@wrench same here! But others! REPORT every little perceived infraction!
doesnt bother me, in fact its cool, it puts me at ease . you can say no if youre not interested, duh.
edit: say no THANK YOU if you're not interested, always be polite!
@CSnMUS87 It was totally me remembering I need to make it happen without saying so on the forum. Figured you’d know what I mean. 😂
I never accept virtual cuddles. I had a guy break the rules. I will never do that again. He kept switching his camera on and off. Reported. First and last virtual cuddle.
Whatever rules are involved aside, I don’t find it off-putting in the least. If it’s someone I might like to see, then they’ve spared me the risk of making first contact. If not, then no harm done.
say no THANK YOU if you're not interested, always be polite!
Lol what? I’m supposed to be polite to unsolicited commercial messages now? Man I guess I need to go through my email spam folder and send all the spammers “no thank you” emails.
Anyway, generally I find these messages slightly obnoxious, especially if they have a really salesy vibe, but it’s not like I’m getting tons of them so it doesn’t really matter. And I have had pros reach out for non-marketing reasons, which have lead to some good experiences.
If I had a pro reach out to see if I was interested, I would say only if it's discounted. If they're to the point of messaging people asking you to book them then it sounds like they need money bad enough to offer a discounted cuddle.
Some of my close friends are pros who happened to reach out to me first. Usually just to say hi, and over time organic connections happen. So I wouldn't get upset about it, or always assume it is just for business
I find it highly flattering.
@CuddleWho 💯 everything.
@JBearz I agree with @Rezz "If you haven't initiated contact and/or visited their page, just report them. The mods will see if there's a pattern and take action."
@Rezz you got that right.
Mostly I don't care one way or the other. But I didn't like it when some young pro with no cuddling or life experience solicited me and said he only charged $100 an hour.
what @NewBalanceThree said I love it! Virtual money for virtual cuddles to pay virtual bills.
Soon we'll have to pay to look at their profiles.
A cold-call-style ad message from a pro would definitely leave me cold—and, as @VaniRae31 and @CuddleDuncan said, it's against site rules.
I have, however, gotten a number of first messages from pros who contacted me as people rather than private contractors, and there's nothing wrong with that. Any pros out there hesitating: if you see something I said in the forum and want to say something about it to me privately, go right ahead!
I think that it’s not a real big deal, I’ve had it happen maybe a few times. It is not something that makes me want to cuddle, it is something that kind of fits into part of it takes to be successful in anything. Marketing could be handled many ways but cold calls is kind of like entry level marketing. I think of it that same way.
I invite pros to reach out to me. It's right there in my profile. Obviously I don't have the budget to hire every pro who reaches out, but I do enjoy the connection.
I tend to agree with @JohnR1972 and @CSnMUS87 . Doesn't trouble me to get a message from a pro, even if I haven't looked at her profile. If she's planning on coming to DFW and is trying to gauge interest in cuddle sessions, that's great.
But if it's someone who's merely trying to drum up 'virtual' sessions with no intention of meeting, then it's pretty pointless to me. I've done a few videochats with cuddlers with the intent of meeting when one of us traveled to the other's city. But if I just want video interaction with someone, I can do that with online chess platforms - play a game while I 'visit' with my opponent.
People seem to be assuming that I'm against pros messaging first for any reason.
I am specifically talking about pros who solicit cuddles without you showing interest. Not "just saying hi" or "seeing if I'm interested". Those kinds of messages are fine but those are not the kind of messages I'm referring to.
And yes, I know to report them. The point of my post was to hopefully instill in other pro cuddlers that offering cuddles to someone who isnt interested is not a good business practice and you're more likely to get blocked than booked.
There is a massive difference between
"hey, I would really love to cuddle with you some time" And "Hey, I will cuddle you for only 100/hr, I am available tomorrow and the next day, you can host or I can"
@jbearz except you've heard from quite a few of us who would appreciate these types of messages, so I am not sure what point you are trying to make?
For gosh sakes, it's right there in the terms of the pro cuddler contract, item 26:
You agree to not initiate communication with our members unless you have reason to believe they will be interested in your services.
Seems a little too restrictive to me—even pros just want to talk sometimes—but the point stands.
The cold-call ad-senders know good and well they're breaking the rules. If you like being cold-called, yeah, put that in your profile so they'll "have reason to believe etc." and won't be breaking the rules!
My sympathy is with folks who don't like getting ads in their inbox, not with the rule-breaking ad-senders. @JBearz's post is a good one.
Don't send ads to those who don't want them.
@DaringSprinter Sounds like a site feature request to me, have a toggle able profile option that sets a flag for pros to cold message or not.
I love when pros contact me. It has the potential to open up new friendships and great cuddling that I might not have otherwise considered. But if that doesn't work for some, there's this amazing new function called delete that takes all of 2 seconds to use.
See, here's the thing. The plain fact is that professionals messaging when they shouldn't isn't that common. And for most of us it's no big deal. Perhaps we're happy, perhaps we're momentarily annoyed, but it doesn't really matter.
But for a few people, it is a big deal. For a few people, it's potentially very upsetting in any of a dozen different ways. Almost everybody who comes to Cuddle Comfort is a little bit vulnerable in one way or another (otherwise we wouldn't be here), and here in the forums at least we try to be a caring community which protects and cares for those who need it.
Moreover, it's not what this site is primarily about. You are entitled to join with a view to enthusiast cuddling and not be hassled by people trying to sell something.
Finally, it is also the case that permitting this could lead to 'spam wars'. Much better just to avoid the whole thing altogether.
For those who find it amusing to flaunt their ignorance by being disrespectful about telecuddling/virtual cuddling, I suggest you start with this sticky thread:
@JBearz i totally understand and agree.
Does anyone else sense the irony in a thread complaining about pros messaging them first, which follows a thread about why pros don't respond to their messages? Lol
@cylee1180 yes I noticed that and it made me smile too.
@cylee1180 Excellent point. Not lost. The humor is appreciated.
@cylee1180 lol!!!!
@CuddleDuncan @teddybear888 @Tranquilescape Too funny!
My entire time as a pro I’m proud to say I don’t really do that. I have enough social anxiety, to just go and message people and try and sale my time like that, I don’t believe that’s why I’m here. If someone visits my profile often, I may send a message, cause I will also find that a bit strange or like say hello at least so I’m not left wondering about the purpose of constantly checking my profile. People confuse me in general but I try my best to be understanding! Anyways best of luck to you, sending you happy vibes!
See, I think there's a difference in context here.
A friendly hello is one thing, if you're window shopping my profile that's okay, but as someone who truly enjoys the art of intriguing talk and simply connecting with others outside my professional status, I like to say hi -- I travel often for my day job at the law office, so it's not unheard of for me to be in a new area of the country.
Not every connection I've made have I met, but do I know that if I was ever in their area I know what to expect mostly from them and who they are? Absolutely. That's important to me just as an individual preference.
The push for booking without context or background, "cold calling" as it's said, is a big NO-NO for me. I don't enjoy just seeing a booking request from a client with no prior message/conversation beforehand.
Again, personal preference, whatevs.
After 4 years, it's something I still tell new professionals about as a boundary thing, because I don't want the people I've met to assume they are just a by-product of "what can you bring to the table" and more so, "what is your core connection to touch and how can we go about accepting ourselves as who we really are in this unique process in a hopefully positive manner."