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Is there a pattern emerging?

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I've been actively using this site for about 5 years ?
It appears to me that about this time every year there's a lull in the amount of people on here and looking to play, I now the poor weather doesn't help the doggers, and the holiday season is here but even at clubs theres generally less people until about September?
This has been amplified from what i see when some regular members tell me they are not renewing subscriptions here and are fed up with the lack of excitement.
That has been the way of the summer months for the last 12 years that I have been in the lifestyle and going to clubs. Speaking to thousands of people over the years the main reasons for this are:
Holidays
Saving for Holidays
Skint after Holidays
Kids off school
Babysitters on holiday
Other things to do on hot nights
Nicer weather for dogging
Longer working hours (outdoor workers like builders and landscape gardeners)
That is the pattern, then there are things that happen occasionally over the period that will make the pattern of quieter months seem even worse ie unusually wet weather, economic downturn etc.
Yeah Joe, there's always a lull in the summer months, or has been as long as I've been here anyways. Reasons as per Jed's post. Most have better things to be doing in good weather than spending every waking hour on here, hopefully putting the hornier than a dog with two dicks sunshine thing to good use! Never felt the need for internets and third parties and such like so much once the weather came more conducive for a little al fresco by the sea or under trees and warm skies with the S.O. Swinging's maybe more of a winter activity when you might need the warmth of a few extra bodies in bed of a night? ;)
Stagerlee, you have me stumped on this one..... lol wtf does it mean?
On the other point, the question asked, I do believe that kids home from school is a biggy in folks being able to organise free playtime....it's not just that they can't organise it, but parents have a mindset that's actually influenced by thoughts of caring for their offspring.
oh ffs, ok, I got it, pattern/paisley lol very droll :lol: duh.
anyway stagerlee, you're usually wittier than that...must've been a quip when ya got home drunk....or summat.
Quote by skinny
Stagerlee, you have me stumped on this one..... lol wtf does it mean?
On the other point, the question asked, I do believe that kids home from school is a biggy in folks being able to organise free playtime....it's not just that they can't organise it, but parents have a mindset that's actually influenced by thoughts of caring for their offspring.

As someone with kids I dont see where the issue is unless of course you are a daytime player which most people are not. If we are going out on an evening we have a sitter and we go out. Makes no odds if the kids have been to school during the day or not. In fact thinking about it mostly they havent as 95% of the time that we go out its a Saturday :lol:
Kids home during the day at the weekend is one thing, but home all day everyday during the school holidays means for some lot's more hard work, taking them with you shopping, taking them to the parks etc, all this and your normal chores, it simply means that for some there is less energy for clubs or meets and less time as they are doing the household chores they would normally have done during the day when the kids are at school, noteveryone but some and some means that there will be a few less at clubs or meeting, not got kids anymore but understand that not everyone is in the same situation in life lol
I blame that 50 shades of grey, women are to busy reading the 3 books back to back to meet!
Quote by Joewally
I've been actively using this site for about 5 years ?
It appears to me that about this time every year there's a lull in the amount of people on here and looking to play, I now the poor weather doesn't help the doggers, and the holiday season is here but even at clubs theres generally less people until about September?
This has been amplified from what i see when some regular members tell me they are not renewing subscriptions here and are fed up with the lack of excitement.

For Sites like this that cater for fringe (minge lol) interestes - the forum owners have to be really on the ball and pro-active as opposed to reactive in keeping the membership up to keep the dynamics of the site feeling progressive.
Unfortunately Companies do not react in the same way as individuals and often asset holding is more important than the individual performance of a single asset especially if time and effort are required to improve one particular asset.
This is very often why you see very successful small businesses become dross the moment they are bought by a bigger fish and the personal touch that made the business a success in the beginning is replaced by corporate procedures.
My opinion is that the owners have to recognise that the Site is going downhill and want to do something about it. Then they need to employ a good marketer to get the membership back up again and this naturally will increase activity on the site. Failing that, the Site will continue to fall behind its competitors and will eventually get sold on again.
PS - All meant as constructive criticism.
Quote by Too Hot
I've been actively using this site for about 5 years ?
It appears to me that about this time every year there's a lull in the amount of people on here and looking to play, I now the poor weather doesn't help the doggers, and the holiday season is here but even at clubs theres generally less people until about September?
This has been amplified from what i see when some regular members tell me they are not renewing subscriptions here and are fed up with the lack of excitement.

For Sites like this that cater for fringe (minge lol) interestes - the forum owners have to be really on the ball and pro-active as opposed to reactive in keeping the membership up to keep the dynamics of the site feeling progressive.
Unfortunately Companies do not react in the same way as individuals and often asset holding is more important than the individual performance of a single asset especially if time and effort are required to improve one particular asset.
This is very often why you see very successful small businesses become dross the moment they are bought by a bigger fish and the personal touch that made the business a success in the beginning is replaced by corporate procedures.
My opinion is that the owners have to recognise that the Site is going downhill and want to do something about it. Then they need to employ a good marketer to get the membership back up again and this naturally will increase activity on the site. Failing that, the Site will continue to fall behind its competitors and will eventually get sold on again.
PS - All meant as constructive criticism.
I can see where your coming from, but the question was related to the number of people looking to meet, and that is a category that is affected more by the reasons I gave earlier rather than just the numbers visiting this site, most of the members here are not looking to meet, they are here for the pictures, the cams, the banter and because they can imagine. Numbers are probably falling because there are fewer people that actually do meet via the site, if we do a specific search of the 1.4 million members (up around 200,000 over the last 3 months or so) we can find around 32 who are actively looking to meet and who fall into the criteria we are looking for and where we fall into the category that they are looking for.
Some will get better results some will get less, but taking into account, gender, sexual orientation, location, availability, sexual attraction, age restrictions, colour restrictions, job restrictions and so on when it boils down to it the numbers of compatible people can be quite low.
This site and almost all the others are these days more for cammers, the people who like to be seen and those that like to watch, nothing wrong with that of course but that in itself can drive away some of those who do actually come here looking for meets.
Some would like to meet but don't make any effort so will find it very difficult to find compatible people, for example we got a mail today from a couple who asked us to "take a look at thier profile" a profile with no pictures, no information text about thier meeting criteria and no other realistic information that makes us want to meet them, the only upside was they live 3 miles away from us, not a reason we would choose to meet anyone. 10 days ago a couple who had made an effort with thier profile contacted us in the chatrooms and 2 hours later (after an hours drive for us) we were at thier home and had a great night.
I think this is why the OP is noticing that less people are looking to meet up, not only because it is summer but because as each season goes by there are less people on the site, many leaving because they become disallusioned with the way things are going.
Yes the owners need to be dynamic in keeping the membership up but they need the right members, at the moment there are more non-meet players than real-meet players, the solution for that - no idea smile
I think you are in denial if you don't think this Site has lost ground against other similar Sites. Not sure how long you have been here but we have noticed a massive drop in the use of the chat room and advert responses have dropped right away. We get ten times more responses to the same ad on another Site than we do on here and that Site barely existed when we joined Swinging Heaven. It can be put right, or left alone - it does not really matter to us because the people are still around - just more active on other Sites, whilst still retaining a membership here.
The point I am making is that if this Site was your solitary source of income you would be alive to its mood, dynamics and patterns of useage on a daily basis because your livelihood would depend on it. It is not quite so important when it is a little piece of a bigger jigsaw.
and anyway in summer, yes despite the rain etc., it does seem to be summer, there's more to do and needs doing. This site is more for relaxation and winter/autumn fun (and planning ahead). People tend to dip in and out, as the saying goes, and don't follow through.
So relax, wait for the long cold nights when there's nothing better to do than get hot and sweaty with some nice close, and getting closer, friends!
:thumbup:
Quote by Andy_Jules
I'm not in denial at all, I/we dont use other swinging sites, here works just nice.
You've missed a fundamental difference re the other site(s) they're not businesses by virtue of the fact that they don't charge a subscription and as such they are not a business and do not compete on the same terms.
£ for £ here offers excellent value for money and after having just scoured another well known site I can tell ya it's pants to what is offer on here and it's rubbish in it's layout with it's chat the pits, in fact I can see why it's free, YUK!
j

:thumbup:
Quote by Andy_Jules
I'm not in denial at all, I/we dont use other swinging sites, here works just nice.
If you dont use other places how can you judge

You've missed a fundamental difference re the other site(s) they're not businesses by virtue of the fact that they don't charge a subscription and as such they are not a business and do not compete on the same terms.
Just like this one was once
£ for £ here offers excellent value for money and after having just scoured another well known site I can tell ya it's pants to what is offer on here and it's rubbish in it's layout with it's chat the pits, in fact I can see why it's free, YUK!
Ive looked around around most of the other sites over the years but only use one. One I noted was utter shit so complicated it was just stupid. However the main one, the one thats now overtaken this site for most search terms on google and is 50 times busier (sweeping generalisation made my me lol ) does ok for us. Chat is functional which is all I need if I ever use it much which I dont. TBH couldent couldent give a toss about the font styles lay outs or colour :lol: £ for £ free will always win if it does a half decent job and that is the only reason we are still here cus its free as we have an old account. I took extras here once and never again yet we keep the equivelent service on the other site going 90% of the time. People always have prefferences nothing wrong with that but what I do note from speaking to people at clubs and in messages is that this site is now certainly 2nd fiddle possibly 3rd. The amount of people that we meet that are on this site is minimal most people have heard of it but say "Ohh yeh but you have to pay" and they didnt join for that reason. Where as 90%^ of the people we meet are on the main competitors site. From the people we know here that are also on other sites a VAST majority say one of the other sites provides better results for meets. Any site can work but from what we find in messages and when we are out and about is generally other places to this are found to yield much better results
j
Lots of hobby based activities are less busy in the summer, the gym, evening classes etc etc. People have far more options and their routines are all upside down
Reading some of the posts, I do think this is a fantastic site, It's to my knowledge, the biggest and most popular site, and also the site I would most likey get a meet from because of preference of site i might add?
I also think that people have waves? in their meet patterns, you may strike lucky week in, week out then suddenly you couldn't but a meet!
It is also true wile we have good weather (Erm???? ) there's other things to do, and of course doggers aren't actually going to advertise if? when? and where? because they'd get crowded out.
There is a trend, but it's not all bad.