Is the site activity slowing further?

[nina]

While the number of lurkers and views do not seem to have fallen a lot, neither has the quality of posts, the site seems a lot slower in terms of activity levels than it was six months back. Do you feel the same and does the slow response rate bother you as a fellow member? What do you think are the reasons and how would you contribute posts (if you would) to make things more interesting here?

 

[paddledmale28]

I feel as if the people into exposure have taken over and most posts deal with that, while posts about other kinks are largely ignored.

Not that I’m looking for a domme, but it seems 90% of female dominants get banned. I assume they are fake.

Taken together, high number of fakes and people looking for exposure, doesn’t bode well for the site.

 

[nina]

Yes true, huge number of fakes is upsetting.

With new exposure rules I think exposure crowd has either left looking for greener pastures or subsided, however forum discussions haven't kick-started enough to compensate for the traffic loss.

I agree actual kinksters using the site for networking and mentoring would be great rather than just the crowd looking for wanking material

 

[Meorin]

I have no data to back this up and I am only going with my gut feeling.

I feel like the amount of actual females on here declined in the last year or two noticeably.
I think it has to do with a bad cycle that started with more fakes being around and I think it happened like this:

1. More fakes got onto the website.
2. That meant that people who seek women were made to push for proof faster and were less trusting to women in general.
3. This place getting bit more hostile to women, made them go away.
4. The remaining women got even more (unwanted) attention, and that made some leave.
5. That made it worse because now the ratio women to fakes got worse and that cycle went on for too long now.

These days 95% of posts I see on here are either clearly fake or male. Seeing a real female on here has become something rare. Most posts are male subs, fighting or begging for attention.

If a woman posts anything I always feel like she gets spammed like crazy with pms for it after.

This is just my perception of how things went down / of how things are right now. I do not know how to rectify the situation.

I do not have anything against the gay community but it is just not what I am after. So seeing one gay post after another doesn't make me want to reply really.

I am a aware that this is just an analysis and does not offer any new path forward but I felt like sharing.

Always have fun
Jan

 

[nina]

Some great points there, I agree the place has become unfriendlier for women, personally I feel it is the horny straight males (mainly the wanking material focussed crowd) more than any other groups (gay, trans, les, bi etc) that will spam women as soon as one posts which can turn off women.

I do see women post too, but I don't see people replying to them relevantly, it seems to me their horny mind blocks everything that's written by the lady but actually only focus on an imaginary sign on their profile pic "Available"

Of course there are some great people too, but overall there seems very little motivation or interest to participate in or initiate forum discussions or kink "talk" amongst all individuals, thus the sense of community isn't there yet.

 

[Hammarling]

Usual stuff, it's a cycle. Activity drops, so people don't contribute themselves, so activity drops, so people don't contirbute, so actvity drops... You need a certain userbase number to have a forum run at a consistent level, Kinktalk does not reach that level of userbase. It does not offer anything unique to make people come here, let alone stay.

If you are into kink/bdsm why would you spend any time here? Getdare, fetlife, reddit, tumblr, bdsmlr all come to mind as other options. All have significantly larger userbases, more chat, more options, more unique features etc. Why should i spend my time here? I click on every few days just to have a look at what the recent posts are, see the new albums. But if i have an idea to talk about, i immediately go to one of those more active sites.

Kinktalk needs to offer something unique, something that i can only get here! On fetlife that's local events and a focus on creating a social media-esque experience. Reddit it's about community focus and a huge reach and userbase. Tumblr is a focus on chat and blogging, same as bdsmlr but bdsmlr has no adult content restrictions. Getdare has a big and very active and creative userbase plus a good chatroom.
Kinktalk has..... er.... um.... i don't know.... And ultimately it's why i don't spend time here or really contribute much, there's no reason for me to. My limited time is better served going elsewhere that has unique features i'm looking for, and larger more active userbases.

 

[Doctor Pervert]

There are some good points here but also please consider this.

Kink Talk is a vessel, the content here is created by you, there are no paid staff making up your entertainment.

We have built a framework, categories, sections and forums catering to pretty much any kink you can think of but what goes on in these is what YOU supply.
If you want this to be just for hookups you're in the wrong place, yes fetlife is gonna be better. If you want tons of random chat, yes getDare is busier. If you want to expose photos you're certainly in the wrong place, go try xhamster. But if you would like to carry on real discussions with real people then START ONE.

I personally have started hundreds of threads, some have had loads of replies and been great discussion, others didn't get a single reply. I do this because I enjoy it BUT ITS NOT MY JOB!

Kink Talk is a discussion forum and a discussion requires more than one person. We have some real standout people here and for the most part they are the ones doing the majority of the posting, why not join in one of their threads? Nothing of interest to you, then start a thread yourself.

We don't bite,


often.

 

[Hammarling]

That framework, it's available in some working form on those other sites. But those other sites carry larger and more active userbases, as well as greater unique reasons for use. I do start threads and join discussions on those other sites, i don't really put in the effort here because it lacks that active user base.

Very quickly it's a 'chicken or egg' problem. You need content to draw useres, but you need users to make content. Unless you have a good unique feature, or fill a very niche interest! One of my favorite online sites is tiny, probably only 100 users per month, if that. But as it's a site for a very niche game it keeps up a high level of activity because there is not another option to use. Kinktalk's problem, there are other options for those into bdsm to use.

If you want to boost it as a true discussion focused forum that would be interesting and unique! Take away the 'Connect' section and the 'Writing' section and Mod out all the seeking thread, play requests, dare requests etc. etc. to drive away that sub-set of user who is only here for a jerk-off and floods the forum with the same repeated threads over and over. (I go to What's New as i write this, the first 5 results are exactly these threads, 7 of the first 10 are this, and of the 16 of the first 20 (and one is a story) leaving just 3 actual discussion threads. Now this ratio is probably the same elsewhere but those other sites overcome this issue with quantity of threads and userbase and pitching themselves for these style of post.) I would go so far as to remove Private Messaging to prevent real people (females) being spammed and making this a place real people want to stay and be active and open.
It's a lot more work to make that happen and function, but that would make KinkTalk unique and far more likely to carry a strong active, albeit smaller, userbase. And i think that would provide a base for some exciting growth down that route for people who want to talk about kink and avoid all the dare requests and repeat seekers.

 

[nina]

I agree that the site never seems to reach the minimum number of active users needed to sustain a reasonably active forum and attracting a larger user base is needed.

However I disagree that only one niche area is needed and that multiple areas adversely affect relevant traffic as many BDSM sites including gd have many sections like personals, blogs, dares etc operating side by side with not much issues.
Moreover the Featured posts side bar in kinktalk already does not show posts from personals and online play sections as far as I have noticed.

Secondly wrt to requiring a huge number of threads, I personally feel a smaller more manageable number of threads at a time increases visibility of each thread which can lead to more focussed discussions, infact I find the few kinktalk threads that are interesting are generally much better in quality than some of the other sites and even much more open to diverse set of ideas. The problem is the dwindling user base like you say.

Lastly sites with a heck lot of activity often are an illusion of interaction where say, people are constantly posting tasks/instructions etc but hardly receive adequate feedback, whereas two way communication takes time but is often more enriching. The problem is that most users here are from the frat house..lol version of this site aka the sister site and use this only as a secondary forum. Hope that kt can overcome this perception and attract more people interested to have 'kink' talk

 

[Doctor Pervert]

Moreover the Featured posts side bar in kinktalk already does not show posts from personals and online play sections as far as I have noticed.

This is correct, the side bar only shows posts from selected discussion forums, not the personals or other high turnover sections.

 

[kaylessa]

Lastly sites with a heck lot of activity often are an illusion of interaction where say, people are constantly posting tasks/instructions etc but hardly receive adequate feedback, whereas two way communication takes time but is often more enriching. The problem is that most users here are from the frat house..lol version of this site aka the sister site and use this only as a secondary forum. Hope that kt can overcome this perception and attract more people interested to have 'kink' talk

I'd say kinktalk is much more active then getdare from my perspective. Also I tend to be more active here. It's probably a result of the fact that I feel much more welcome here.

If I had more time at my disposal, I'd try to be much more active. I hope I can eventually.

 

[nina]

I'd say kinktalk is much more active then getdare from my perspective. Also I tend to be more active here. It's probably a result of the fact that I feel much more welcome here.

That makes two of us who feel that.

 

[nina]

I think that due to our way of thinking we slowly start to scare off the one day flies.

way of thinking?

 

[Lilly131]

This is something I have noticed and is in part why I have hardly been on here. For one thing I find the users who are here more regularly don’t seem to be close to age with me which is ok for the most part and helpful when I am learning about things but sometimes means I feel a little out of place. Also most of the things I have seen on the areas I am interested in have been things that don’t appeal to me personally either because of orientation or because there seems to be heaps of sub threads asking for tasks and I am also a sub. I mean it is fine for people to do that but I think it does make it hard for doms to know who is going to stick around but then as a flow on some people may have stuck around but don’t because they don’t get and replies. I have also been ridiculously busy and I find it hard to keep up with the level of activity required to get any interaction from people on here. But lately I have only been checking here maybe once a month and 80% of the posts I see seem to have been here for months with nothing new.

 

[Lilly131]

Oh also the spamming of my inbox with ‘’do you have kik’’ Every time I come on here is super off putting.

 

[Doctor Pervert]

These are some great points, @dutchjustme you're right in that so many of the exposers were only active for a day or two at most. But that seems to be a problem in general, we have many people joining who never come back after they join. Given they can view posts before joining I can only assume its because they want to view something in the media gallery?
Your comments @Lilly131 are interesting, as I've mentioned previously the number of young people joining (under 25's) outnumber all other ages put together so why aren't there more active young people on the site? Maybe it's because like you they don't see any active young people to interact with? This of course leads to the chicken and egg situation.
Your experiences with the "got kik" pm's is also unfortunately all too common and I honestly wish people would stop thinking it has any chance of working.

 

[bee9]

For one thing I find the users who are here more regularly don’t seem to be close to age with me which is ok for the most part and helpful when I am learning about things but sometimes means I feel a little out of place.

BTW I couldn't see your age in your profile.

P.S. Nevermind, found.

P.P.S. So are most people here younger or older than you?

 

[nina]

Yeah as in exposure stuff most people into kink coming here in the past where mostly looking for exposure. And after trying it a day or two they quit and got scared. Look how many exposure posts have only dots after a few days.

Yes I agree, that is why I say one of the problems is that a big chunk sees kinktalk only as a secondary forum or add on facility to post nudes and kt has to overcome this perception.

For one thing I find the users who are here more regularly don’t seem to be close to age with me which is ok for the most part and helpful when I am learning about things but sometimes means I feel a little out of place.

I agree most that post seem older or atleast millennials like me, I think it would be great to see some post millennial specific topics also, the statistics are on your side

BTW I couldn't see your age in your profile.

P.S. Nevermind, found.

P.P.S. So are most people here younger or older than you?

So are you interested in this discussion or just her age..lol

 

[Lilly131]

I do see some young people on here but it is mostly in like the personals section and that type of thing and I never really go there cause it isn’t what I come here for. I also think it can be hard because the language here feels a bit older because it tends to be more formal than people my age use when online. So maybe it looks older but it is just how people are writing. But also lately if I am honest I have been slightly avoiding this site because of the creepy messages I have got the last few times. I mean I get that this site is about connecting with people on some level but it can get creepy when people send messages to you that are kind of rude or forceful in nature. Some people have sent messages demanding things of me when I have never even seen them on here before. Others pretend to listen to one thing I said a month ago only they misunderstand and then end up doing the exact thing I said I found annoying. It makes me feel uncomfortable so often I just leave here so I don’t have to reply.

 

[nina]

I do see some young people on here but it is mostly in like the personals section and that type of thing and I never really go there cause it isn’t what I come here for. I also think it can be hard because the language here feels a bit older because it tends to be more formal than people my age use when online. So maybe it looks older but it is just how people are writing. But also lately if I am honest I have been slightly avoiding this site because of the creepy messages I have got the last few times. I mean I get that this site is about connecting with people on some level but it can get creepy when people send messages to you that are kind of rude or forceful in nature. Some people have sent messages demanding things of me when I have never even seen them on here before. Others pretend to listen to one thing I said a month ago only they misunderstand and then end up doing the exact thing I said I found annoying. It makes me feel uncomfortable so often I just leave here so I don’t have to reply.

I agree, the language could also seem that way because people here are from all over the world and many of us are not native English speakers. But, I get your point, the younger ones are generally only active in the personal sections, and the pm spammers are a big problem, and they are so non existent in the forums that I have honestly also wondered just like you on receiving such PM's, where these usernames suddenly popped up from..lol