We've recently joined up to SH and can confirm that while we were non paying members, we could not respond to messages, participate in forum posts or get into the chat in any way.
We couldn't send friend requests or anything, so the comment about it being purely a "perve" was right on the money.
Whilst we did choose SH over the competing sites, the only reason for this was because we took the time to read through alot of the forum posts. This showed us that the members here were much more our sort of crowd....
It's a shame because the people on here really make the place, and we have certainly benefited in only a week from members who are more then happy to share their experiences and stories, along with some really handy advice about the upcoming Saints and Sinners.
When we were looking around and considering other options, Red Hot Pie ( wonder if admin will strike that out!) are putting alot of effort into competing....they have 3 or 4 sites that pull 'swingers' in using local bars or clubs and all direct you straight back to RHP. They are even sponsoring events and house parties locally to drum up support/business.
On RHP sites you can receive messages and participate in most functions of the site without means that paying member can still contact others and at least gain some information about whether they are interested etc.
Our only reason for not chosing RHP was that within 24 hours of joining, despite having a 'no single guys' and 'we only play together' message on our profile we were bombarded with messages that weren't what we are looking for at all......
I hope you all get this sorted, its you guys, the paying members that have created the community that is drawing people in the door so to speak, you should have some say in how new members are introduced.....
just our thoughts....
Loralie