A reminder: Why I left in the first place

Jena said:

Sid said:

To be fair, taking the T across Boston takes about an hour. At least it did for me, but then again I lived in Allston on the other side of the BU stops...

But yeah, I travel all over in order to meet SGs and members. Hell, I've flown 4 hours to hang out with the fabulous Alyk, cause I'd very much rather see her than my own family!

You have to put in effort to make friends, this site is what you put into it, the opportunities are there, etc.

Paisley said:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

Some of you (though not you, Beppo) are being really hostile to me when I was just trying to present another perspective. I'm not whining, I'm just trying to explain. If I where whining, it'd be more like "zomg this site sux no one likes me " Don't associate me with Mr. Hostile FrankMask up there, please. It's hard to get intonation on the internet, yeah, but I feel like y'all keep misinterpreting what I say to be way more uptight than I mean it to be (hence my earlier "chiiiiiiilll" ).

So if I can summarize what the last bajillion responders kept repeating:

You have to put in effort to make friends, this site is what you put into it, the opportunities are there, etc.

I think that's abundantly clear. I thought it was abundantly clear when I said it. Message: recieved. Super. Awesome. Thanks for clarifying. Got it. Cool. And I'm glad this site means so much to so many of you. I think the internet is a great tool in that way, opening up new venues for meeting like-minded people. Congratulations. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go look at some hot chicks before my membership expires.

this isn't the sort of community I, personally, am looking for. It's a virtual community, albeit a strong one; I want a real-life community.

DevilsReject said:
I've made friends both in real life and people i only talk to on the innernets.

I belong to many social-networking sites, this is by far my favorite. Not because of the tits, labia (labi i?), and spread teh legz, but mostly because i continuously run across people, that aren't even in my regional group that i completely want to meet in real life, and i hope that one day i get the chance to.

I think the reason i continue to stay is the potential of more friendships happening. I would love to travel to Portland sometime to meet all the great people up there and possibly lose my manginity to MisterSatan or perhaps Atomicant. The same goes for Boston, LA, San Diego, and many other places. Hell Cash and i don't see eye to eye on everything, and i would still like to meet him sometime, just for the conversation we'd have. If i give up this site, i lose that potential. That and i generally have a good internet-experience reading things in my groups, owning groups and on the boards. I enjoy my time spent here, mostly because that's what i have made of it.

I didn't sit here and dwell on what wasn't working for me. I don't necessarily agree with everything SG does, but in the same note, it's not my responsibility to tell someone else how to run their business, i have enough trouble running my own. The day Missy and Sean private message me and ask me for my personal opinion is the day i start taking how it's run seriously, i don't ever see that happening.

I think SG has possibly hit it's peak, but i don't see it disappearing anytime soon even if it possibly is on the downside of it's popularity curve, there are enough people here that will keep it alive for a long time.

Coyotemike said:
What exactly is supposed to change? Make it harder to join?

You must now pass the `I'm worth of visiting SG' exam as part of the membership application.

Question 1: Are you awesome enough to be on SG?
Question 2: Do you really think you're awesome enough?
Question 3: Have you been a member of SG for less than 5 years?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, you may not join.

FrankMask said:
As the number of Suicide Girls increased it became harder to grok each person as an individual.

Nudity is cheap, porn is free and universally available. The value wasn't in the nudity and it wasn't in the tattoos. It wasn't in the quality of the photography or the subjective aesthetic appeal of the individual women.

Instead, the value was in the interaction with approachable and unique individuals. Seeing a person as a symbol of sexuality, and interacting with them as an individual provided a unique product. Nudity and porn are available free, but the individual is lost entirely and replaced with a symbol. Being able to see the person as a symbol while interacting with them as an individual was a unique combination. When combined with the quality of discussion in the community forums and the capacity for community organization in the groups Suicide Girls possessed a clear value as a unique product.

As the number of SGs and members began to increase dramatically it became more difficult to interact with and approach individuals as individuals. The increase in membership correlated with an apparent decrease in quality of the community aspects, the forums especially. The rapidly increasing number of models made approaching any new model as a unique individual somewhat more difficult. Old models and friends began to drop out. Personal and professional issues between SG Inc., it's members, and it's models came into the public sphere, and the actions of the various groups involved undermined an important part of SGs advertising; that SG Inc. was actively creating a community that was concerned more with community, empowerment of women, and breaking down of objectifying, dehumanizing, or destructive sexual products than it was with the pursuit of profit for profits sake. With the understanding that their was no altruistic social justice motive to the business Suicidegirls immediately lost an important element of it's appeal.

The continual attrition of early Suicidegirls and members and the enormous influx of new Suicidegirls and Members rapidly changed the nature of the community at a pace that was difficult for some established members to follow. The appearance of many competeing alternaporn sites removed the monopoly of novelty. The emergence and wide adoption of social networking sites reduced the importance of the social networking aspect of suicidegirls.

In the end, the products offered by SG at cost could be found for free or at reduced cost in other venues, the community value was absent or severely diluted, and SG had lost the very valuable image of a progressive organization with a social justice and underground culture agenda that was advanced as being more important than profit. Ultimately, the product was no longer worth the price.

Morgan said:
SG has never claimed to be about social justice or about "breaking down objectifying" (I don't even know what that means). SG never said "we care more about saving the world and little puppies than we do about profit". It's a nude porn site, not a nonprofit.

D_FENS said:

I hate to beat the same drum (in a non gay way) but that third question IS relevant in the case of being a part of any site related groups. If you answer no to that, don't waste your time. I have literally been told that my opinion wasn't equal to any of the group owners friends opinions because of my time as a member. Sounds pretty intelligent, huh? Pastry/coffee chefs with power...lol.

Damn, you can't say shit on here without everyone tearing you apart word by word.
[...]
t's very elitist at times for a site that builds itself up as a fun "we're the crazy, free thinking, tattooed, pierced up, artist, nobody understands us" crowd.

It's been my experience that the whole SG ride I've taken has been a very elitist and snobbish ride through a nazi like regime.

I hate to beat the same drum (in a non gay way)

Tiger_Fodder said:
Before this dies or gets locked I have to have my say:

Now this thread can die happy!

Ladie said:
Next time, go with 2 girls 1 cup.

Paisley said:

Look what you've done. Now it's still going again.

Mr_Mocata said:

+1

When I joined the site, SG claimed simply that it was about "gothic pin-up girls, punk, indie and emo chicks". I don't remember anything about saving the world and little puppies!!