The Gasoline Shortage

[bbzh]

8 hours ago, Close2MyBro said:

I've had a few people ask me for gas money so they can drive over to hook up. I don't fault them if they're legitimately tight on funds. I usually ask them how much they want. If it's more than the reasonable price of getting there and back, I offer only as much as I think it takes in gas to drive here and back. 

This scenario seems perfectly reasonable to me. My car doesn't run on air if I decide to travel to the guy, so why should I not be willing to contribute if he asks (for a reasonable amount). I see it as a dick delivery fee, akin to ordering takeout. 🤣 If I like a guy and gas money means I get his load, then I'm down for it. I can't take this money with me when I die so...🤷‍♂️. 

[AirmaxUK]

After reading on here some testimonials about Adam4Adam I tried it out... it seems that usage in the UK is quite thin, but annoyingly I do seem to get hits from four or five profiles a day from 3000-4000 miles away - always twinky guys in their 20's with studio like profile pics and message text declaring their undying love at first sight. I experimentally engaged with one to see what the scam is, and it was a pre-canned sob story - needing a place for the night, and request for gas money. (Obviously not in the UK as we don't call it "gas")  I asked what he is driving, as 3000 miles on $40 gas seems like great milage.  That's when he vanished. I do wonder if there are scam-bots running on some of these sites that ping loads of profiles worldwide looking for someone to engage and then you're a mark. 

[BootmanLA]

13 hours ago, AirmaxAndy said:

After reading on here some testimonials about Adam4Adam I tried it out... it seems that usage in the UK is quite thin, but annoyingly I do seem to get hits from four or five profiles a day from 3000-4000 miles away - always twinky guys in their 20's with studio like profile pics and message text declaring their undying love at first sight. I experimentally engaged with one to see what the scam is, and it was a pre-canned sob story - needing a place for the night, and request for gas money. (Obviously not in the UK as we don't call it "gas")  I asked what he is driving, as 3000 miles on $40 gas seems like great milage.  That's when he vanished. I do wonder if there are scam-bots running on some of these sites that ping loads of profiles worldwide looking for someone to engage and then you're a mark. 

Yes, there are. If I don't log on A4A for a few days, the messages dry up completely. Then I log in to check mail, and within minutes I'm getting hits from either hidden distances (with no location listed) or 4K-6K miles away. And like you note, they seem to be studio pics and their profiles always talk about how they're seeking true love and all that bullshit.

A related problem occurs, to a lesser extent, on Growlr periodically. I'll open the app, and apparently some bot(s) somewhere that are snagging "new" sign-ins start sending messages that are clearly just links/ads for (probably virus-laden) porn sites.

My guess is that those spammers pay for accounts (so they can appear "premium" status) and the sites figure the revenue from them is worth pissing off a bunch of (mostly non-paying) members. They certainly don't seem to be interested in plugging whatever leak there is on the server end that allows these spammers to automate their work.

[ErosWired]

16 hours ago, BootmanLA said:

My guess is that those spammers pay for accounts (so they can appear "premium" status) and the sites figure the revenue from them is worth pissing off a bunch of (mostly non-paying) members.

In my view, this short-sighted strategy will doom them. These cruising apps may be a profit platform for their owners, but it's a service industry. The apps only work if they meet a need and do it in an efficient, intuitive, and user-friendly way. Monetizing a service isn't a sin in a profit model, but mistaking your client base for cattle is a fatal mistake (even if they're pigs).

A website - especially a website based on social connection - requires a critical mass of user base to succeed. By this critical mass, I mean a steady, reliable base of individual human users who use the site and its features on a regular and repeated basis for their intended purpose because the site meets their individual need. As that need is satisfied, customer loyalty is built, and trust is created. A solid base allows a limited site to risk expansion, and the addition of premium features that enhance the user experience. Many of those stakeholders in the user base, now convinced of the proven effectiveness of the platform, become willing to put their money where their junk is and pay for more and better tools to up their game. This doesn't limit or reduce the non-payers' ability to meet their own needs - they still have the same reason to stay loyal to the platform - it just gives the payers extra incentive, and the site extra revenue to build things like (among other highly desirable things) robust protections against spammers, scammers and bots.

Sites that monetize at the expense of the user base erode this model. Any site that paywalls its users' ability to achieve the most basic purpose for which the site exists automatically begins limiting it chances of achieving critical mass. The bulk of people aren't going to pay for anything they can get for free, and when they can't get it for free, they aren't going to automatically start paying; they begin to choose whether to take it or leave it. Grindr ain't Groceries. Grindr's paywalled features are more apt to fall into the 'leave it' category for most guys, especially for its less-likely-to-be-cash-flush demographic (hell, half of them apparently don't have 'gas money' - but that's another thread).

It's not that Grindr doesn't have a large enough user base to remain viable - it obviously does, for now. But at one time, so did Manhunt*. The thing is, there is a difference between a "user base" and the "critical mass" I'm referring to. The "critical mass" doesn't include bots, fakes, or any other entity that isn't a legitimate, interested and engaged user of the service. If at any point the number of legitimate users falls below a point at which there are enough for them to achieve meaningful connections, it doesn't matter how many other "users" are logged in as present - the site will not reach critical mass. Once a social site begins a negative membership trend because it is no longer considered a social asset, economics can do little to save it. More directly, if a hookup site starts making it harder, rather than easier, to get laid, it's doomed. If it tries to make you pay up for the privilege of fapping when you want to be fucking, it's doomed quicker. And if it blatantly opens the door for hucksters and swindlers to try to scam you on the basis of your sexual need, sooner or later it's going to be keeping Manhunt company on the list of apps that had it, and lost it, all.

* Whenever I think of Manhunt, I heave a little wistful sigh, because it was my first app and I not only had so much fucking from it, but I encountered the first Top who essentially showed me what it was like to be treated as a sexual object and enjoyed whoring me around, even though I didn't realize at the time that that's what he was doing. God, I miss playing with him. He had an effortless, sexy way of making a man feel like a delicious piece of raw meat. RIP, Manhunt.

[bbinbpark]

On 8/16/2020 at 8:03 PM, Starwood said:

The message will always say that they are new, on the app, looking for true love and that my profile really touched them.

 

These are always the ones that annoy me. I sometimes see guys that list my city as their location, but are hundreds to thousands of miles away. Usually block them, used to flag most of them but it seems like the various apps/sites just don't care anymore