Wondering why so few members contribute.

[Guest barehole4use]

I am wondering why so few members of this site contribute to the forums, if i start to count there are only about 5 people who do contribute & this site is supposed to have hundreds if not thousands of members or so it claims........

Thoughts please ???

[Hard8Stud]

BareBack.com is the oldest bareback hookup site; so, I'm guessing most of the profiles of guys who quit visiting BB years are still there. BB members are automatically members of BB Forums. Even with BB's previous, easier-to-use Website, non-members could comment. Before the current, somewhat cumbersome Website was introduced, I was about to meet some members despite the recession; one told me of BB RT S, which I soon joined; like the others doing so at the time, I intended to use both sites to improve my chances of meeting other guys whom I know upfront who only fuck bareback. When BB soon changed to the current site, I found it to be quite frustrating to use, including sending & receiving messages and updating my own profile. I gave up for awhile but checked back occasionally. When I discovered the forums were still being used, there seemed to be hope. I know more guys were using BB Forums even just a year ago and we're a good way for like-minded men to communicate during the pandemic. But, like with everything, members leave for different reasons and so new members are always needed.  Responsiveness in BB does now seem faster; but, the design is still not all that user-friendly and with too much space for advertising. So, with the current economic uncertainties _ similar to in 2009, I think guys aren't joining BB in the first place, and they're the main ones who use the BB Forums; from what I've seen and despite logging in to the main site & the forums still being separate, very few guys who don't belong to BB join the forums separately but just contribute as guests and so aren't tracked. Besides those 5 or so of us now, a few others do but not often. Enough others who have viewed my BB Forums profile that the number of those following me has increased significantly. If more did, then a lot more topics would be active & current. One thing I should mention to "newbies" and others who feel like they don't have much if anything to say, then at least marking comments as "like," "laughing [out loud--lol]," "sad," "confused," or "thanks" counts as contributing and gives the guys commenting a better idea what other guys think. Simple things like "Good idea," "I agree," or "I've always wanted to do that" are also OK. BB Forum members can also exchange private messages, which is an alternative if you find using the regular BB Messages not to be easy; however, BB (like most sites) is generally geared primarily to meeting guys more or less in your area, while the forums are used by guys all over the world (currently primarily in the U.S. & Europe. Making BB more user-friendly again and more like the user interface of the old site where one could easily exchange messages, view profiles, & edit their own profiles would help entice new guys to join; but, like with almost everything else, those who chose to leave may never return regardless of any improvements made after they left.

[Guest barehole4use]

9 hours ago, Hard8Stud said:

One thing I should mention to "newbies" and others who feel like they don't have much if anything to say, then at least marking comments as "like," "laughing [out loud--lol]," "sad," "confused," or "thanks" counts as contributing and gives the guys commenting a better idea what other guys think. Simple things like "Good idea," "I agree," or "I've always wanted to do that" are also OK.

So true, this minimal input would be better than no input, as we are both contributer's & some others too, it would be even nicer if there was more members that made there input too. I have not seen huffer for a very long time on the site, i wonder what happened to him.

 

9 hours ago, Hard8Stud said:

Making BB more user-friendly again and more like the user interface of the old site where one could easily exchange messages, view profiles, & edit their own profiles would help entice new guys to join; but, like with almost everything else, those who chose to leave may never return regardless of any improvements made after they left.

The upgrades need to happen to make this site better, they claim this has been done but honestly i see no improvement yet.I don't use bb rt because the part of Europe that i am in, it is not very functional. I have started using nasty kink pigs. just a new member there so will see how that functions for me, but honestly like you i prefer to meet my men outdoors like in the park, it's a lot easier to find a fuck there than chatting to some unknown guys for hours without it going any further.

[Hard8Stud]

I can't help but wonder if Huffer69 got his profile automatically deleted like some others. If something had come up that meant he knew he'd have to leave, it seems like he would've said something. He contributed far too regularly to just vanish unless there was a sudden health or family crisis. He at least would keep several topics going; it seems like the entire forum has gotten quieter without him.  It takes more than just a few of us actually commenting & sharing experience to keep it going.  BB seems to me to have better response time, but it's actual features need to be improved. I would really like to use both sites to advertise, meet guys, digitally chat with them, and find out about group parties; the old BB site had a place to list group parties, but it mostly used only for groups in New York, California, & Florida. Even it's inmail (internal e-mail for members) was easier to use, even with limits for basic members.

That is very interesting about B BR TS. I've been a member of it for several years and occasionally still get noticed by guys in different parts of the U.S. and sometimes the world--usually Mexico, Canada, Australia, & parts of Europe--even though I don't have the time to spend as I would like. But, you made me realize that I've never seen anyone in Belgium or some other European countries. (The real-time nature of the site makes it different from all others except for Chat.)

[Guest barehole4use]

2 hours ago, Hard8Stud said:

I can't help but wonder if Huffer69 got his profile automatically deleted like some others.

This exact thing happened to me too but when i high lighted it to Michael, he did nothing to rectify my old status ( is that caring for members ) i think not.

I would not be surprised to learn the same thing happened to huffer & he thought W.T.F & decided to not come back like so many others.

I used to like Gay romeo but they become a little to police mentality controlling every aspect of everything & took all the fun out of the whole site & sadly bb rt is just too limited for Belgium, Nastyking pigs seems better but like all good things time will tell, it's far from perfect.

I remember the days of Gaydar, they used to be good, good functions & a great site for hooking up, a lot like Craigslist was too, it seems like clubs & bars & the great sites get shut down or are just poorly run, that's why i never start with a premium membership, let them first prove there worth & most if not all are just not worth upgrading too.

[Hard8Stud]

That's what I think may well have happened with Huffer. Maybe someday he'll log in as a guest and explain.

That's why OutPersonals (OP) went from being the busiest site in the world--so much so that chat rooms were designated for almost every country in the world--to being hardly used at when Various, Inc., starting in mid-2007 cut off almost all the free features that made guys want to upgrade; now, basic members can't read any incoming messages, reply to anyone, or see profiles of who may have paid to see yours; now, only the "lobby" chat room is used by a literal handful of guys. Various, Inc, still advertises Adult Friend Finder; but, AFF supposedly functions just like OP. It went from being one of the best ways to chat, cam, & hook up to a site no-one to wants to use, yet Various can't understand why it's now losing out on so much revenue. GCruise was one that appeared to have enough basic features; only after I joined did I find otherwise. FuckBook was another one where you could read & reply to messages; but, that was cut off about the time the owners introduced bots "to improve member experience"--but, you can't meet something that doesn't exist. About the only free thing left in FB is blog posts; also, it's no longer obvious if fake accounts still exist, so I almost never check in anymore. What BB seems to me to need is restoring the user-friendly features the old site had and less page space taken up by Bareback Live (actually Flirt 4 Free) advertising & too many profiles of other guys. Since the unwarranted demise of Craigslist Personals, a friend of mine has occasionally used Doublelist; but, I've found it so far to not be all that useful. Sniffies seems interesting, but it uses a LOT of data & time to function. It seems like the lack of user-friendliness is the common problem. (I hope the site names I've mentioned aren't automatically "bleeped" because they're meant as comparison & not as competitive. When I have had the time, I have belonged to and used all of them at the same time.)