Moved following discussion from general website feedback thread to here. [Mark]
I agree with CuddleBandit about some of the profile issues, such as the question about whether or not you have or want children someday in the future. Why would a platonic cuddle buddy need to know whether you want to have children or not? That question definitely sounds like it was borrowed from a dating app.
@AbbyCuddles - I think that question is whether you have children or not and that is just one of the possible answers. It appears to be optional since I've seen some profiles without an answer. I agree with you though, I don't really see it as valuable information to have on a potential cuddler. But considering many people leave their profiles completely blank, the questions do encourage them to provide some information about themselves.
I think the children question can also be useful for logistics. I have a young child so I wouldn't be comfortable inviting somebody over whilst she was at home.
Still not really relevant information until you're going to schedule a cuddle...
Yeah, I think that's the main reason people have asked for it to stay in the past.
I've always been open to removing it but I haven't seen a particularly good reason to do that yet.
My reason for saying it should be removed is because it sets the tone that this is a dating site, which I feel is already too much of a struggle sometimes. Logistical things like that can be addressed in message form. Whether someone has or wants kids has zero affect on whether people should be choosing whether to cuddle with someone or not.
That reason quoted already doesn't make too much sense to me, since profiles already say whether you are willing to host, what days, and what times of the day. That's not enough information to know whether scheduling together should likely work or not?
For me personally, re the children question , I sometimes like to know simply because its a conversation topic . As a single dad myself if I'm looking to initiate a conversation with someone who seems interesting to me it's something I know we have in common and tells me a little about them . Not unlike the question about pets, movies , etc . Even though it's not a date site it's nice to know about them , and it's totally optional so nobody has to give that out if they don't want .
@pmvines, then how about just a text box for that also, like with the others you mentioned? The whole yes / no / maybe someday options are just too reminiscent of dating sites to me. I get your point, which explains the potential use for yes/no, but why does it matter if it's something in the future? I don't know. Just generally doesn't seem relevant to platonic cuddling. All I need to have a good cuddle with someone is respect. I do understand other people looking for more specifics. Maybe this website is just geared to something different. After all, it was not originally intended to be for professional cuddling, so it makes sense it comes across more as a place for finding people you're compatible with on a deeper level.
@ubergigglefritz - how about a simple "Do you have kids living at home?" with a Yes/No answer, or maybe Yes/No/Sometimes answer.
That would be much more in line with what I would expect for the purpose of platonic cuddling...
@ubergigglefritz I agree, we do have the free text box to put pretty much whatever we want about ourselves so don't really see the need for it to be spelled out in the individual boxes but at the same time I don't see the harm. I guess I could argue the pros and cons of it but at the end of the day I'm more a if its not broke don't fix it person and I don't see it as necessarily being broke, though it could be improved or modified.
@pmvines - From what I have seen over the past few weeks, most people leave the free text box completely empty or put just one or two sentences regarding "what my friends would say about me". So the free text box is not the answer to anything. They could enforce a minimum amount of text in there, but then what would prevent someone just entering blah blah blah.
Right, I see your point. Either way though whether its a free text box of the list they have for options on the profile its all optional, so that's why I'm not really opposed to anything being removed or added to it. I don't think it would really change how people fill it out when they sign up