What should this site be?

[Ed]

I’m beginning to wonder if I’m trying too hard to please everyone and am ending up not pleasing anyone?

The Naked Experiments are the core of the site, the reason for its existence, but when I originally set up NakedExperiment.com, I was looking to attract as many people as possible with various interests in the theme of nudity in the hope that some subset of those could be persuaded to take part in the experiment sessions.

I hoped I could build things up until I was running one experiment session per week with reports available from all of them and videos from a few too. Things, as you know, have not gone to that plan:

• The community isn’t great for attracting people who want to take part in experiments. Recently the experiment reports themselves have led to far more people applying to take part than the community site has.
• I’m struggling to get 3 experiments per year done. Nowhere near 1 per week.
• Very few people are willing to be recorded (for publication) and, so far, no women at all have consented to that. Some groups have even refused to consent to a written report being published. Most people are extremely concerned that they will be identified by people who know them.
• Too many people think the community is something other than it is. They join, take part for a week or so and then send me an angry message and leave. I’ve never ever claimed this is some kind of nudist community. I’ve tweaked the descriptions and About page so many times, I can’t remember what’s on them now, but I know I have often stated that nudists probably won’t find anything here for them.
• I’ve never resolved the clash between people who come here just to see nudity (usually just one sex) and those who just want to be seen naked. Those who want to be seen are almost exclusively male and those who want to see nudity mostly only want to see female nudity. Those things don’t fit together.

I don’t want to commit to a huge revamp of the site again, it’s a huge workload, but are there any tweaks to the structure of the community that might improve things. I am, in many ways, restricted by the capabilities and options available within the server script, but there are usually ways of doing many things.

 

What do you think is vital to the community? What do you think could be cut? What would you like to see changed or added?

Bamaswitch likes this

[Anonymous]

I’m going to be offline for a couple of weeks (nothing personal!) but here are some quick thoughts:

For the experiments, I was originally attracted to the community by the thought of seeing (and hopefully participating in) the experiments and I assumed they’d include men and women. For participation, the reality is that I’m extremely unlikely to ever be in the right place at the right time.  I’m surprised people don’t want “theirs” to be written about. Maybe it would help if they were shown them before publication to check that enough personal details have been changed.

I don’t know why people get angry. They can see quite a bit of the site for free, and the KoFi options aren’t expensive, so if they don’t like it, just move on. If I go to a cafe and don’t enjoy it, I just don’t go back. If they’re friendly enough I might tell them that it was a lovely cafe but not for me personally because (insert actual reason here) (cake too small, coffee too weak, chairs too packed in, music too loud, whatever)

About seeing and being seen, I like both, and this community provides both. My (hopefully permitted) current profile image is me, and I like it when others post their pictures. Even the very few pictures that I don’t like very much can start a conversation going. I probably could describe myself as a naturist (not sure about nudist) and nothing here conflicts with that. It’s not as if we’re pretending this is a naturist site until people get through the door and then we bombard them with genitals.

I seem to be writing longer posts these days. I must enjoy the chance to chat about part of my life that most friends and family wouldn’t be interested in, so I’d want to keep the discussion forum going. I like the blog videos – would it be easy/useful to add a forum for discussing them? I like the dares and the vote-off competitions, though I admit I don’t currently participate in them. Looking at the vote-off instructions, the final close-up photo seems to conflict with the rule about no genital closeups, and maybe means more with male photos than it would with female ones, so I’d drop that final photo personally.

The only other change I’d make is what I’ve said before, and I still know nothing whatsoever about design, but the colouring, the typeface on the front page, and the skin background all look incredibly masculine to me. Maybe a colour palette taken from a wild flower meadow would be more inclusive, or maybe it’s just me. Nobody else has ever said it!!

Gary and Ed like this

[Ed]

Participants do see the report before it’s published (to check), but I don’t write it until they agree to publishing. It takes about a week of work (3-4 weeks of evenings) to write each one up. I simply can’t dedicate that kind of time if I can’t publish it.

The issue with people getting angry has got worse over time. I don’t know whether people are angrier or just more likely to take the time to complain?

 

I agree with your comments about the closeups in the vote-offs but it saved Vote-Off #3 as some participants would have dropped out without it. During the discussions for #4 and (I believe) #5, I suggested dropping it but it seemed to be the most popular photo amongst participants. Right now, I suspect the Vote-Offs are about to be dropped anyway. They are a lot of work for a diminishing return.

The pastels, pinks (and skin tone) and the tan shades were chosen by two women to appeal to women. The original colour scheme was blues and greys, but I was told that was too masculine. Would greens work better?

 

I have to admit I have zero understanding of how fonts can be masculine or feminine. I just divide them into easy-to-read and hard-to-read. I prefer san serif fonts like Arial but everyone else (I keep being told) find serif fonts softer and easier to read.

[Gary]

I thought Vote Off #5 was a done-deal with minimal stress… now seems it’s only me that wants to take part (I quite enjoyed taking part in VO4).

I quite like the fonts (easy to read) but I’m with @Ed about masculine/feminine fonts).

Got to say that (on my screens and phone) I’d thought the colours to be more earthy than skin, but I can see the “skin tones” now they are mentioned, but I definitely DON@T see “pinks” anywhere.

 

[Ed]

The solid background colour for the panels in the forum is an orange-tinted pink colour. Of course, the exact hue will depend on the reproduction of your screen.

 

I too thought #5 was a done-deal. We had four definite participants lined up and a possible female 5th too.

[Ed]

I’ve been told the background colour for the forum panels is “peach”.

[Kerry]

It would be fun to have some sort of game of chance on here where your clothes are the price for losing. I would be willing to wager ALL of my clothes.

Bamaswitch and Ed like this

[Ed]

Like the Vote-Offs but with random selection (eg a die roll) instead?

, Bamaswitch and Kerry like this

[Ed]

Might that (completely?) undermine the vote-offs?

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[Ed]

My original plan included separate areas for voyeurs and exhibitionists, then I realised that they could actually fit together very well. It seemed that a community of people who like being seen naked would be very popular with a community who like to see people naked.

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[1boredman]

It would great if you could add pictures to messages. Or is that already possible and I’m just being obtuse (blame the heat! 🥵🥵🥵🥵)

Gary likes this

[Gary]

It’s the “Choose File” button just below this box 😉

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

, and Ed like this

[1boredman]

Yep, got that….but is there any way to attach pictures in private messages?

[Ed]

No. The script that runs this site doesn’t have that as an option.

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[1boredman]

That’s a shame.

[Ed]

There’s some pressure to switch off the private messaging system as it seems to be the biggest enabler of male members hassling female members.

[1boredman]

I think you’d lose a significant number of users if the private mail function was switched off? Just my opinion!

Ed and Gary like this

[Gary]

I agree.

Can you stop messages from Men to Women unless they are replying?

Or allow members to switch off receiving  PMs?

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[Ed]

Haven’t we already discussed this? Private messages are either ON or OFF, there’s n in between and no other options.

You can ignore private messages, just don’t take any notice of the count incrementing.

Gary likes this

[Gary]

I think you’re right @Ed, been done to death and we either accept and appreciate that you run this site for us and that has cost constraints – or we go somewhere else.

That said, I’ve never really found anywhere else that feels like this community, so I’m going nowhere

Ed likes this

[Ed]

It was because I couldn’t find anywhere else that I created this community.

I’m not a programmer. I’m just using off-the-shelf scripts.

Gary likes this

[Since1980]

I’m guessing based on a quick view-source check you are using buddypress.  Have you looked into other plugins to the site. Buddy press appears to have a plugin related to private messages. Search up the following in Google it should help. Plugin gives options for admin or user to be able to control who can send PM’s. Not sure if that’s definitely same thing but if it is could be a good work around to the issue.
<h3>Plugin – BuddyPress Restrict Messages</h3>

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[Ed]

Yes, but not recently. I’ve tried two PM plugins but neither worked (one broke the site). I’ve already got WAY too many plugins and have suffered from so many clashes between plugins over the years, I’m nervous about upsetting the equilibrium that has taken so long to achieve.

I should have another look.

[Since1980]

No worries was just a thought. I agree with the just ignore it message to people. You know who your friends are on the site only open PM’s from them.

 

I think we have to accept that the site is what it is and it will attract a few people who will abuse it.

Sometimes in this life we want everything done for us where as actually we can look after things for ourselves. Like was said earlier just ignore the spam, delete the trash and only open messages from friends.

Ed likes this

[Ed]

I think we got a little sidetracked onto private messages. I’m more concerned with the fundamentals of the site’s subject area.

[David]

Understand ed. I don’t think i fit – that’s not a criticism of the site.

The experiments would be more my thing, but i not really the target subject as i’ve worked nude,  performed nude, participated nude, etc already.

The dare list is really for people starting out.

The forums, i dont want be that guy  who says been there, done that – as that doesnt help with building the community either. Nobody likes that kind of person.

You could try a few polls. See what visitors want.

Gary and Ed like this

[Ed]

Don’t worry about not fitting in @ibi2004, I suspect the majority here overlap in interest at best.

I need to know what to ask before I can create a poll.

[Gary]

Hi @david – Don’t worry about what you’ve already done/not done.  As long as you’re not going to be “I’m better than you because…” you’ll be fine

btw Your comment above really says that you’re NOT.

I’ve done a lot of the challenges, so has @martin, but doesn’t mean we’ve done it all or that we don’t want to see or read other peoples’ experiences.  That’s what we’re all about, plus reading about what others have done/are doing has encouraged me to try more outside nudity – so tell all – Please

Ed likes this

[Anonymous]

As Ed and Gary say, Don’t worry about not fitting in @ibi2004. There are a wide range of interests, backgrounds, experiences here and that’s a big part of the site’s attraction. We all have our own naked experiences, and we have ideas about things we might want to try out but haven’t yet. Thinking back to a discussion from a few years ago, there was someone who couldn’t pluck up the courage to walk naked through his own house, discussing attitudes to nakedness with someone who regularly appeared as a naked “extra” in films. My own attitude depends on what mood I’m in. Some days, I’ll happily walk naked around my garden or a nearby quiet park, and love every minute of it. Another day, I can’t see the point of even having a coffee naked by myself in the kitchen. One day, I’ll worry about being seen, the next day I’ll let it all hang out – if anyone is offended, it’s their fault for looking.

Paul and Ed like this

[Ed]

I’m going to bump this discussion as it didn’t really reach a conclusion.

 

What did you EXPECT this community to be? Did it live up to your expectation?

Paul likes this

[Anonymous]

I expected it to be about the experiments – reading about them, seeing photos of them, hopefully participating in them, discussing them. Instead, I found a community where we could talk about each other’s naked experiences, ideas, plans, fantasies etc in a place that felt safe and welcoming. I’ve used it to offload, and try to understand, some of my past naked experiences that feel a bit odd these days, but it’s also given me the inspiration to try out new experiences and dares that I would never have done without this community. It’s always interesting to hear the different attitudes to nakedness that people have, whether it’s about erotic stuff, or freedom, or protest, or mischief, or a way of paying the bills, or all of the above, or whatever.

If I had a magic wand, more people would stay around for longer, and female members would be more active in the discussions – getting naked isn’t currently, as far as I know, a condition of membership, and people who just want to chat are welcome. If I had an even more powerful magic wand (or probably a large altar decked out with every possible magickal artifact) people would be falling over themselves to take part in experiments that would run all over the country, and we’d all be sending in pictures of our naked activities.

I imagine @ed wants to know how to work the magic, but unfortunately I have no ideas at the moment. My spells only work inside my head so I can’t even cultivate a few significant herbs with any actual benefit to the community. On a more practical level, perhaps we could look at successful mixed-gender photo/discussion groups to see what makes them tick. Call me an old cynic, though, but I suspect most of them are about selling us stuff, either directly through product placement or indirectly by harvesting data to target the advertising we see. Going back to thinking about this community, it’s the lack of commercial subterfuge that makes it attractive so we need to somehow crack the problem of marketing it without commercialising it in a damaging way.

Shaky, Ed and Paul like this

[Ed]

I’m wondering if I should rethink the way the whole concept is presented and focus it much more on one or two areas?

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[Gary]

The problem is finding those few core ideas.

Paul, Ed and like this

[Anonymous]

The experiments are probably the thing that sets us apart from other sites, but sadly they seem really hard to populate and organise. I did start to wonder if clubbing together to pay a couple of female actresses would work, but then I remind myself that a big part of the fun would be everyone’s sense of novelty and nervousness. Actresses could put on a very convincing show of that, but it would just be a show. On the other hand, I enjoy watching the naked performance videos where the audience gets drawn in a bit, so maybe an experiment including paid actresses would still feel challenging and daring, even if – in reality – they’d seen it all before.

Paul and Ed like this

[Anonymous]

Is “naked experiences” a closer fit than “naked experiments”?

I’m currently sitting here naked typing this. I forced myself into that situation a while ago by telling myself I’d strip when the jar of coffee was empty, which it nearly was this morning, so I just wore a dressing gown knowing I’d have to take it off at lunchtime. When the time came, I wasn’t in the mood for being naked – it wasn’t something I particularly wanted to do. When that’s happened before, I’ve cheated and allowed myself to get naked later in the day, sometimes with a forfeit like having to strip outside, but this time I made myself stand up, unfasten the belt, pluck up the courage, take the dressing gown off, and walk around the (fortunately currently empty) house.

As a fantasy, it would be a lot better – a very much lot better – if someone had ordered me to strip and made me do a forfeit if I was too slow, but there’s nobody around to do that, so the question is – what is the point of stripping naked if nobody has told me to and nobody knows? So I’m posting this message as a dare to myself

1. Strip completely naked as soon as the coffee jar is empty
2. (forfeit for nearly not doing it) Post on NE telling folks that I’ve done it

I guess nobody wanted to know any of this. It’s not very exciting news. If I took a photo it wouldn’t be attractive. But if one of the “core ideas” of the community is discussing naked experiences, that can be useful sometimes. I got naked. I’m mentioning it in the conversation. There aren’t many places to do that.

(Chatting at work…)

• “How was your weekend?”
• “It was good. I went to the park and asked a stranger to strip me naked”
• “Oh, that’s nice. I went shopping and bought some coffee.”

Ed and Paul like this

[Ed]

The working title for this website before I bought the domain name) was “ExperimentsInNudity.com”. That was too long and I needed something simpler. Names like “Naked.com” and “Nude.com” had obviously been long taken, so I came up with a compromise.

You’re right about the “experiences” thing, but I’m not changing the domain name. That would be a colossal amount of work (every link to this site from others would have to be changed for starters).

Paul and like this

[Ed]

I’ve got a loose plan for optimising the forums, but I’m not convinced it will make much difference overall. I’ll shrink the forum topics to focus the activity in a smaller area. This might aid navigation a little, but I think once someone understands the forum, getting around within it is fairly standard.

Someone has suggested (a few times!) that the right column should be on the left. Again, I don’t think it would make much difference to the ease of navigation and might draw attention away from the content.

Removing the groups worked well (and reduced workload too) but I’ve still got mixed feelings about the blog. It’s clearly drawing visitors to the community but I struggle to find enough content to post regularly. I worry that a chunk of the problems with lack of activity here generally is due to me having limited time to work here.

I’ve simplified the main menu (black bar across the top of the site) but reducing it further will mean hiding some of the options, and I’m not keen on that.

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[Author]

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