posting on this forum

[Ken Palmer]

Hello once again. Well, I have still another question/topic to post on here. Lately, I have noticed that hardly anyone has posted here on this forum like in past years where almost hundreds of people would post almost daily. What has happened here out of curiosity? Have most of us lost interest in the forum? Like I said, I am just curious because I am noticing hardly any interactions or posts on here. I certainly things will pick up down the road. I remember it really being a lot of fun engaging in some very interesting topics and subjects.

Ken Palmer

[Steve78621]

I have been posting more then in the past, but then I have gone years at a time without signing in and writing something. I think part of the slowdown is people can communicate back and forth by other means like texting and facebook.
I still check the forum every morning, having the photo of the day is good marketing on the part of the web editors. A few times I have seen someone I know on there, but they seem to have fallen into the habit of repeating the same group of photos month after month. I wish they would take advantage of their large catalog of photos to mix things up a little more.

[nudeyooper]

My situation is similar to Steve78621. Have not been on for quite awhile, and there are times when I will play the devil's advocate just to see how things will go.

[usuallylurk]

There are several schools of thought - one, there is no longer a chat access in this board; there was before the board had its "big meltdown". And when that happens, some don't come back.

I have discussed things with others who are no longer here - I remain in touch with some of them. Perhaps it's best to reach out to them and invite them back. Or discuss with them, why they left. "Stu" was one of the best posters in here, even though people didn't necessarily like what he said - but he played an excellent "devils advocate" and if I could have only chosen one CFF member to have a beer with (who I haven't had a drink with before), it would have been him.

We do not see regular posters from "the nationals" here any more - AANR, TNS. My understanding that Brian *was* an AANR-west director, but that ended and we don't see any of those folks any longer.

Finally - some came here just to look at the pictures. So be it. I come here for the conversation. I check in nearly every day, But, yes, Ken, there doesn't seem to be a lot of chatter here. I did get into a long conversation once about the photos and some of them - I scratched my head at ...

Davin posts articles he finds on the web. Some are discussion-worthy.

Remember, the "bread and butter" of Clothes Free International comes from those purchasing access to their videos.

That's where the money comes from. As a practicing nudist, I have little interest in paying to view them. Also - I am a bit dismayed because there have been many big eastern events through the years and they don't send anyone to cover them.

Go back through the years - many of the guys and gals who participated here were people who went out and attended events. Not so much anymore.

Rather than seeing people discuss events they attended, or plan on attending - or places to go - or travel, or why they do or don't do something - the conversation is more - "there's a nude protest in San Francisco", or, "look at this news article", or "hey there was a brief segment on ABC about..."

One of my fondest memories from this board was the time a couple of us encouraged a guy in Scotland - through the CFI chatroom - to come to the Eastern Gathering in Lenox -- then one day I get an e-mail "do you have a non-800 number to call Eastover? The 800 number doesn't work from Scotland"... he came over - he had a blast, and we remember the week he was there.

So.... start topics, and let the discussion flow.

[Steve78621]

I had forgotten all about Stu. He really added a lot to the discussions here. He asked questions and had well reasoned responses when people questioned him. I miss his posts.

[usuallylurk]

Stu - if you see this thread - come on back!

[garbo]

I too have wondered why participation in this forum seems to be declining. I often see the same names posting and the majority.. not so much. Why aren't more women posting? Are other nudist forums experiencing the same thing?

Are fewer people overall coming to the site? Does CFF do enough marketing to nudists to bring them to the site? Is nudism losing ground in terms of numbers overall?

Another question may be the topics themselves. Are they interesting and engaging, informative.. even entertaining? Do we relate? If so, do we feel motivated to post our thoughts and opinions or even ask more questions or pose new points of view?

[usuallylurk]

I too have wondered why participation in this forum seems to be declining. I often see the same names posting and the majority.. not so much. Why aren't more women posting? Are other nudist forums experiencing the same thing?

As we know, when women post in nudist areas, they get hounded. Perhaps, there ARE some women posting, but posing as men!

Are fewer people overall coming to the site? Does CFF do enough marketing to nudists to bring them to the site? Is nudism losing ground in terms of numbers overall?

Apparently fewer people are coming into the site. As I said - CFF gets its dough from people willing to pay to watch their monthly videos.

Another question may be the topics themselves. Are they interesting and engaging, informative.. even entertaining? Do we relate? If so, do we feel motivated to post our thoughts and opinions or even ask more questions or pose new points of view?

We did have the "board technical meltdown" around 22 months ago. It lasted too long. Lots of people went away.
There were other factors that drove people away, too, I won't belabor them here.

There is also no access to the live chat, although I did not see many from this board on that chat, so I don't know if that's a factor.

The best way - get the board's management, and ownership - if they want to keep this going - to privately contact individuals, past and present participants, and try to get a consensus.

They might try banner ads ; there's also an idea that I think would work today - a streaming online radio station, with content underwritten by providers of nudist services...there was one around a decade ago - but it fizzled out - with ad support, it just might go over today.

[nudeM]

The main reason is sometime ago, the site crashed and was down for quite awhile. It came back up then crashed again. I believe that is when we lost a lot of "regulars". Also, several members strayed into other interests (sites) and left this one. Hopefully it will return to a great site, but that will take time. There are still some of us here, but not to the proportions that it once was.

[Evernude]

I'm also on Nudist Clubhouse, which has a great chat room, and True Nudist which has an OK forum. This place is still my favorite, though I don't contribute as much as I used to. Where the other sites do better, in my opinion, is posting pictures. They make it easier, and put pictures in a better format.

[Naturist Zoar]

I agree. When the site crashed it took months before I was able to reconnect.Maybe or hopefully others will find their way back.

[Ken Palmer]

I thank everyone for their replies on this subject. It has given me great insight.