Comments

• CuddleDuncan Mod

  January 2021 edited January 2021

  Table of Contents
  Problem – Professional / Enthusiast confusion
  Solution – Part A – Profile
  Solution – Part B – Search
  Implementation, Cost and Timescale
  Revenue
  Conclusion

  TL:DR - Add an "Enthusiast" button on the profile (like the "Professional button"); and add "Professional Only" and "Enthusiast Only" buttons to the Search page.

  Problem – Professional / Enthusiast confusion

  There is considerable anecdotal evidence from the forum that some new members confuse Professional and Enthusiast cuddlers. Some men, new to the site, are even unaware that Enthusiast women exist. This gives rise to frequent disturbing events for Enthusiast women. These include questions or remarks that are inappropriate for an Enthusiast; being offered money to cuddle; and, what seems to be the most upsetting, the assumption that an Enthusiast can be ‘booked’. People joining a cuddle website should not face harassment of any kind and certainly not like this.

  Furthermore, some prospective Clients for Professionals also have a disappointing experience of the site. They are attempting to pay for cuddling (creating revenue for Cuddle Comfort) and are being rebuffed. Many will obviously find their way to a professional cuddler quickly enough, but some will be put off and not return. This problem therefore results in a modest loss of revenue.

  This situation arises partly because of preconceptions held by some new members and partly because most new members do not know much about the cuddling community. Although Enthusiast and Professional profiles are distinguished on the site, that distinction does not appear to be strong enough to everybody who is being presented with all the new iconography of an unfamiliar website.

  Professional and Enthusiast profiles are identical apart from four details. The pink professional P or Pro on Professionals’ thumbnail photos; the rate instead of the quote near the top of the profile; the pink Professional button on the profile; and the term ‘Request to Book’ rather than ‘Send Message’. (The Request to Book and Send Message buttons are identical apart from the wording.)

  A two-part solution is proposed.

  Solution - Part A – Profile

  1) Profile identification button

  At present there are three alternatives for the space below the Age, Gender, Location line on a profile. (If you’d like to remind yourself of how it looks, just click on any suitable profile.)

  "I like to cuddle while writing long forum posts.”
  [blank]

  Fee: 80/hour - Can be: Guest, Public
  Professional (pink button)

  "I like to cuddle while reading long forum posts.”
  Moderator (blue button)

  Instead of a blank space underneath the quote, it is proposed that we have a coloured button saying Enthusiast, similar to the Professional and Moderator buttons. This would replace the current system of “negative information” to denote Enthusiast.

  The buttons could also be different shapes Perhaps rounded corners for one and square corners for the other.

  This button would be a default option, and obviously would be overridden by Professional or Moderator tags.

  Questions to which I’d like the answer!

  • Is Enthusiast the right word? Should we use a different one?

  • What colour should the button be to contrast elegantly with pink and blue? (Think about site palette, aesthetics, colour vision deficiency, etc.) Or should we just use blue? Would different coloured writing be a good idea?

  2) Thumbnail photo

  At present, the profile thumbnail photo of an Enthusiast has no text. It is proposed that an E or Enth should be added in the bottom right hand corner to contrast with the P or Pro. The colour would be the same as the main Enthusiast button on the profile.

  3) Messaging button

  At present, the messaging buttons are all blue although they have different wording. It is proposed that they could be amended to be the same colour as the Professional/Enthusiast button. As with the identification buttons they could also be different shapes, rounded corners for one and square corners for the other.

  Solution - Part B - Search

  At present, clicking on the magnifying glass icon anywhere on the site takes you to the Cuddlers page. This page has two buttons, whose location varies depending on various factors like zoom level. Firstly, an icon with four squares and the word “Cuddlers”, which brings the table of cuddlers (sorted by last online) to the top. Secondly, another magnifying glass or “Filter” button, which brings up the detailed search function. One of the search function options allows the user to search for Enthusiasts, Professionals, or both. Note that the word Enthusiast is not used, only the word Professional.

  Clear as mud? Thought so. If you’d like to take a look at the page itself to remind yourself how it all works, this would be a good moment.

  It is proposed that two additional buttons be added: “Professionals Only” and “Enthusiasts Only”. The options would then be:

  • Four squares / Cuddlers – displays currently selected search results as now. (What does this do for a brand new account, does anybody know? Does it matter for this conversation?)

  • Magnifying glass / Filter – search function as now

  • Professionals Only – displays results similar to Cuddlers, except only with Professionals’ profiles

  • Enthusiasts Only – displays results similar to Cuddlers, except only with Enthusiast results

  Implementation, Cost and Timescale

  All these proposals can be implemented by site coding changes. There is no external cost, and no regulatory or other consideration. They can take their place along with routine site maintenance and improvement. They could be implemented simultaneously or consecutively in any order. Any of them could be rolled back without much difficulty.

  Revenue

  Other than the costs of implementation, these proposals are likely to increase site revenue slightly because prospective Clients who are currently landing on Enthusiasts will be more likely to find themselves in communication with Professionals. Bookings should therefore increase a little. Moreover, the site will become slightly easier to use and navigate and that should also have a minor positive effect overall.

  Slight changes in these proposals could be incorporated to help promote site revenue. For example, the button for quick-searching Professionals could have added phrasing such as “including any Professionals currently making special offers”. This button could have preferential placement on the page.

  Conclusion

  These proposals should have a slightly positive direct impact on site revenue. Hopefully they will reduce the amount of accidental harassment experienced by female members in particular. And by making the site a little more user-friendly they will help everybody, especially new members, find their way around more easily.
• BotWithFeelings

  January 2021

  Programming definitely has a cost, even if minor. While I feel like the write-up could be more clinical and less emotional in the intro all in all I agree.
• DarrenWalker (deleted user)

  January 2021

  Hmm, let's see.

  I like the idea of tagging enthusiasts as enthusiasts. Green seems like a good color to me—goes well with pink and blue.

  Changing the color of the Message button to match the profile tag (pro, enthusiast, mod) strikes me as a clever idea, too. A newbie might overlook the tag, but they're actually clicking the button. Stands out more.

  "Enthusiast" is a bit long compared to "pro" and "mod," but I'm not sure what term might work better.

  And the option for pro only or enthusiast only searches strikes me as a handy one. I bet people would use that feature a lot if the site had it.

  All right, I think that's everything.
• neosonic2 (deleted user)

  January 2021

  Please correct me if I'm wrong -- after all I am a blind person using a screen reading program to access this site so my experience will be different than those who are sighted -- but I believe there already is a facility to search only for professional cuddlers or, on the other side of the coin, to hide professional cuddlers and thus only show enthusiasts in search results. This option is accessible by clicking the Filter button on the Cuddlers page to expand the filter options menu, then selecting the "Professional cuddler" pop-up button and clicking on one of the options that appears. Current options include (1) "Don't mind," (2) "Only show pros," and (3) "Hide pros." To me, this seems like it solves the search portion of the problem originally presented at the top of this thread.
• squeakytoy (deleted user)

  January 2021 edited January 2021

  Hey @neosonic2 , you're right, but unfortunately, plenty of people still either miss or ignore it and try to offer enthusiasts money.

  @CuddleDuncan, @DarrenWalker, I sometimes wonder if it would be best to replace the current pink label with something more immediately meaningful - maybe a bright pink box in the upper left corner that shows the pro's hourly fee? And on Enthusiast profiles, a longer green label (not bright, more subdued) in the same corner that says the full word, "Enthusiast" in small caps, with no price listed.

  Even if a new user didn't know what an Enthusiast was when they first joined, that contrast might give them enough of a hint to figure it out.
• DarrenWalker (deleted user)

  January 2021

  @squeakytoy: Say, I like that idea a lot. Numbers in a bright pink box are very different from letters in a pale green box.

  And dangit @neosonic2, you are right. I missed that option (probably because I don't use the search function a whole lot—more of a forum guy, me). Good catch!
• BotWithFeelings

  January 2021

  @DarrenWalker I think that we could use "buddy"
  1. It is already used on the front page
  2. It emphasizes the friendly nature of the person
  3. It sidesteps comparison with pros (You aren't an amateur cuddler trying to make it to the big league, you're a friend I haven't met yet)
  4. It can be shortened to 'bud' (cuddle bud, cuddle pro, cuddle mod)
  5. It is already in use
• BotWithFeelings

  January 2021

  @squeakytoy I like dark blue, it stays in the color pallet and doesn't make it seem like buddies are lesser. Also, green is the color of American money.
• DarrenWalker (deleted user)

  January 2021

  @BotWithFeelings: I guess I tend to see pros as buddies, too—albeit buddies you're helping out financially. And I'm pretty sure American money isn't light green. That's more the gender-neutral option in baby clothes (well, that and yellow).
• squeakytoy (deleted user)

  January 2021 edited January 2021

  @BotWithFeelings, good point - I agree, blue would be better.

  Whoops! I just remembered blue is being used for mods. But I agree that green is usually associated with cash (even though I'm in Canada and our bills are all sorts of colors now, lol). So maybe something entirely different.

  I also like the idea of just using the word "Buddy" instead of Enthusiast.

  And glad you like the pink price idea, @DarrenWalker !
• CuddleDuncan Mod

  January 2021

  Good points here, thank you everybody.

  @DarrenWalker thanks, I'll take that as an all round general vote in favour.

  @neosonic2 you are completely correct, thank you. However, this option is buried in the middle of the options as you said. What we're looking for here is not just an option to filter, but a very accessible option filter which also announces to the new user that there are different categories of member.

  @squeakytoy if I understand you correctly, you are suggesting that on the profile we combine the tag 'Professional' with the price in some way to make something bigger and harder to miss. Or did you mean on the thumbnail? Either is good. And yes, numbers rather than letters is a nice, useful distinction.

  @BotWithFeelings 'Buddy' has a lot to be said for it, as an alternative to 'Enthusiast'. I need to think about that.

  So, to summarise:

  • The posters in this thread so far generally like the idea as a whole.
  • Green, but not the money kind of green, is the front runner for the colour. Perhaps a subdued green.
  • But red (pink)/green is a not a great combo for people with colour vision deficiency, so maybe we should use blue for Enthusiast and Green for Moderator
  • We could use a general blue for Enthusiasts and a different blue for Moderators.
  • Buddy is a good potential alternative word for Enthusiast (I'm going to stick to that word when writing to remain consistent with the original post, but I'm not expressing an opinion either way - I don't have one)
  • The word Professional or Pro or P could be replaced in certain places with the rate
  • The rate information on the profile could be combined into the Professional button to make it more distinctive
• squeakytoy (deleted user)

  January 2021 edited January 2021

  @CuddleDuncan, I meant instead of putting the word "Professional", or "Pro" or even "P" on the thumbnail, just display the pro's hourly fee in a pink box right on the thumbnail, upper left corner - I thought that with the contrast between "this profile shows a price" and "this profile doesn't - it just says buddy", it might make it more obvious right away that not everyone charges (without them having to read up on the terminology).
• CuddleDuncan Mod

  January 2021

  @squeakytoy got you.
• CuddleDuncan Mod

  January 2021

  Last call for comments.
• ElleCuddleMi

  January 2021

  Eventually I'd love for the site to offer pros a calendar where we can put where we will be (city) in particular days to find clients in that area vs. Just having two location settings. I appreciate this site thank you for the great job