Let me put this another way. Yes, Mark has done a fantastic job here. If a site like Dirty Davids was sold, who would give a toss or notice the difference? It is because this place is so special that people feel hurt.
Brian.
Join the most popular community of UK swingers now
Login
Forum
Quote by Jags
Well, I'm speaking for myself here, not my wife, but I think that Mark has quite simply betrayed everything that he promised the community about it being free and run by swingers, for swingers. Anyone who believes that the SH community isn't going to lose out in the long term has their head in the clouds. Having once been accused of trying to make money out of a website by Mark (We weren't) I can't find it in myself to forgive him for selling SH without exploring other options. If I am wrong in what I am saying then why doesn't Mark have the decency to come here and explain himself?
Brian.
I really really hope that you are notsuggesting that Mark is not a decent person? I've read some utter nonsense this morning and am absolutely disgusted by what is being said about Mark.
I've said this just now to someone in PM but I'll say it here;
Mark gave you this site, your friends, your social life and your swinging life - he owes you nothing. He gave you a lot and you have given nothing! Now, how he choses to move on with his life is none of your business. Those who actually KNOW Mark appreciate the dilemna he was put under and those of you who don't know him have no idea. Be grateful that you've had the time here that you have had. If the site folds then you've gained a shedload of good stuff and if the site remains it'll be because people have pulled together. Either pull with us or move on out. Message is the same.
:roll: :roll:And I STILL say that Mark should have come here and said his piece himself. And while he was at it, he could have told us how much money he got for this 'free forever' website.
I have no idea whether or not Mark is a decent person and will probably never find out. All I do know is that if he wanted this to be a stress free change of ownership where nobody got upset then he could have gone about things a lot better. Telling us more about who we now answer to on here would have helped as well. We will only ever have their side of things when we ask them a question now.
Come on, seriously. Are you actually saying that Mark couldn't have handled this better?
Brian.
Quote by Angel Chat
Have another read of the section headed "This is a Free Site" and tell me whether people had every right to expect him NOT to make a fast buck at our expense.
Brian.
PS Mark seems to have had a lot of people assisting him. He dumped on them from a great hight too.
Have you bothered to read anything written by the people who were assisting Mark? Because as far as I can see, we've all wished Mark and his family the very best for the future and thanked him for setting up the site in the first place!
And please can you explain just how he's "made a fast buck at our expense"? Because the stuff I've read so far leads me to believe that (at least for the next 12 months) this isn't going to cost us anything!!
Well, I'm speaking for myself here, not my wife, but I think that Mark has quite simply betrayed everything that he promised the community about it being free and run by swingers, for swingers. Anyone who believes that the SH community isn't going to lose out in the long term has their head in the clouds. Having once been accused of trying to make money out of a website by Mark (We weren't) I can't find it in myself to forgive him for selling SH without exploring other options. If I am wrong in what I am saying then why doesn't Mark have the decency to come here and explain himself?
Brian.
Quote by Alexandra
It's all very well saying that this was a choice that Mark had to make. God knows, I am well aware of how the smallest of web sites can consume your life. BUT, did he have to do it the way that he did, selling the community in effect? If he valued the fact that this site is free so much - as in the 'This is a Free Site' section - then why could he not have offered it to the moderators to run as a co-operative? Why couldn't he have asked ANYONE to step into his shoes as a way of keeping everything free.
Brian and Sue.
And why is it wrong to get some kind of monetary compansation for all his work?
He has a young family to consider - he has given up so much of his time in the past 3+ years and we have benefited from that. It is only right he gets some benefit from it too.
I wonder how many of the members of this community actually made a donation to help with site admin? Not very many I reckon - perhaps if we all had, Mark could have employed someone to assist him. This was a service he provided at no cost to us but at great cost to him and his family.
I wish everyone would stop berating him and just be bloody grateful he bothered to do it in the first place.
So many ungrateful sods on here - I am stunned!
If Mark wanted universal thanks - or gave a toss about what we thought - he would have found a better way to do things AND have kept us all better informed.
Have another read of the section headed "This is a Free Site" and tell me whether people had every right to expect him NOT to make a fast buck at our expense.
Brian.
PS Mark seems to have had a lot of people assisting him. He dumped on them from a great hight too.
It's all very well saying that this was a choice that Mark had to make. God knows, I am well aware of how the smallest of web sites can consume your life. BUT, did he have to do it the way that he did, selling the community in effect? If he valued the fact that this site is free so much - as in the 'This is a Free Site' section - then why could he not have offered it to the moderators to run as a co-operative? Why couldn't he have asked ANYONE to step into his shoes as a way of keeping everything free.
Brian and Sue.
Brian and Sue.
Well, this is a shock, but it reminds me of something about Mark.
We orginally advertised on SH a couple of years ago and had our adverts linked to an online diary of our swinging exploits, Sue and Brian's Swinging Diary. We had quite a fall out with Mark over our website, partly because we were using a service called Adult Hub to create the forum and chat room. He accused us of trying to profit out of swingers, which was just not true. Adult Hub works in a similar way to how the new owners say that SH will operate in the future. There is a basic service for free with extras at a cost. Lots of swingers sites use Adult Hub because it is the only way that they can ever conceiveably inculde advanced features on a 'home made' web site.
Anyway, my point is that I find it pretty ironic that Mark could acuse other people of profiteering and then sell the whole community to a company who's knowledge of swinging probably doesn't extend beyond what they have read in the News of the World. To say that he has stabbed us all in the back is an understatement. If he had to get rid of the site, what was wrong with giving it to the moderators to run as a co-operative. Or, at the very least, what was wrong with having the balls to come here and tell us himself what was going on? In short, we are disgusted with the way that Mark has acted. He created a web site that had a sense of real community and fooled us with his promises.
"First things first. We get emails every now and then asking how to pay to use this site, or whether we will be making it a site you have to pay for to use in the future. We want to take this opportunity to say don't bother asking. No payment is required, no payment will ever be required. Keep your Credit Card in your pocket/purse/thong! You will NOT come to this site one day and find that you have to pay to use it. We'd sooner stop all together than start charging anyone to use Swinging Heaven - and we're not about to do that! So, let that be the final word on the matter."
"We are simply a genuine couple running a genuine site for the UK swinging community."
"Finally, so why/how on earth can we do all this for free? Because we care about swinging and the state of most 'swinging sites' out there, so here we are trying to make a difference. Of course we'd have to care, because the amount of time Mark puts into developing this site and moderating it (along with help from Helen and a few other very helpful people) puts him at a great expense of time. But, there you go, it's what he's decided he can and wants to do. "
Now we can all see what was really behind these fine words!
So we aren't happy that the site has new owners, but....... On the bright side, there are some aspects of SH that have not been updated for a long time. For instance, the dogging locations are terribly out of date. Maybe the new owners will get round to doing that. But as for paying, if we have to start getting our hands in our pockets then we will be off like a shot! I suspect that this will apply to most of the people here. If the new owners came here hoping to make some money they might have a shock coming to them.
Brian and Sue.
We orginally advertised on SH a couple of years ago and had our adverts linked to an online diary of our swinging exploits, Sue and Brian's Swinging Diary. We had quite a fall out with Mark over our website, partly because we were using a service called Adult Hub to create the forum and chat room. He accused us of trying to profit out of swingers, which was just not true. Adult Hub works in a similar way to how the new owners say that SH will operate in the future. There is a basic service for free with extras at a cost. Lots of swingers sites use Adult Hub because it is the only way that they can ever conceiveably inculde advanced features on a 'home made' web site.
Anyway, my point is that I find it pretty ironic that Mark could acuse other people of profiteering and then sell the whole community to a company who's knowledge of swinging probably doesn't extend beyond what they have read in the News of the World. To say that he has stabbed us all in the back is an understatement. If he had to get rid of the site, what was wrong with giving it to the moderators to run as a co-operative. Or, at the very least, what was wrong with having the balls to come here and tell us himself what was going on? In short, we are disgusted with the way that Mark has acted. He created a web site that had a sense of real community and fooled us with his promises.
"First things first. We get emails every now and then asking how to pay to use this site, or whether we will be making it a site you have to pay for to use in the future. We want to take this opportunity to say don't bother asking. No payment is required, no payment will ever be required. Keep your Credit Card in your pocket/purse/thong! You will NOT come to this site one day and find that you have to pay to use it. We'd sooner stop all together than start charging anyone to use Swinging Heaven - and we're not about to do that! So, let that be the final word on the matter."
"We are simply a genuine couple running a genuine site for the UK swinging community."
"Finally, so why/how on earth can we do all this for free? Because we care about swinging and the state of most 'swinging sites' out there, so here we are trying to make a difference. Of course we'd have to care, because the amount of time Mark puts into developing this site and moderating it (along with help from Helen and a few other very helpful people) puts him at a great expense of time. But, there you go, it's what he's decided he can and wants to do. "
Now we can all see what was really behind these fine words!
So we aren't happy that the site has new owners, but....... On the bright side, there are some aspects of SH that have not been updated for a long time. For instance, the dogging locations are terribly out of date. Maybe the new owners will get round to doing that. But as for paying, if we have to start getting our hands in our pockets then we will be off like a shot! I suspect that this will apply to most of the people here. If the new owners came here hoping to make some money they might have a shock coming to them.
Brian and Sue.
We've been to two greedy girls nights at Liasons. The first was when we were new to swinging and it was all a little overwhelming. Lots of couples and single women, loads of guys, everyone up for everything. Liasons is a real sight to be see when it is rocking.
The other week we went and it was a waste of time though. Sue only managed to have two shags and the place was dead. This thread should get a few along though.
Sue will definately be there so if any couples or ladies are shy and want to meet up first, or live on our route from Stockport and want a lift, just give us a shout.
(It's our wedding anniversary as well. Now isn't that just such a romantic place to take your loved one on your anniversary? lol)
Brian and Sue.
xxxxxx
The other week we went and it was a waste of time though. Sue only managed to have two shags and the place was dead. This thread should get a few along though.
Sue will definately be there so if any couples or ladies are shy and want to meet up first, or live on our route from Stockport and want a lift, just give us a shout.
(It's our wedding anniversary as well. Now isn't that just such a romantic place to take your loved one on your anniversary? lol)
Brian and Sue.
xxxxxx
As with most places, the locations listed on SH are out of date and only ever scratched the tip of the iceberg of the available places. HOWEVER, a few months ago the local rag did a big front page article - headline "DISGUSTING" - reaveling the activities of the local doggers. I actually wrote to their letters column basically asking them why they can't get lives and had none of them aver had a shag in a car.
I also pointed out that most locals didn't even know that dogging was going on and that they would most likely wish the doggers back rather than the morons that the article would have attracted! Such stories put everyone at risk.
One of the top locations that my wife used was Chadkirk. No shame in mentioning that because, in case people don't know, it is now floodlit with gates locked at night, so don't bother with that one! Elsewhere, the police are watching people and trying to intimidate them with long waits in the back of patrol cars while their details are checked etc.
Far better to travel further afield and be safer. Actually, when me other half went further afield with her fuck buddy (Jo knows who that is ;-)) a couple of weeks back she got a better shagging than she had ever had in Stockport!
I would feel happier if there was a directory of sites that that was only available by password and that people would not be allowed access to that password unless they had proven street cred on here with regulars. But how far can you go? Fact is that the danger is part of the thrill for most.
Brian and Sue.
I also pointed out that most locals didn't even know that dogging was going on and that they would most likely wish the doggers back rather than the morons that the article would have attracted! Such stories put everyone at risk.
One of the top locations that my wife used was Chadkirk. No shame in mentioning that because, in case people don't know, it is now floodlit with gates locked at night, so don't bother with that one! Elsewhere, the police are watching people and trying to intimidate them with long waits in the back of patrol cars while their details are checked etc.
Far better to travel further afield and be safer. Actually, when me other half went further afield with her fuck buddy (Jo knows who that is ;-)) a couple of weeks back she got a better shagging than she had ever had in Stockport!
I would feel happier if there was a directory of sites that that was only available by password and that people would not be allowed access to that password unless they had proven street cred on here with regulars. But how far can you go? Fact is that the danger is part of the thrill for most.
Brian and Sue.
