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Are local groups dying out? - 4/22/2006 2:21:37 PM

Proprietrix

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Joined: 7/15/2005
From: Ohio/West Virginia
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I'm seeing a trend of local groups fading away. I know personally, I've seen many local groups just fall apart due to politics and cliques. 3 years ago Ohio used to have a local group within an hour's drive no matter where you lived. Now, I can count the local groups on one hand. The public dungeon in Cleveland has no website anymore. Hell, even OLF, Ohio's big gathering each year, fizzled out and the website redirects people to alt.com now.

When I pull up a search engine, and start looking for local groups, I find a LOT of broken links, groups closed down, shorter and shorter lists, lists that haven't been updated since 2001, etc.... Hell, sometimes the main hub lists of groups are even gone (like the Mid-west Coalition). Then when I do start venturing into the 2 or 3 I find (which are usually at least a 2 hour drive away), I hear about how the membership has dwindled, "there used to be a lot more people here", etc....

I can't really put my finger on the problem. Some people have said yahoo shut a lot of bdsm groups down, which was a lot of local group's "homepage" of sorts. I've heard of hotel problems (as in the case of OLF a few years ago). I've heard that people just can't afford the monthly gathering (with gas, the meal, the membership fees, etc..), so they broke it down to a few close friends in their home.

Most the groups I was involved with just 3 years ago (Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania) have completely vanished. Their forums are gone. Their websites are gone. And there's no new groups popping up to take their place.

Is it just the midwest area this is happening?
Has anyone else seen this trend of local groups slowly diminishing away?

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RE: Are local groups dying out? - 4/22/2006 2:32:16 PM

juliaoceania

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From: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
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Our group in my area keeps getting larger and more diverse. I know this because I have talked to people who have been regular members for some time. Their site keeps getting better from what I have seen. I am not sure about joining this group officially though. They have been around since 1998.

I was involved with a Dom in Atlanta and He told me that groups there have come and gone the way you describe though. He said that he would go to munches with one group and then the same group would splinter into another before he could form any associations that he wanted to keep.

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RE: Are local groups dying out? - 4/22/2006 2:36:40 PM

thetammyjo

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Proprietrix

I'm seeing a trend of local groups fading away. I know personally, I've seen many local groups just fall apart due to politics and cliques. 3 years ago Ohio used to have a local

I've seen two trends.

First because most local groups have a small audience the number of people willing to do the work is very small. Often those who are unwilling to do the work bitch and moan about things to the point where those who were willing just stop and leave the group. Surprise, those who complained are not usually capable of organizing things to the same level and the group shrinks and shrinks. Alternatively the complainers "branch off" and form another group but the audience is not big enough to support two groups and they both die off.

Second I know a fair number of munches and clubs who have gone secretive or to the membership model because they fear being "found out". Sometimes something has happened, a restaurant got a letter complaining about a munch group or someone's partner's second best friend heard someone else say something bad about kink in public. A lot of times, nothing has happen other than news reports or stories from other cities of kinky people or groups being target. So the group turns inward and no longer publishes its meetings anyone you could find them.

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RE: Are local groups dying out? - 4/22/2006 3:34:03 PM

Level

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Speaking for our little band of pervs, it's getting bigger. If memory serves, 6 new folks joined in the last couple of weeks alone, and I would say we add 1 or 2 every 6 weeks or so... now, not all get overly involved, in terms of munches, but many post on the group site at minimum.

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RE: Are local groups dying out? - 4/22/2006 4:02:47 PM

LuckyAlbatross

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It's a standard cultural problem of group politics. For every group that dissolves, another (or 4) will rise. Don't worry. I think Baltimore's gone through 3 core groups in the past 10 years.

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RE: Are local groups dying out? - 4/22/2006 4:12:47 PM

unquenchable

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We seem to be growing here in Eastern Tn. A few years back it would have taken a 3 hour ride to attend anything BDSM related, now they have branched into and around Knoxville.

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RE: Are local groups dying out? - 4/22/2006 4:43:50 PM

MistressDREAD

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quote:

Proprietrix

Due to the recent onslaunt of the politically and morally and religiously correct many groups have gone back underground afraid of being * OUTED* But We are not dying out, simply due to the recent actions of the supreme court many are making moves to protect themselfs plain and simple. Some of Us who have enjoyed jail time due to the practice of Our Choosen lifestyles have no issues of being out in the public eye and will still be around. Only those who have something to lose in their lifes ( children, jobs, marraiges, social acceptance) have choosen to get offline and out of the public eye. ~smiles~ My Groups, Associates Groups and Public Dungeon have continued to grow.

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RE: Are local groups dying out? - 4/22/2006 5:22:44 PM

refplace

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Joined: 11/2/2004
From: Oklahoma City
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Pretty much summed up above.
its time consuming and emotionally draining to run a group, much less host parties or run a dungeon. And too many will bitch and whine and that encourages slower growth and faster burnout of the volunteers.
However someone usually steps up and something new is put into place. It still hurts overall local growth though because you have to rebuild connections and trust and the new people often repeat mistakes the old ones did.
Also some burned out dont come back, or show up often.

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RE: Are local groups dying out? - 4/22/2006 5:25:02 PM

IronBear

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Joined: 6/19/2005
From: Beenleigh, Qld, Australia
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Generally in groups of any mix and any nature about 10% will do 80% of the work.... Ask any person who hase been heavily involved with the Pagan Scene.. Many others may well help at times whilst some are there for the free ride..

Locally? Queensland, Australia? Brisbane BDSM is a joke and a laughing stock. Picky little cliques have all but destroyed much of the organisations to a point where in is disintergrating fast and as new little groups start the "bad apples" who believe that they should be the ones on absolute control of the state scene, become involved and they too disintergate... That is why I stay with a small group of friends who have a great social and out of lifestyle relationship any way.

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RE: Are local groups dying out? - 4/22/2006 6:56:56 PM

sweetbbwsub31

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The Chicago area groups seem to be going strong.
The NW Indiana groups seem to lack motivation.

Just what i have seen in the past year or so.

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RE: Are local groups dying out? - 4/22/2006 7:16:45 PM

bandit25

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Yes, sweet, they are but there is still a lot of bickering amongst the groups. You can't be a member of this one if you are a member of that. It seems like we have to choose "sides". I guess one could just ignore all that and go, but somehow we all get sucked into the politics.

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