something controversial

[Dude in Nor Cal]

Just a thought,
Have you guys noticed how there are no young people here, and the ones that sometimes show up eventually all seem to leave? And that many women and girls get scared off? I think that might be because they get nervous when they post a question for the young and a bunch of people that are, uh, OLDER, respond. If I was a 14 year old getting welcomed in the YOUNG NUDISTS FORUM by a bunch of 35+ guys, I would get intimidated and possibly creeped out.

Forgive me if I come on a little strong, I don't want to offend anyone but I want to make a point in my own direct way. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] It may cost me a few stars in the user rating, oh well.

I value the opinion of everyone, older or younger than I. But the young people here tend to be fewer and further between than we'd all like, and I think that might be because we get scared off sometimes.

Thanks for reading.

[Dude in Nor Cal]

Just a thought,
Have you guys noticed how there are no young people here, and the ones that sometimes show up eventually all seem to leave? And that many women and girls get scared off? I think that might be because they get nervous when they post a question for the young and a bunch of people that are, uh, OLDER, respond. If I was a 14 year old getting welcomed in the YOUNG NUDISTS FORUM by a bunch of 35+ guys, I would get intimidated and possibly creeped out.

Forgive me if I come on a little strong, I don't want to offend anyone but I want to make a point in my own direct way. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] It may cost me a few stars in the user rating, oh well.

I value the opinion of everyone, older or younger than I. But the young people here tend to be fewer and further between than we'd all like, and I think that might be because we get scared off sometimes.

Thanks for reading.

[Guest]

I can't speak for other "older" people, but I have never said anything to scare any young people away. I've always tried to welcome them and try to answer their questions. As a dad and a granddad, I tend to go into my "mentor" mode when somepne says he's 14 or 15 or whatever and asks questions.

It's true that we have mostly older people here, but maybe it's because the subjects are mostly too adult for them. Just as young people prefer to be with other young people, they have very little in common with we "older folks". However, if they want answers, we have the years and experience that the young haven't aquired yet. Otherwise I have no answers to to how to keep young people interested in posting here.

[Bartamus]

Dude: Your point is well taken. Although I would disagree with your view that there are fewer younger naturist or wannabees here. We're getting quite a few twenty something naturist contributors on these boards plus a fair number of teens. You're right though. They mostly tend to be males. We've thought about have a younger naturist thread only. Maybe we'll do that

[Hooked]

I've been a naturist since teens but I am going to be here until I'm old, really old...I'm already too old to be in some young adult groups (I'm 24) sooooooo there's nothing I can do about time and aging...

[luvnaturism]

I participate in another forum that, until recently, was populated mainly by older males. Now there's been a burst of interest from early and mid-teens, and also young adult women.

The teens clearly like having a whole set of caring cybergrandparents, and the response of the younger women who post has also been warmly positive.

So I think the issue is more than just the age of the people who respond. The kinds of responses have a lot to do with it.

But I think we can all understand that a young person who really wants to have a conversation with another his/her age may be disappointed if most of the replys are from people far above the expected age.

Why not add a thread where participants must be within a certain age range, and all others are prohibited? It would need to be clearly labeled. I post off of the Active Topics page, and often don't notice what category the post belongs to.

[Nude in the North]

Perhaps some of them wern't really nudists, but only curious teens looking for someting else.
I'm not so sure it's such a good Idea to have a Teens only area. It sounds like a haven for evil do'ers. I'd hate for some sicko passing himself off as a teen to ruin the integrity of this site.

Steve

[Fresh Air]

Honestly, I don't know of many teens that would be loyal to one idea and especially one forum for a long period of time. I think it's quite normal to only participate for a short period of time as teenagers.

It would be nice if there were more people their age on here, so they could relate and learn from each other.

In defense of the older people. They have alot more wisdom to share with those who are younger. Many of the questions asked by young people can not be answered by other young people.

Fresh Air

[namedun]

So I guess I'm in the minority. I just turned 19. Thought about nudism for a really long time. Became a nudist last summer. It's really changed the way I think of people.

Namedun [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

[MikeJB]

Yeah, I agree with alot of the stuff said here, once again I kinda go along with what Jon Marc says about things, seems rather simple and laid back to me. Anyways I basically feel the *old* experienced people here oughta answer the questions that the other younger people cant answer and and the younger people should answer the questions they have more in common with and can relate to better. I dont think this group does anything to scare away or intimidate anyone, if they leave, its under their own willpower. They should just understand that because some older people answer sometimes is because

a) thats most of the people here

b) Some of the questions only an old person can answer or they just feel they can answer them better

c) they just wanna invite them and welcome them here in ways that the younger people would have trouble doing.


Thats just my 2 cents on this whole thing. I dont wanna go too far and get overtly criticised by some people so ill just keep it simple.

[ATaurusJoker]

Remember me??

I used to post on this site about three months ago. I left due to problems that I had with the site. I liked everyone but was so severely uninterested (for several reasons)that I left.

This is part of the reason why.

Personally I think that few on this sit are creepy but many of you are older and that can be overwhelming at first. We live in different worlds and frankly not all of us are looking for a mentor.

I think the biggest reason that this site can be a bit unwelcomming is that it really dosn't do much other than discuss nudist issues. What is there to talk about here??? I can talk about my pubes, repeat over and over that I live in MA if people want to hang out, talk about booting stu off the island (the desire for censorship on this site is sometimes frightening). How many of you would be able to talk about the perfect circle album that I love, or watching Invader Zim, What about Strong Bad!!!

It's not that we don't have the possibility to have these conversations. It's that they havn't started yet and no young person whos freaked about nudismis going to jump in here and start one up. If your going to welcome young people thatn maybe we should give them a reason to stay INA does a goods job by showing activities that could appeal to young and old (Motorcycling and such) . Those who are in the message boards might make a stronger attempt by actually having conversation that is outside of nudism and cater those with youthful interests.

ATaurusJoker

[shãybare]

Welcome back, ATAURUSJOKER. I tend to agree with Bartamus on this. We do have a Young Naturist thread already but there is not an age limit set so it seems that anyone can post. I agree with you that there are too many older people on that thread. Therefore I would suggest that the administrators put an age limit as to who can post on the thread. When I first started posting I assumed that Young Naturist meant teens and early twenties. I believe that anyone over 24 should stay away from the thread. If the young want to find out what we older ones think, they can come to one of the other threads and post a new topic about their specific question.

[Rex]

Maybe we all like to assume that we feel, act, and think, younger than we are, and we haven't forgotten what it's like to be young, and we know how to relate to young people, and so on, and maybe we're just kidding ourselves on.
But what do the young people think about us?

[S.M.A.]

I must admit, Nor Cal brings up a strong argument.

When I first started coming to this site in the Fall of 2002, it did bug me a little that the majority of the posters were middle-aged men. But as I started reading the messages at the site and slowly came to understand the implied message, I realized that their intent was to help the young and confused visiters of the site with whatever problems. They're not creeps or pedophiles, in fact they're the polar opposite of that. They're really trying to protect us from those types.

The average, ignorant textile would pass off somebody like Jon-Marc or NudeinTN as eccentrics. But these guys are merely people who express themselves in a unique way, a style that they are happy with. They're not hurting anybody, but a lot of people cannot comprehend that.

I am happy, however, that this site is introducing more youngsters to the clean, somewhat spiritual world of nudity. Nudity has been unfairly associated with sex for nearly an eternity, and it about time that a line should be drawn in the sand that defines naturism as merely a method of self-expression and/or a lifestyle.

[florida-david]

i think that there are a lot of young visitors (maybe not members)that read the posts and have nothing interesting to add or are afraid to comment. i think that there are probably some creeps that come to this site and harass the women, though i do not know of any. i personally enjoy hearing from the young folks as my kids are getting older and i can learn what to look forward too and the young spice up this site. its unfortunate that most move on kinda quickly, but i appreciate hearing from the young folks that have stuck around. so anyways, some of us old-or-middle-age folks will continue to welcome you here in hope we can answer your questions and address any of your concerns.