gentleman's area.

I have been doing some market research lately - looking for a Waitrose (or even a sainsbugs) equivalent rather than sticking to one outlet. Any suggestions would be most welcome. I for one don't think that this sort of site has had its day just yet as notwithstanding the bits that drive one bonkers there are glimmers of outstanding sport every so often which are just the job for keeping my morale high and my pecker up (to coin a phrase)

So it is just like the real world then!

Where did the keys in.the bowl come from??
And supermarket's..
Rigger, if supermarket's is tour thing, here's my suggestion....
I would without doubt suggest Fortnum and Masons.. They always have all that you need.. Caviar, champers and best of all the hampers they pack your shopping in is exempt from the carrier bag tax..
Yeh, Yeh, I know.. It's only five pence.. But it's the bloody principal!!
And as the saying goes, look after the pennies and Geeves will take ones notes to the bank in the Bentley and they look after them in an offshore account..

Now where's that bowl.. Reckon I will now be first picked.

Rigger: I concur that using a variety of outlets can compensate for the lack of any given item of stock at any single one. As well as this particular store, I have for a number of years been using the adult dating equivalent of Booths, and (when I'm not too fussed about quality) Aldi. It's just that the quality of the stock here as nose-dived alarmingly over the last year.

You are right, of course: such sites can still occasionally turn up something worthwhile, but one is having to expend an increasingly disproportionate amount of time and effort looking, given the huge amount of fakery that is out there. I've found that Booths has been a far better bet over the years. Also I find it has a more appealing international slant, particularly the oriental section. Maybe I'm losing my taste for the HP sauce, baked beans, sugary fizzy drinks and mega-bags of crisps section :-)

Rigger: I concur that using a variety of outlets can compensate for the lack of any given item of stock at any single one. As well as this particular store, I have for a number of years been using the adult dating equivalent of Booths, and (when I'm not too fussed about quality) Aldi. It's just that the quality of the stock here as nose-dived alarmingly over the last year.

You are right, of course: such sites can still occasionally turn up something worthwhile, but one is having to expend an increasingly disproportionate amount of time and effort looking, given the huge amount of fakery that is out there. I've found that Booths has been a far better bet over the years. Also I find it has a more appealing international slant, particularly the oriental section. Maybe I'm losing my taste for the HP sauce, baked beans, sugary fizzy drinks and mega-bags of crisps section :-)

I don't think we have a Booths, Aldi or even a corner shop left anymore. It's more like a Soviet supermarket where the shelves appear to be stacked high but when looking you discover that everything on display is merely empty packaging. Does anybody really want to spend hours sorting through the empty boxes in order to find the real thing?
In "the good old days" I never used to get many mails, likes or put on a hot list (still no idea what that is!) Hell I even wrote a blog about it!!!! So when surprisingly something did appear on my profile I knew I could trust it but now unless I have somehow mysteriously developed a magnetic attraction to women (even 20 somethings are throwing themselves at me!) I don't believe a single thing that appears. Maybe 1 in 100 is real but I'll never find out and I certainly won't pay a fortune to find out.
Time to trade in the loyalty card and find somewhere that appreciates its customers.

That's exactly the problem, Joe. We can't see the wood for the trees now :-) When adult dating had its heyday, everything was pretty uncomplicated because most people on the sites were real and there was no need for site management to concoct fake profiles to keep members "engaged". This is what I really meant when I said that sites like this have had their day. They used to be good but people have moved on. Maybe it's a sort of "social zeitgeist" phenomenon: the term "swinger" alone now seems as ludicrously outdated as Austin Powers :-) In the same way that we now cringe slightly looking at photos of 70s sideburns, medallions, shirt collars turned out over leather jacket lapels, and voluminous flares, perhaps in a decade or so we'll all be cringeing at overdone tats, bald pudenda, and blogs about "my butt-plug training Volume 3" :-) The Net is a double-edged sword: it is a great medium for alternative opinions and lifestyles, but the anonymity of the people who use it compromises their provenance and credibility. The fact that "anything goes" also means that standards get degraded. There you have it in a nutshell.

Time will tell if you're right but treating their own members with such contempt will only lead one way.

Another example of which is that of the ten blogs currently on view, seven of the have only five replies between them and surprise surprise this current blog is nowhere to be seen!!
Is it any wonder very few of us now take the time or effort to write original, thought provoking blogs?

Writing this while constantly closing pop up windows trying to get me to pay money to see members pics!!!!!!!! AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

So shipmates. Time for a Chinese parliament. If the situation is not to our liking - what shall we do about it?

Mr C, I knew I could rely on you make me giggle..
Yep, those pics are bloody annoying but, hey ho, just moving with the times.

The site is what it is now.. Love it or loathe it, it is only minor changes that have ruined the site.
I don't bother with the site emails anymore, automatically sent to trash, the online mail don't get much more of a look either and I cannot be arsed to delete them..

So we have a bit of a moan, its not gonna change anything and in a few years time this place will be a long distant memory..
One we will reminisc the good old days with friends we made here...

I tried to be positive in my preamble,
Inspire only positive statements about the good things but I knew in my heart that I was flogging a dead monkey..or is that spanking a dead horse??
Either way.. The title I chose was the end of the line, simply because that is where we are now..
we sing a goodbyes, as one by one we leave..
So long, farewell, auf widersenn, goodbye

It's been a blast, and skebbie, let me know next time your about, we will go for that beer..

So long and thanks for all the fish..
Apparently there's plenty of them!!

Welcum: Will do. My mate lives in Loughton, in fact. So not far. PM me and I'll send my mail address in case you vanish in the meantime :-)

"If the situation is not to our liking - what shall we do about it? "

Well I, for one, will not be renewing next Jan -that's for sure. Haven't decided whether I'll delete myself, or just go into "classic hibernation" until there is evidence of regime change or the environment becoming more conducive to the likes of myself. It seems clear that there is nothing members can do to influence site policy: we get stonewalled at every turn. I think we need an enterprising soul with some Net and Tech savvy to launch a new website catering for the "silent majority", which would offer free, uncensored blogging, thoroughly policed profiles, stricter identity verification, and perhaps some form of new approach forgetting people together. I feel the present formula is tired and outdated.

I think that you are about as close to the mark there Skebbie as you can be - and I too am going to slip back into classicness as and when the time comes. As for the present formula the expression dumbed down does not even come close. On the up side I have been added to another couple of hotlists today which cannot be bad, especially clever I think as those adding me do not appear to have looked at my profile.

Anyway just out of solidarity I had my (freebie) coffee in Booths in Penrith this morning.

Oh and I am taking suggestions for a new word phrase or acronym to replace the word "swinger" in order to move along with the times. I suspect that there are many profiles here that might usefully be described as "dickster".

Feel free to release your creative juices....

As far as I'm concerned, "HOG" (horny old get) would probably cover it. I do like to get my nose into the trough :-)

Been thinking about a new name for swinging but have drawn a blank on the witty side.
Will come up with summin soon..

I am gonna continue with a subject Mr C stated earlier regarding getting likes on his profile from people that haven't looked at his profile.

One of the great things about this site we can all see the statistics in the history tab and whose looked at our profiles.. It amazes how, I'm sure not just me, gets lots of likes of my profile and yet when you delve down the so called liker hasn't logged onto the site in a few weeks...
Is it a miracle? Devine intervention or angelic matchmaking...
Perhaps more sinister and darker forces are at work...
Or perhaps site admin are spending their time sending out fictional likes from dead accounts to make the site look far more vibrant... Nah.. Of course not.. That's so cynical.. Dunno what made me think that was even a possibility.. Let's settle for divine intervention..
Although I believe that would be an ecumenical matter!!!

Welcum: Perhaps it's the same mechanism as that responsible for "virgin births" :-) Hallelujah !!!

I don't care for the expression swingers either..To me ,it devalues some people who I admire most.Frank Sinatra, Count Basie,Ella Fitzgerald, to name just three The word is much better applied to a style of music rather than a style of sex.
How about " BONKERS" ?
British
Other
Nationals
Knowingly
Engaging in
Risque
Sex.
Just a thought ( if rather a silly one ) LOL

Thanks for that fetch..
I still have nothing

Gotta have writers block of summin..
Reckon I need help to clear my mind

Woo hoo, eureka... I have had an Epiphany..
Ok, here's my attempt at the name..

Sexual Women Instigate Naughty Gentlemen to Entice Rogering..

Work of pure genius.. And the acronym will be SWI.....

Bollox... Back to the drawing board

Riggering even............................................

I was roaming through the new-layout blog area and the sentiments expressed waaaay back in June caught my eye.  Here we are in what passes for the Brave New World.  It was heading south in June, and has, in my humble opinion, continued in that direction. With the exception of two or three blogs I see few reasons to keep coming back.
How very sad.