Came back for my now-weekly visit to sf. It used to be at least once a day, often more than that. I miss the days when sf was that relevant to my life.

I see that slavemastermark has found chat just as lacking in depth as I do. Admittedly, I've spent a total of about two hours in chat - one good chat with someone who has something to say, the rest just the hello, welcome, trivia that is characteristic of chatrooms.

And the forums are lacking in much also. I can see what has been going on by seeing just who posted what in the past week; the distance of time shows that not much has been going on.

Yes, the system seems a little more responsive this morning...and that is good news. So the webmistress' comment about speed having increased seems to be the case. GOOD!

Well, I'll update my status and get on with work. Y'all have a good week now....

Alan

i agree with most on here

and the status are redundant if it is always the same coments i try to keep mine intresting but also to the status relavance

i dont post on fourms much but doent mean i dont read an follow them and if Karaoke thinks of a good topic for discusion and dosent want to go to chat room were in my experiance it is manly hi hello w/b ect but little discused in open chat let them post here it is what fourms are for 

there not the preserve of a select few they are open to every member equaly , unless i have miss inturprtred 

chat is ok but it can be slow especily for uk members and it does get boring just seaing hello hi goodbye and no real discucions going on 

so that is my thoughts on subject now flood gates open along with a can of worms so come on lets discus stuf on forums as well . lets keep status relevent as certain members could just put ditto , and last but not least letrs chat in the chat room  

Well, another week, another coupla thousand. Oh hell, to break bread you gotta make bread.

Karaoke said:

"In v3, I'm pretty certain, the entry portal was through the media page from the title page same as now."

If memory serves, fora were stacked on the left (where the superfluous stuff about sf is now), with blogs below. You were presented with recent forum activity when you came to the sf home page...as well as recent blogs...and something more.

I will NOT get into the meaning of redundant.

Earlier, just before sf went down, I spent about 25 minutes in chat. Nothing was said that belonged in a forum message. I suppose I could have captured it all and posted it...just to make the point that CHAT DOES NOT REPLACE intelligent, thought-out, written discussion that goes on over days and weeks (which is NOT to say that all forum posts need to be made).

I did wander through the blogs and noticed that the webmistress finds that sf is slow and is working on the problem. she seemed to agree with my comment that slow web sites are not a good thing.

And with that, I think I will log off for another week. If anything happens that I need to know of, there's always e-mail

Y'all have fun, now.

Alan

i too miss the forums being on the frist page where you can see whats going on to !

slavekyra

I agree with the quiet girl that seeing the same status updates repeated daily reduces the value of having it on the front page.  There are only 5 slots for status updates currently shown there and I prefer to see new updates instead of reruns of someone's one line personal ad.

 i am not using it wrong verbose is wordy  (as in using to many words to describe the same thing) redundant is saying the same thing over n over n several people here are both redundant n verbose in thier status updates. but if you need to be right thats fine too...... be right, smiles im off to the mall ~~~~big smiles  

W/we are A/all horribly beautifully made

i meant the forums use to be right up front you didnt have to search for them.  N the redundant comment was about peoples status n i did not use it wrong per websters it means : "characterized by verbosity or unnecessary repetition in expressing ideas; prolix: a redundant style"

W/we are A/all horribly beautifully made

 W/we are A/all horribly beautifully made

the only thing i really really miss are the forums they disappear so quick because when people vote it takes it down on the list. i like the status i just hate when people are redundant.... Smiles

 W/we are A/all horribly beautifully made

Somehow I found the note that reminded me to come back today. whoopee.

If I recall correctly, v. 4 came into fulltime around July, and this is September. It may still be beta, but in three months, with evidently extensive development/testing prior to going live, it ought to be settled. The home page ought to be what it is going to be (and I hope that what it is, is NOT what it is going to be), and the speed issue ought to have been fixed. I hope that chat is not going to replace forums, for the reasons that Karaoke wrote in the post that began this thread...and because I don't much like chat.

Now I will go and enter chat and see whether there is anything going on. And then I likely will go away for another week, unless something happens.

Alan

While I do agree with a couple point Master1Alan had, namely the picture voting taking up the majority of the activities column, I have to say that I think on the whole hes wrong.

First off the pictures have always been what they are now, amature photographers taking and sharing pictures of their excusions in the lifestlye. To attack the pictures makes no sense, there has always been a selection of them on the home page, thats part of what SlaveFarm simply IS. While the dicussions are what keep people coming back, its usually the pictures that get their attention in the first place.

Secondly the blogs and forums still do seem alive, though admittedly not as much as they were before the switch, though I believe that has less to do with any deterioration and more to do with the switch and the recent decision to go to a Master/slave site than the previous omni-sexual site. The discussion is still there, and its getting more every day, you just have to give it time to grow and participate to help it along. Something I'll note alot of the detractors haven't been doing much of.

Third the speed issue. While I understand that the site may be comparatively slow, though I don't see it and I've got a a 5000$ bloody laptop, my question is this: does it really matter? In an age when things load almost instantaiously we seem to have trouble with a little thing called patience, even in the microscopic doses that are required on the internet. Lets say SlaveFarm is slow and you have to wait an extra .5 seconds, here's a thought BLINK! There now that time is used up. Even if its 5 seconds who cares, open another tab or window, take a drink, stretch, its five bloody seconds. Anyone who feels that the site's comparative slowness is a reason to bitch should take a minute and remember two words DIAL-UP.

For my fouth point I've saved what I feel to be the most important part, the meat market / fresh meat issue. I know some people have a serious issue with the fact that SlaveFarm doesn't have many unowned female slaves, and doesn't have a profile search feature and in esscense does not lend itself very well, or hardly at all to those who are looking for a slave. To these people I say simply this: thats because SlaveFarm isn't a personals site, The home page says and I quote "we are an online community for Maledom / Femsub Relationships". See that word there "relationships" that does not mean the same thing as "Personals". For those people who think that SlaveFarm should be about drawing in new unowned slaves and letting people browse through photos or profiles sending "I want to own you" messages to thouse who seem attractive, find a different site. What has always and still does make SlaveFarm one of the truly great and unique sites out there is the discussion and the fact that people, whether slave or dom, can come here without being hasseled and hit all the time and just make friends. Real friends too, people they can ask questions of and talk to about things, people who will help them and show them support. SlaveFarm isn't about drawing in fresh meat, its not about finding unowned slaves or meeting your Master, and its not about browsing profiles for your next online slave, its about Community, its right there on the home page, and thats what its always been about, freinds and dicussion and learning from one another.

As a final note I'd like to say this; V4 is still new, its not perfect and when its replaced it still won't be, but its good, its solid and I think when all is said and done it will be the best version to date.

If you feel so negative about the site and have no positive suggestions on how to improve a BETA version of what promises to become a very good site, then like the TV, which has an off switch, if you don't like what you see, kindly leave and let those who like the site enjoy it in peace!

"Mostly tired" but mostly tired of you and your attitude!

I agree with Karaoke, in this and in his initial post in this thread.

From my view, sf was most valuable for the forums where issues could be hashed out, discussed, dissected, fought over. Information could be requested and obtained. Now the forums are dead, driven out by a desire for instant gratification in chat...which leaves no trace. If you ain't there, then it didn't happen. And some of us have lives and can't (read WON'T) spend our lives in chat rooms hoping someone intelligent will come along and talk.

There were a lot of interesting people who used to come here who have gone because they did not come here to look at BDSM pictures and rate them. They came for discussion...(and not in chat, where half the letters are spent in welcoming and saying goodbye and how are you - all the little stuff that doesn't make for real discussion but simply makes people comfortable with each other).

Blogs used to be interesting (to a point). You could choose which blogs to read, knowing based on prior experience that some would not be worth your while, while others wrote interesting material. Most blogs are now pretty worthless other than to the writer and perhaps one other person. And they're all strung together, so that you page down until you see one that you recognize as having seen before...and then get out of there.

Now you see, entering sf, a big column on the left telling about sf. And then you see a big column telling you who voted on which picture; it's supposed to inform you also of what's going on in the forums (and the blogs?), but since most activity is confined to looking at pictures, that's about 90% of the center column.

And then there's the status column. YUCK! Such a waste of graphics space. Yes, it's a place for us to advertise ourselves, but there isn't much going on.

And then the pictures spread across the bottom. I've done BDSM photography, some of it actually good. I LIKE quality BDSM photography. I don't care for scene photography, snapshots, etc. Really, blue boobs are not attractive to me, along with a lot of other things that people seem to get off on. To each his own, I suppose.

There are Groups - which seem dead.

Frankly, there are very few female prospects for those of us seeking new slavegirls. Most of the girls here seem to be taken, those few who show up tell us nothing of themselves (no location, availability, desirability, etc.). And face it, that is one of the things sf ought to be doing - bringing us fresh meat.

sf is still intolerably SLOW. I have high-end computers, high-speed connections, so I KNOW it's on the sf end. Probably the reason has to do with intensive graphics use (pictures) and chat; both of these are heavy users of processor cycles.

sf v.4 has lost most of what I for one (among others I know, who have gone away) valued.

I am going to go away now. Just for a week. I won't see the responses, flames to this post for a week. I doubt sf will change in a week. But I'll try to remember to log in next Wednesday and decide whether I want to remain...a week at a time.

Y'all take care now.

Alan

What about posting an interesting topic your self? Maybe this could draw peoples attention. But PeJay is right - a lot of discussion has moved into the videochat room.

But start a discussion at the forum - a nice topic should be able to draw peoples attention.

I will suggest it next time I am there and an interesting topic comes up!

A great deal of that sort of discussion, now happens in the chatroom, rather than the fora.

AGREED!!!

Mostly tired,

Alan