Site Not Helpful For Finding Friends — General Discussion on True Nudists

Jim ShortsOriginal Poster

Oct 20, 2015

I've been a member here for awhile now, and I know that some of the problem has to do with my locale, but I haven't found this site very helpful in locating nudist friends. There's all kinds of road blocks set up by people. Do you know of another site (not swinging) that might be helpful?

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Steve
Oct 20, 2015
I'm a member of several. But this one is the best you'll find. It's US based, hetero-male friendly (moreso than most, believe it or not, and not set up to exploit people) and huge, even given that a lot of profiles are inactive. I share your frustration, but I think it's not the site, it's the general problem of transitioning from online to real-world interactions, never easy - particularly when one lives in a thinly populated area.
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DE
DesertRat
Oct 20, 2015
Everybody say they want to make new friends, but in reality people are very skeptical. I've contacted people on this site and have invited them to nudist events but I know their thinking is that everyone else besides them is a weirdo, so they are very reluctant to attend. We have some very good friends who we've met on this site but getting them to come to their first event was a real chore. Like I said they were very skeptical and we were "weird" but they gathered the courage to attend and guess what? They loved it! They loved the people and the fun times and now you couldn't beat them away wit a stick. They are friends forever. I'm not just talking about one couple here as this scenario has played out several times. It's discouraging but I keep plugging away and inviting people to be open and check us out. Maybe everyone else isn't so weird after all. DesertRat.
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ME
Member
Oct 20, 2015
I've found a few new 'friends' in the local area by joining the local club. You go to a few of their published outings / events and get to know the crew. If it's a smaller group, I suspect it would work better. Good luck. John.
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JS
Jim ShortsOriginal Poster
Oct 20, 2015
[quote]I've found a few new 'friends' in the local area by joining the local club. You go to a few of their published outings / events and get to know the crew. If it's a smaller group, I suspect it would work better. Good luck. John.
[/quote]John, the problem I have with that is that there are no local clubs, facilities, etc. where I'm at.
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StevieLorna
Oct 20, 2015
Sorry to hear you have nothing local Jim, I think it's easier to make real friends by meeting them face to face rather than from a website, a local club or holiday resort is best.

Just had a look at your profile, you seem to have found some friends, judging by the pics on your profile.

S
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MI
Mike
Oct 20, 2015
I suppose it has a lot to do with expectations and responsiveness.I certainly have a number of online TN friends and a small number of those with whom I have been very fortunate to spend some quality time. Sometimes the opportunities are there if we are open yo them and ready to fake a step in that direction.
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JO
John
Oct 20, 2015
Jim, I totally apprciate your frustration. I seek genuine folks as well and they are hard to come by for all kinds of legitimate reasons. It takes work but it can be done. I have made some friends through this site.
Just curious why you have pictures posted from the internet without explaining the connection to your profile? This might be a red flag for some.
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Raven
Oct 21, 2015

OK i made an few friends here but shock they like other things then sit around saying naked naked naked nude nude nude nude Florida all day we talk about video games amiibos and other stuff. must people are for an phone sex internet booty call. its about looks ask the girls...oh wait....
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ME
Member
Oct 21, 2015
[quote]Sorry to hear you have nothing local Jim, I think it's easier to make real friends by meeting them face to face rather than from a website, a local club or holiday resort is best.[/quote]
+1 on StevieLorna's responce. You are in a tough part of the country to meet other nudists. Your best bet is to take a trip to a nudist venue and hopefully make some acquaintances. And your wife not being a naturist isn't going to help your cause either I'm afraid.
I agree with the other poster too in that this is probably the best site out there for meet up potential given the sheer numbers on here even though a vast number are fake. We too belong to a few other sites and have met the most people in person from this site. Living in the heavily populated northeast US is certainly a help. The odds of being able to meet others here are just better.

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ME
Member
Oct 21, 2015
Met a lot of neat people in here over the past few years. Talked to some on the phone and webcam, I believe if it wasn't where we live there would be a whole lot of get togethers. Many live in our own state but still 100 miles away. With work, kids and busy life for so many it's not easy or doable.
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DesertRat
Oct 21, 2015
[quote]I've found a few new 'friends' in the local area by joining the local club. You go to a few of their published outings / events and get to know the crew. If it's a smaller group, I suspect it would work better. Good luck. John.
[/quote]The key here is that John made the move to check out the publicized outings. He didn't wait for a personal invitation or someone to take him by the hand. He made the move himself. We advertise our events all the time but if no one has the motivation to attend, they will never join us. We can't make them come.
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Jim ShortsOriginal Poster
Oct 22, 2015
[quote]Then I suggest creating your own nudist group. MeetUp.com is great at that.[/quote]I have created my own non-landed group here twice. The first time, it didn't get very much participation online, and it got none offline. I didn't promote it, either. This time, I started Texas Naturists here and on Facebook, and I will promote them, if they sustain themselves financially. I'm going to put a site up at TexasNaturists.com (I think that's the address I purchased) as soon as I have time, and hopefully that will generate revenue. Right now, I'm launching two other sites, and that's not the highest priority one.
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JS
Jim ShortsOriginal Poster
Oct 22, 2015
[quote]Sorry to hear you have nothing local Jim, I think it's easier to make real friends by meeting them face to face rather than from a website, a local club or holiday resort is best.

Just had a look at your profile, you seem to have found some friends, judging by the pics on your profile.

S[/quote]Those pics aren't of friends, unless you're talking about the ones in my friends list. Also, I'm talking about friends that I can hang out with in the dirt world not just cyber world. I should have been more clear.
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JS
Jim ShortsOriginal Poster
Oct 22, 2015
[quote]Jim, I totally apprciate your frustration. I seek genuine folks as well and they are hard to come by for all kinds of legitimate reasons. It takes work but it can be done. I have made some friends through this site.
Just curious why you have pictures posted from the internet without explaining the connection to your profile? This might be a red flag for some.[/quote]I don't know why that would be a red flag, but I have had some negative feedback. I thought it would be good to show that I'm genuinely interested in the naturist lifestyle by posting photos of people doing things that I would also enjoy doing as well. You're right that some people are going to have a negative reaction to them, but if they're that negative and have such knee jerk reactions, unlike yourself, I don't want to hang out with them, anyway.
You've been a good friend and very understanding, and I appreciate it a lot.
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JO
John
Oct 22, 2015
[quote][quote]Jim, I totally apprciate your frustration. I seek genuine folks as well and they are hard to come by for all kinds of legitimate reasons. It takes work but it can be done. I have made some friends through this site.
Just curious why you have pictures posted from the internet without explaining the connection to your profile? This might be a red flag for some.[/quote]I don't know why that would be a red flag, but I have had some negative feedback. I thought it would be good to show that I'm genuinely interested in the naturist lifestyle by posting photos of people doing things that I would also enjoy doing as well. You're right that some people are going to have a negative reaction to them, but if they're that negative and have such knee jerk reactions, unlike yourself, I don't want to hang out with them, anyway.
You've been a good friend and very understanding, and I appreciate it a lot.
[/quote]
Generally, the genuine members here only post pictures of themselves and their friends and personal experiences. Just a suggestion if you want to go with the flow.
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StevieLorna
Oct 23, 2015
Jim, if I saw one of our pics on your profile I'd be very pissed off.
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Jim ShortsOriginal Poster
Oct 23, 2015
[quote]Jim, if I saw one of our pics on your profile I'd be very pissed off. [/quote]Why and which ones? They are nudists enjoying the same nudist activities that I would enjoy. If people are that negative and close minded, I'm not sure I would want to befriend them anyway. Also, if I had no photos except my main one of myself, that would also piss some people off. I can't please everyone all of the time.
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JS
Jim ShortsOriginal Poster
Oct 23, 2015
[quote][quote][quote]Jim, I totally apprciate your frustration. I seek genuine folks as well and they are hard to come by for all kinds of legitimate reasons. It takes work but it can be done. I have made some friends through this site.
Just curious why you have pictures posted from the internet without explaining the connection to your profile? This might be a red flag for some.[/quote]I don't know why that would be a red flag, but I have had some negative feedback. I thought it would be good to show that I'm genuinely interested in the naturist lifestyle by posting photos of people doing things that I would also enjoy doing as well. You're right that some people are going to have a negative reaction to them, but if they're that negative and have such knee jerk reactions, unlike yourself, I don't want to hang out with them, anyway.
You've been a good friend and very understanding, and I appreciate it a lot.
[/quote]
Generally, the genuine members here only post pictures of themselves and their friends and personal experiences. Just a suggestion if you want to go with the flow.[/quote]I understand that, John, and I appreciate your insight. The problem is, I have no photos of myself enjoying living nude, but I suppose I could take some selfies. Of course, if I were to be able to make some friends that were willing to take the photos, then that would solve the problem. I've only made one local friend who hangs out in the nude, and we've been friends for years. He's in Lubbock, but I'll drive there when it's warm, and he can take some photos.
Also, some of the 'resorts' I've been looking at have a strict "no cameras" policy, so it would be hard to get photos of myself there.
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JS
Jim ShortsOriginal Poster
Oct 23, 2015
[quote]I've been a member here for awhile now, and I know that some of the problem has to do with my locale, but I haven't found this site very helpful in locating nudist friends.Â There's all kinds of road blocks set up by people.Â Do you know of another site (not swinging) that might be helpful?
[/quote] I really don't understand the obsession with photos. Either I have too many, not enogh, the wrong kind or whatever. The naturist lifestyle isn't about photo sharing no more so than it is about swinging or hooking up. Pictures of me posing on a bed, in front of a bathroom mirror, etc., would be stupid, and they would not depict the lifestyle or belief system. And, if I posted such, I would be criticized for them as well. The lifestyle isn't about exhibitionism, showing ones crotch or butt to the world. Such depictions make us all look stupid and give the lifestyle a bad reputation.
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StevieLorna
Oct 24, 2015
The point that I and others are trying to make is those pictures do not belong to you and you do not have permission from the people in those pictures to use on your profile.

If you can not, see that it is wrong, then perhaps this is the reason you are finding it difficult to make friends.
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GS
GSNPhil
Oct 24, 2015
[quote]I really don't understand the obsession with photos. -snip- The naturist lifestyle isn't about photo sharing no more so than it is about swinging or hooking up. Pictures of me posing on a bed, in front of a bathroom mirror, etc., would be stupid, and they would not depict the lifestyle or belief system.[/quote] Thank you. I was beginning to think I was the only nudist on the web that thinks this way. Seems to me, the primary purpose of a profile photo is so people can recognize you when they meet you. And people in general, nudists included, recognize each other by their face, and, less reliably, by overall body form. Not genitalia. There's certainly nothing wrong with incidental depiction of genitalia in photos but, I agree with you, I don't see the point of focusing on it anymore than an ear or an elbow or a belly button. It's just another body part that serves no purpose in recognition. Granted, photos showing you engaged in a hobby or other interest might be helpful in letting people know who you are. Especially people who won't read the "My Interests" section.

As far as the red flag issue, forum readers should know by now that your profile is not a fake. No fake would put as much effort into posting legitimate messages as you do. However, only a small percentage of the TN membership reads the forums. Sometimes I wonder if the larger percentage reads anything at all. I think they just look at pictures. lol! And since the one thing all fake profiles have in common is photos of anyone but themselves, eventually, profile photos from the web have become a red flag, even when they're posted to a legitimate profile. So I think you made a good move by getting rid of them.

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JS
Jim ShortsOriginal Poster
Oct 25, 2015
[quote] The point that I and others are trying to make is those pictures do not belong to you and you do not have permission from the people in those pictures to use on your profile.

If you can not, see that it is wrong, then perhaps this is the reason you are finding it difficult to make friends.
[/quote]I guess I look at things from an Internet marketing/webmaster point of view. If people don't want their pictures shared, they would watermark and/or copyright them. Some might not ever even post them online for privacy reasons, and I think a lot of people on this site are that way. They live the lifestyle and believe in it, and they are no less naturist just because they don't post photos of themselves. They just value their privacy and security especially online. The opposite of which, of course, is to post photos of oneself naked anywhere and everywhere online. If people do that, I don't think they mind if the photos are used by others. This is evidenced by the thousands of photos in the gallery section, although many of those are pilfered from other sites. Again, if the webmasters or owners didn't want the photos to be shared, they wouldn't release them.

Anyway, posting more, less or no photos doesn't make anyone more or less a naturist; it seems to me.
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