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It seems like there are fewer threads each day here than there were a few years ago.
What are the trends? Is crossdressing accepted now? Or are there backlashes? Are younger CDs finding other social media or venues? Do all good forums come to an end? Or can this forum adapt to changing trends and stay popular and helpful? What would members do without this forum?
Its changed a lot since I have been here.
Trends have changed sure and this site moves with the trends as far as I can tell.
New people join some old ones drop off thats how forums work. I think it will be here for many more years
Lelak,
Who can say ?
Make the most of it while it's available . I do wonder how many people have been members here for years and still lurk in the background fearing to come out even on this forum .
I'm sure if someone poses the question of what changes would you like to see , the mods and management might welcome some useful suggestions .
Perhaps more people are using social online sites, like Twitter and Facebook etc. I prefer this site maybe naively because it feels more secure.
I agree with the fewer threads, I check at least 3 time a day and am always surprised just how few new threads there are. This is especially true in the shopping section which I find strange because many of us love to shop. I personally post all of my shopping trips on here because writing it down is almost like reliving it, but given I have only been 3 times it's not many.
I often check the ages of fellow members, it's rare to see members posting that are younger than me (29). So many of us started in childhood so where do they all go to talk?
What are the trends? Crossdressing has always existed.
Is crossdressing accepted now? More in some circles, especially among youth, but there will always be those who feel threatened and outraged by it.
Or are there backlashes? There have always been occasional backlashes, just as with racial prejudice.
Are younger CDs finding other social media or venues? Yes they are, but I don't see that many young people engaging here anyway. Many of us come to crossdressing later in life.
Do all good forums come to an end? Trends come and go, but crossdressing isn't a trend in the way a diet fad is a trend.
Or can this forum adapt to changing trends and stay popular and helpful? I just don't think crossdressing is a fad, and members' needs tend to be the same, ie support, understanding, friendship.
What would members do without this forum? We would be worse off.
There are trends in every industry...Like car dealers on a particular street. If you were to Google advice forums for cross dressing you would find many hyper links. If look closely at each site, many are not relevant and out dated. This site is relevant and progressive. for many years now.Quote:
How long will this forum last?
I've not been here long enough to notice any real changes, but there are always new members joining, which is a good sign.
Surely it is inevitable that a forum such as this slows down with time.
When I joined I was intrigued to find postings that showed me I wasn't alone in my feminine feelings.
Since then cross-dressing has become much more publicised and acceptable, much more information is available.
The many CDs that were in the closet are out and know how to join the real world if they want to. The need for support and advice has diminished.
But Kiwi you could also argue that the raised profile will have brought a huge number of formerly closeted crossdressers into the light, with a proportionate increase in forum membership. The fact that crossdressing is now more publicised doesn't mean those previously hidden CDers don't have all the same questions and needs as the rest of us.
The format that this website takes, i.e. that of a classic forum, is on the way out in general. Many message boards are migrating to sites like reddit etc. The UI is generally more user friendly, and there are no hosting costs.
It will last as long as there is input about peoples experiences of dressing. of going out and giving and receiving advice.. Tell about an shopping trip whilst dressed and to get advice about what one should have done differently or not is a welcome thing .
This forum will survive because of the new ones joining us.
I'm sure most of the questions asked by new members have already been beaten to death. So using the search feature is probably more useful than it ever was. I hope this forum is here for us for a long, long time. I've never tried looking for other sites, this one gives me everything I need.
Samm,
You are right, like you this site also gives me all I want, all I need. help support you name it, it is all her.
I agree with the others. A forum changes over time and often more or less parallel with social trends. Here in the U.S. there has been a trend toward more masculine dominance and a bit of a shift away from a more feminine orientation that was present a few years ago. People who are only very mildly a cross-dresser or trans may change their own orientation to fit with trends. But rarely are such shifting of general views permanent. It often follows cycles. Also, in some areas of the country gender expression has become far more acceptable. So it is a mish-mash of social changes and that will influence forums like this. I don't think this forum is going anywhere soon. It has obviously been around for quite a while and with more an more people facing the realities of their personal lives places like this are needed. The young are experimenting with other formats and outlets and that is a drain on membership here. But there are plenty of people around who still enjoy and need this outlet. It could close, but I feel it probably won't any time soon. Even if society were to fully accept our behavior (very unlikely) we would still need ways to communicate with others in our social group.
Bobbi,
Finding friends is one of the best parts , the forum offers a fairly safe way of joining up on the net and better still in reality .
The forum is like many clubs/ societies etc. you get out of it what you are prepared to put into it.
Occasionally now I sometimes feel I've been here long enough I never expected to reach nearly 6000 posts, so maybe members are a little tired of Teresa and I should stop posting pictures and let others have their say. Then I think back to the mess I was in when I joined and should stick around to help others who may be in a worse state and try and give back what I have been given to help me move forward .
I will add we have lost some very supportive members, I'd like to think all of them move forward enough to happier lives, the forum helped them to achieve that.
Isn't it a pity we can't contact some of the old members to give us an update .
I wish some would actually use the search function first if they have a question.
The same old questions always pop up prefaced with "has this been asked before?" "I couldn't find it in the search but will I out myself by under dressing"?
Saying how long will this forum last is in a way a negative thing to say, it's almost inciting some to jump ship thinking it is all going pear shape, FAR FROM IT. Teresa has it right on the ball you make friends, you get support, you learn things and from there your journey continues. Yes you get out what you put in but to drift off elsewhere in my mind is not right for one main reason, if a special bond has developed and it has with me then moving on you loose friends. friendship is what binds us all together. Talking to each other takes us forward. Yes those that have been here longer have a far better inkling into our world and it is to those that turn to in times of need. We need to keep those experienced ones amongst us. I won't say I have more knowledge in our world than others but if I feel I can help someone on the road of discovery I will help them. I am here just as much for support and help when I need as to support and help others. We are all on a road of discovery and achievement in dressing and how one should look. Therefore we should keep together to achieve that goal for ourselves and to help others.
As long as there are cross dressers that are not generally accepted by society. :bh:
It's certainty far more active now than when I first discovered what a wonderful place it was to exchange views and idea's about our shared lives.
I am a bit of a petrol head and I have seen forums die, as a result of members moving their active engagement to FB and such. As I am not likely to ever have a FB or twitter account I suspect this forum will last a very long time indeed and continue to provide members, such as my good self, with an invaluable glimpse into what the rest of the community is up to.
It is really a generational thing. The youth have abandoned "forums" in general.
I was part of a discussion with a group for a local makerspace on what kind of online presence would make the most sense for connecting people with skills to people who need help.
The people over 40 wanted a forum like this. The younger crowd wanted to use Slack, Facebook, or one of the other more modern collaboration and discussion apps.
There's a lot of "more of the same" on the board, unfortunately it does get old -
Forever, I hope!!! Because of its specific members and their interests, I think it will last for quite sometime! IMHO Lana Mae
I have been around for many years and have noticed a down trend in post and members joining. I saw some good members drop for whatever reason. I really enjoyed Tx Kimberly, Karren Hutton and many more, who have moved on.
I hear all types of reasons for the down trend, such as other ventures, other sites, over moderation, being banned for whatever reason and the list goes on. I really miss the members, who have fallen by the wayside, but this site has added much to the life of many members, who would not have felt a part of being human and belonging to something or someone. Most of us know we are not in a group that feels well excepted by the majority of people, but we can come here for comfort, advise and friendship. I think most of us could ask ourselves..... where would we be in our walk, if not for this site being here.
May this site grow and expand to 100,000 members and more.
It's an interesting question. I took a look at the stats at the bottom of the home page;
There are currently 361 users online. 63 members and 298 guests
Threads 187,115 Posts 3,580,460 Members 29,207 Active Members 3,609
The members/guests has been debated before. Some of the guests could be members who just didn't log on but I suspect that it's more likely to comprise of the odd surfer who's just stumbled across the site but mainly those who lurk unsure whether or not to join as many of us did, afraid by simply joining we'd out ourselves to everyone who knows us.
I'm sure the younger generation exist in an environment that is thankfully generally more accepting and that will have an impact, along with access to other online resources that are more familiar to that generation. That said there will be those who prefer the more contained, less visible to all on-sundry environment that this forum provides. And lets not overlook the fact that there will be many who are perhaps over 30 and grew up in less accepting times and still struggle with the guilt that society heaped upon them. This is a generation looking for what this forum provides, support, answers and friendship., not instant online limited character length gratification.
Most users ever online was 4,772, 11-06-2015 at 08:09 PM.
So the peak viewing figure was only 2 years ago so it's difficult to now say the end is nigh. I suspect this is a place that will continue to exist for many years to come if for no other reason than the quality of support and knowledge to be found here.
I think it'll be around a long time. There is not the excitement of a newly discovered community for me anymore, but I like seeing that excitement in others, even if it means recycled topics. It reminds me of how exciting it all used to be for me. I've been wearing dresses for over 40 years. I don't even remember the first time. I love hearing the excitement of the girls doing all this for the first time, going out for the first time, etc.. I rarely participate in those threads because it's not really where I belong on here. I read them, though, and they serve as a little reminder of where I've been and how lucky I've been to have all the experiences I've had.
Truthfully, I just don't have much interesting to add anymore. Buying new clothes, going out... I hate to say it but that's old hat to me. I still struggle with relationship issues, and there's always someone in a similar boat.
I find it interesting that of the several sisters I've met in real life, none were on this forum, or at least not participants. I don't know what the other forums are. Everybody finds their niche.
I'm not easily shocked, but some of the things on YouTube and individual blogs from even teen and pre-teen "makeup gurus" and transformation videos is... hmmmm.... I don't know. I think I'm pretty liberal in the "let boys be feminine" camp. I'd have no problem with my son wearing makeup or whatever, but damn if I'd let him put videos of it on YouTube or start a blog about it. That's where I think the outlet for it is, though. I'm in awe of how supportive these parents are, the boys/girls (however they identify) are often stunning, but it's indulgent. I have no idea (nor does anyone else) how that kind of thing will play out in 10 years when these kids enter the real world. They may in fact be chipping away at the world most of us grew up in. Seems like quite a risk, though.
It should be around for at least a few more weeks. ;)
This forum's information, general and detailed, has meant so much to me. It has been the reason for much of my bravery when feminine. I've shared all of my experiences, hopefully for the benefit of others .. at least one! But, I have to wonder why the admins are so strict with what goes where in the forums. If a suggestion is made in one forum and its sorta close, why can't it stay there, and not shifted to a different forum?
Case in point .. The making of new friends and possibly meeting them has been a wish of many, here, and I'm a great believer in same. So I wrote a post for the most read M2F Crossdressing forum as a how to do just that, and titled it "How to make/meet new forum friends." It didn't seem to fit the rules for this MOST READ forum and got moved to an occasionally read forum, "Places to go / places to meet" on June 14th. Its had 122 hits, there, but had it been allowed to remain in the M2F crossdressing forum, I'd suspect the hits might have been at least double.
Since making friends is such an important part of this wonderful forum of ours, I'd pose that something similar be made a sticky. I don't mean to sound like its the best thing since screen doors on submarines. So, Admins, please be easy on me.
Forums in general have been in decline since 08 or there abouts. CMS systems such as wordpress, bbpress, and buddypress respectively along with things such as comet chat took over for content delivery and content monetization/search engine optimization. In between all of the web 2.0+ revolution myspace, then facebook stepped in and made people the content creators and the product to buy and sell as a source of data mining and trend monitoring for advertisement and pop culture purposes. That does not mean this forum will fall off the earth. If it has a community of semi active people to support each other and carry conversation about issues important to the members, it will continue indefinitely. My opinion of VB software is not very high, but not many of the other pure forum software packages are as well supported or patched when issues are found.
I think things like tumblr, reddit, imgur, 9gag and other picture posting short text services or mini CMS systems are what the majority of the sub 35 crowd are using that are technologically inclined,living from a phone, tablet, laptop, computer. Tapatalk which comes with its own security issues can adapt vb msg boards to mobile friendly format. But the issue then becomes competing with rival smaller but newer un-established networks for cd/ts/tv. I shopped for the best place with the most activity and diversity of posters. The post counts by month / year here and new member influx is higher by orders of magnitudes compared to what I managed to find that was a public style forum and not centered around a single personality or dedicated to a single organisation.
Fact is to goto the next level would require a lot of effort and hours of work in order to create content that would require low maintenance from the creators, such as a wiki for cd/ts/tv information. Adding a chat was popular as a bridge before the larger part of the web 2.0 revolution but that requires monitoring by staff and very tight security being kept while also taking away conversation from the forum along with a search history that search engines can index if the owners/operators are so inclined, or by the internal search function itself. It is a lot of hard work and takes many hours to create a package that stands out with intention of being flashy and deep. In my experience it hardly pays off for niche interests unless the membership and owners just want these features and information available in such a manner that it is a full community effort.
The best way to bump membership to the forum is to move the keywords for the primary content interest to the top of google/bing/metacrawler, etc. This is not an easy task even if you ar willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money on programs such as google adwords. Consideration to security and member safety also has to be taken into consideration and I am guessing this is why this forum is not listed on the first page of results for "crossdressing". People smarter than I would have to interject beyond my laymen experience.
The best thing to do is to not create self fulfilling prophecy. It seems to be the biggest killer of forums when a chicken little screams the forum era is dead. For niche interest it very much is not. Now member drives on popular social platforms is an option, but retention of new membership will be low, and knowing what kind of clientele you are getting is will be a stone cold unknown. Bad comes along with the good.
Overall, I am quite happy with the structure and format of this Forum, and certainly with the calibre of the majority of the members here. For the most part they are very articulate, honest, empathetic, and fully engaged here, sharing freely of their life experiences and personal situations in ways that we can all relate to, and as befits a support group of this nature.
The only thing that I find disappointing at the moment is that there seems to be a core group of "usual suspects" here (myself included) that contribute on a regular basis, while others appear to drift in and out randomly. They may be "lurking" in the background much of the time and participating in other ways by following all the conversations, but not that the "regulars" here would ever know it. Sometimes it feels as if we "regulars" are just talking to ourselves, when fresh ideas and new inputs would certainly liven things up more and re-energize the conversations here.
My challenge to the passive "lurkers" would be for them to engage more directly, add to the dialogue, and make this place far more vibrant given all the potential to do so that exists here.
I look forward to the day when this site is unnecessary but may still be useful as a place where members can compare notes. By unnecessary I mean that the fears and trepidations around crossdresssing no longer exists, and anyone can dress as they like. I think we're moving in that direction, as most members report experiencing no hostility or ridicule when they are out en femme.
Two issues remain. There are still a lot of internal fears, but the biggest is negative reactions from SO'S. I think they are both addressed by raising the profile of those of us who can be out. Being out and owning it. The more the muggles see of us, the more accepting will be their attitude towards us. Because the general attitude toward us should be "Not a big deal"
This forum really only caters to a narrow slice of the cd/tg/ts community and is heavily moderated to keep the "riff-raff" out. Nothing wrong with that if that's what people want. But there are many other choices nowadays. Reddit for one probably has hundreds of subs dealing with the same subject matter as here and also subs for topics that are banned or discouraged on this forum. Some are moderated and some not so much. I visit here more out of habit than anything else.
Well I don't know about ending but it's almost like the new members are asking the same questions that we asked when we first came and most old timers have reached there limites, like a stalemate situation. I find myself in the summer I don't have the same spare time as the winter. I find in the summer months I usally come here when I have to vent, and everyone here knows I vent a lot. Lol. I think we will be OK, it's a very serious site and there are some good people here with very interesting life living experiences.
There have been several threads on this subject, one thing that everyone seems to pretty much agree on though is that membership age is rising and the younger people are not as inclined to join up / participate here as they have alternatives which others have mentioned, as well most of the subjects here are not even issues for younger people since acceptance seems to come seemingly naturally to most of them from friends and peers.
I enjoy coming by here and honestly some days I get a bit of entertainment reading some of the "I almost got caught" threads.
At the moment I think the forum has some summertime related headwinds, competing sites where younger users hang out and speak their minds unimpeded, lots of people are on vacation, kids out of school or here is a classic I see "It's too hot outside to dress" LOL
When that first cool front blows in a couple of months the forum will come back in full force is my prediction
Leslie,
I'm inclined to agree with you on the circle of regulars, sometimes we make comments and replies and it does feel like we are dealing with thin air.
I also wish people who start threads would manage them, some threads do spark emotions and bring up valid points but the author is no where to be seen to give feedback .
The threads I found most distressing in the past and appear to have disappeared were people being abused and browbeaten by the threat of what their church would think , some of the stories could nearly reduce you to tears .
The other loss I've noticed is less GGs contributing, Loved Ones was a very active section , it was always good to get a GGs view to bring a situation into perspective .
I hope this site stays around. I'm just a mild CD so I can't comment on some of the deep topics on here. I might ask a question from time to time. I just add to a thread wehn I can if I can state an opinion.
I think the reason why this forum tends to be for more of the middle age group or older even is due to our past and present experience with prejudice against us. From our friends and family (against "it" if not us for being part of it.) I don't think the younger generation has it made by any means. By younger I am referring to mid 20's and younger. They still deal with a lot of backlash against them too, especially with locations that are still not very accepting, which includes almost all rural areas.
While this and other forums similar to it may be in a bit of decline, I don't see this one or others ending any time soon. There's still pretty decent activity. I still expect forums such as this, if not this one to be around for many more years, although perhaps not quite so active.
I hope it will last, the support group I was going to kind of fizzled out. I think younger people just go out and do it, we older girls still have a lot of hang-ups and prefer talking and thinking things through before we act on it.
Perhaps if you're looking for more 'what color panties are you wearing today' threads, you might be disappointed. However, most topics have been discussed already, so if you search, you can find entire threads with all kinds of information in it already, readily available, and there's no waiting around for people to post the same answers that are already here. . Rather than ask the same question every single month, perhaps the newer readers are simply better at searching out the information that they need.
OTOH, if you're coming back here three times a day for a crossdressing discussion 'fix', perhaps you're simply becoming addicted to the pink fog.
It's an interesting question. Yes, the bulletin board style forums are being supplanted in many places by more "modern" social media contrivances. That's to be expected, for a variety of reasons not germane to this discussion. Keep in mind though, that those communities' platforms are built from the ground up to learn as much about you as they can, and then package and sell it to whoever will pay for it. Not exactly a good fit for this community. There is some expense in keeping a platform like this running, but it's relatively trivial, so there's no drive to "monetize" things like your favorite style of panties and sell that info to advertisers. So there's going to be a place for this community for a while yet.
Still, society is growing up and we (the TG community) are becoming more accepted in the mainstream. No, not everywhere, but it's happening. Look at Tri-Ess. The organization is a shadow of it's former self. The main reason is that it's easier for cross-dressers to go out now, easier for SO's to find support now. Again, not everywhere, but cultural change is a long process.
The end is foretold in the Mayan (Long Count) Calendar. The forum will end on 13.5.6.0.9. Coincdedentally, 100 years from today!
Personally I hope that this forum lasts for a long time. I think its fair to say that most people my age (early 20s) are either using other social media like reddit or tumblr, or they may just be lurking.
Providing new blood keeps coming in and thread momentum is kept up this forum will be here for a very long time .
Interesting replies.
So maybe the fewer threads here that I noticed is a summertime phenomenon.
I guess this forum's format is rather good. I hate FB and Twitter; discussions there are so superfluous. It's often hard to find a discussion from a few days earlier there. I haven't checked Reddit, but it sounds like that may be the main competition, although I suspect their members are much less "mature". On the other hand, they may be freer to talk about anything they want. Maybe we should have a place for that here (a free-for-all place). Or maybe we do. I haven't checked for a while. I'll probably check after I post this.
I wonder if shills, bots, etc are ever a problem here. AI is getting sophisticated. Maybe AI bots will be able to start and contribute to threads soon. They could web-search all the wisdom the internet has to offer and succinctly post the wisdom here for us to appreciate. They'll probably be able to post humorous and interesting CD and SO experiences, even if they're fictitious. Then we'll all be mesmerized by the bots and won't have to think of any wisdom, humor or etc to share. We'll just be saying "Here, here" to the bots all the time. I think there should be a policy that all bots that register on this forum must admit that they're bots. Or should they be allowed to identify as human if they want? And human CDs, SOs et al could identify as bots, if that's how we identify. Would that be the most fair? (I bet the bots could even learn to mimic our former friends who are no longer participants. Then there's also virtual reality. Maybe we'll be able to have that here too! Maybe virtual reality will be able to become real, then we can be whichever gender we want etc.)
Ok, I'm an elder. That being said I do zero social media..Facebook, Twitter..whatever is out there. There is just so much time in a day I devote to banging on the keyboard. I'm here early in the morning for a senior. My wife likes to sleep in. Tonight she has a friend over and they're yakking away. I'm keyboarding and watching the Mariner baseball game (First inning and Felix already gave up a home run, ugh!). I suppose there are less threads because others are on Facebook, etc. It could be with the current political situation more and more people just want to get away from any sort of electric "noise." Go read a book.
There are many times more lurkers than members at any given time. They're all welcome to come out of the shadows, of course, but I suppose many are simply curious, others frightened or shy, and a few might just get off on reading about real life CDrs'Quote:
Originally Posted by Yoshisaur
I think this forum will always appeal to a certain niche and as some of us older members disappear, newer ones will continue as they mature and move away from what might be more graphic sites. Personally, I like the fact that this site is well run, it is not about porn or gay sex or hooking up. It is simply honest and largely non-judgemental discussion about our lives as crossdressers. Some of us practice the art differently (and much better than I do) but we are all held together by that same common thread and as a result, there is inevitably something for everyone on this site. No, I am not interested in every post and I don't read every one either. But on the other hand, I have found some of the discussion extremely valuable and worthwhile in helping me figure out what I am, why I crossdress, where I am in the spectrum of transgender and most of all, I have discovered that I am not alone. There are quite a few of you who are very much like me. And guess what, there is a natural affinity there inasmuch as we understand and accept each other. I personally appreciate that. Plus - thank you all for all of the shopping hints, ideas and suggestions.
Well we can't talk about sex, sex toys, sexual fantasies, or anything about the sissy fetish.
But I don't know where to find that magical forum so I go here.
This forum will live on as long as our conversations continue on here. I have to admit that I have not contributed much lately, but that will change soon with the help of some very accepting, GG friends. I will now be living my dream to become more feminine :)
I recently joined an alternate site for cross dressing to find out if it was more active, and it was not. The dialog on the posts were never carried beyond a couple of replies, and even my welcome post was barely acknowledged by the members.
This forum will always be my place to call home.
Everyone is just so wonderful on here :)
Take Care,
Rebecca
One question to ask about lurkers is how many of them are members who have not logged on? Many just want to read what has been posted, which they can do in the M2F and TS forums, rather than contribute.Quote:
Originally Posted by kimdl93
Out of your four topics you have quoted, only one, sex toys, has a rule which bans discussion. We don't want to know the style, size etc of how you get your pleasure. As for the rest they CAN be discussed, we just don't want graphic details.Quote:
Originally Posted by redtea
There are many sites on the WWW that cater to the less vanilla aspects of crossdressing, but very few, that I am aware of that cater to the Vanilla. This site will, as far as I know, always be vanilla, if you don't like that, then we are not holding anyone prisoner.
The repetition of questions may be 'old hat' to long established members, but newbies still want the answer to that question. Threads are closed after a period of inactivity and information does become obsolete.
This forum has had its fair share of critics, those who believe they can 'do as they please', Trolls and spammers but the forum is still here, and will continue as long as there is a need for it.
I've been here since 2006 and it was here before I was, so I'm saying as long as there is a need, it will be here. :battingeyelashes::)
I really hope.. forever! It's a lifestyle changing and very true to heart supporting forum.