The way this month has gone, if a pro messaged me, it would be to say, "Hey, I drove by your house and it's on fire."
@SnugglesRus you can’t? I’d imagined that it’s at the discretion of any Pro to decide whether and how much to charge or not for a given cuddle. That would presumably include not charging at all.
@SnugglesRus Yes you can.
Perhaps the solution is to have a flag you can toggle that says if you want pros to be able to advertise themselves to you. Opt in of course. If you're flagged as someone who doesn't want the ads then pros will get a message saying this person isn't interested in ads just like how the cuddle rules pop up when you message a pro.
I am surprised by the results of this poll though, quite surprised. I would have thought 90%+ would have said no.
@JasonCuddles 💯 keep in mind that the poll is opened to absolutely any and everyone, so literally anyone can vote.
Let's differentiate on meanings of "advertise" from a moderator perspective.
Pros may not advertise, meaning, POST in the General or Professional Cuddling forums: click bait. Pros may advertise in Pro Requests forum only.
Pros may not initiate communication/message clients first. Messages and keeping communication onsite here is a whole 'nother set of issues and expectations.
I've had pros message me first several times on this site. They seemed like nice people and I really don't see anything wrong with it. They were basically letting me know they were in my area and available.
I see no problem with it. Aren’t they technically independent contractors? They have to get their name out there.
If it's free, they won't message you first.
How can we differentiate between an enthusiast and someone seeking to pay for cuddling if they don’t have it listed in their bio? Genuinely curious.
I don't think it's a big deal at all. How many unsolicited messages would men get from pros? Maybe 2 per week? Women on the other hand gets 10s of messages from guys every day, some of who are looking for more than just cuddling. It's just hard to just ignore a message if you're not interested in it.
I changed my mind about this...I think its a bad idea for pro cuddlers to message enthusiasts. The fact that you can't actually become friends with any of them means the only time they should message you is if you are booking a session with them. Otherwise its just a waste of time to talk to anyone with a pro tag unless a session is being booked.
@Melancholy fair point, if they were enthusiasts they won't send any message
The pros doing this are most likely not getting much business. I'm not sure why those pros making a few hundred thousand dollars a year would be messaging people who didn't message them first.
Just because I look at most of the items on a menu, does not mean I am interested in each one.
Even worse, on other sites, people thanking me for looking at their profile, when I was just checking as to who had viewed me.
If interested after viewing a profile, then I will reach out......I don't want a pro reaching out to me.
Exception: maybe if they are offering a FREE session, NSA.
This might be obvious to some, and I'm half way expecting certain regulars to chime in with some condescending response saying duh or words to that effect but this could be helpful to newbies in particular.
When a pro cuddler messages you and starts a conversation with you, always keep in mind that they are a pro cuddler. They might seem interested in what you have to say, and friendly. They might say they liked your forum posts, but don't lose sight of the fact that you are just a prospective client to them. They will eventually want money from you. Either through a virtual cuddle session or an actual cuddle session. I know it seems obvious ok but despite being on here over 4 years I forgot!! I honestly thought someone found me interesting and wanted to be friends with me. I was actually thinking it would be neat to share my instagram with them so they could check out my work. But then I was reminded of the rules that you can't do that with a pro cuddler unless you book a session with them. So you see?? If you have to pay money just to be friends with someone, that is not friendship, that is a business transaction. Do not forget that or you'll risk getting hurt.
anyways that was my ted talk for the day have a good weekend everyone and almost happy new year!!
Exchanging information is against the rules because pros and members do this to circumvent the 15% fee frequently.
This is not the fault of the pro you want to exchange information with but those who break the rules of the site. She's just protecting herself and you. There's no reason you can't send her pictures of your work through the messaging system here.
@Melancholy I am sorry you experience this. I think I would feel disappointed and hurt if this happened to me. please report that pro because I believe they have broken the terms of service. I don’t think they are allowed to reach out like that. Other can correct me if I am wrong.
This was a warning for other enthusiasts. not looking for advice or needing any at this point. i already know what to do next time
Its not entirely accurate or fair to say that when a pro messages you , all they are interested in is you becoming a prospective client. Of course that happens, and perhaps that is all that you yourself know, however that's not always the case and many pros on here also value interaction beyond just booking clients . There is a difference in using caution and common sense , and being cynical. I don't think promoting cynicism does anything more than stir the pot .
@pmvines just so you know everytime we exchange a friendly message it's just my way of trying to snake money out of you. I enjoy playing the long game. 😉
@Rezz and how do you know that I'm not the one snaking you ? I will check mate you when you least expect it and then you will know my true nature muahahaha
I knew I should not have opened this thread. Is there a way to mute threads?
@Melancholy - I think that what what you had to say is most often true, but it is certainly not always true. If someone receives a message like that from a pro, and immediately dismisses it because it's from a pro, may be missing out on a good thing.
A little over a year ago, I received a message from a pro, that started "Hello there!! I’m *****. I saw your post in the forum." My first thought was to ignore the message, simply because she was a pro. However, she was about 750 miles away, so I decided to reply. She was never after any money. Long story short, she is now on my Friends list, and I am on hers. There are exceptions.
@Rezz - There is one problem with using the CC messaging system to exchange pictures. It only allows one picture per message. I have switched to regular email for communication with one particular enthusiast, because the limit of one photo at a time, is entirely too restrictive.
A few minutes after I posted the above, I received a message from another of my friends, who is also a pro. I had forgotten that her initial message to me said "I like a lot of your comments on the forum. Happy Sunday!" By coincidence, she's also about 750 miles away. We began chatting, and discovered that we shared the experience of having had joint replacement surgery, so physical therapy provided another topic of discussion.
I also have a 3rd pro friend who I met via the forum. She had an interesting post, and I looked at her profile. Shortly after that, I received a message from her that began "Hi GHO, thanks for checking my profile. I love reading your posts in the Forums." She's about 1,000 miles away. Since then, we've exchanged quite a few messages.
I find it difficult impossible to believe that the only three pros that just want a friend to chat with, happened to find me. The odds against that, must be enormous. Obviously, there must be a great many pros on CC, who are happy to chat with a friend, and are not looking to be paid for a cuddle.
The reason for her message today, was to tell me that it is possible to attach more than one photo to a CC message, and how to do it. I had tried to do it sequentially, and that doesn't work. You need to select two or more photos, and then click on the "Attach" button.
@Melancholy - I sincerely doubt that I am any more interesting than you are. If there are three pros who have become my friends, there must be some pros who would like to be your friend too. I suspect that the key may be that my three pro friends all live fairly far away from me, which would make having a paid cuddle session unlikely.
@GreatHornedOwl
You can also create a private photo album for any pictures you wish to share without needing to send multiple messages. 🤗
@Melancholy - I merged these two posts.
That’s actually one thing I consider to be a downfall as a pro. Believe it or not, I actually start up tons of conversations with multiple ppl around the globe that I have no intention of trying to wrestle money out of. But because I’m a pro, I get ignored or immediately sent a “F$&k off” message….
Maybe you have a Dragon Ball Z photo or you say you love Brooklyn 99 or you’ve actually said something in the forums that I wanted to continue to discuss outside of the forum. There are plenty of reasons why I would reach out and it isn’t for money. As a pro, I’m not even allowed to initiate a convo in hopes of making a “client”. I’m only allowed to initiate a “cold call” per say if you looked at my profile. And even then, when you look at my profile and I send a hello message, I felt compelled to add at the end of my hello that there’s no pressure to book me. I just love to chat. But because I’m a pro, I’m immediately thrown to the wayside as someone that isn’t a human who loves human interaction…poor me right? ….
@Sheena123 I dont remember who messaged who first, but I've enjoyed many interactions with you over the years , and not once have they revolved around money
@GreatHornedOwl You can send more than one picture in a single message via CC messaging (at least in the web version using a windows OS). Press "Ctrl" and you are able to select more than one picture to attach. If you have sent some pictures via the messaging system, then CC stores it and makes it available for easy click-and-select (without going through your local folder structure) the next time you want to send the same picture/s.
@pmvines thank you so much for connecting with me and seeing through the whole “pros only want money” garbage. You’re an amazing person!!