For over 20 years I have seen the ebbs and flows of PERB. I am still here. The ERB part of PERB is THE best resource for pooners. Period. Full stop. Just like good government, PERB is still of the pooners, by the pooners, for the pooners.
I have found seductive gems I never would have found otherwise. I have avoided dissappointments that in my horny moments I might have risked, but thanks to the weight of reviews that tell it like it is, I was able to make informed pooning decisions. I have contributed by sharing my faves, ups, downs, avoids, TOFT adventures, and insights, for what they are worth. I do feel part of a great community here. And PERB remains my go-to resource for researching any potential new encounter. Long Live PERB!!!!!!
Yet, that sense of community may not be as strong as it once was. I don’t think our beloved mods have anything to do with this. Demographics have changed. Ad frameworks have changed, People’s attention spans have changed. But I think what has changed the most is that surfing PERB does not give me the feeling that I have just discovered “the secret little engine that could”. Perb / Fred & Co. dared to put this forum out there and see where it went. The early days were the most memorable for me because the vibe was more “chatroomy”. People were conversing, sharing, discovering, laughing, vibing, and having a gas. Chat forums were around but PERB structured it well, kept if free for pooners, and let us into a little dark corner of the sexy world where we could share our naughty laundry and feel part of something bigger than ourselves. Now we seem to fill up PERB with rants, jibes, corrections, divergences, unuseful info, profound posting laziness, and chronically venting about one thing or another. This seems to be the way of social media in general—not a PERB specific infliction.
So how do we get our mojo back? It wouldn’t be Punt-like if I didn’t share a few thoughts on this…
1) Keep on banning the trolls. Make Perbatory even funnier!—like throwing rotten tomatoes at the miscreant in the stocks at the town square. Lay down a badass whooping where we all joyfully release our pent-up frustrations and bash the bastard real good. (Suggestion—separate trolling bans from unpaid ad bans and various other themes, so we can immediately revel in the joy of jerk expulsion)
2) Bring sexy back. There were some AMAZING posts from years gone by. Soooo much more artful than much of today’s drivel. Yet with necro-posting being a no-no, and links to old posts being boring, there’s gold down there, but she’s buried deep. (Suggestion—Start an Alt / Nostalgic Lounge section—not just a thread, where it’s OK to reveal PERB history). Likewise, I get the most joy out of two threads in particular—Innappropriate & Naughty Memes, and the Random Thread). Put these in the Alt lounge too. Funny and moving stuff are birds of a feather. Similarly, Start a Crow 🐦⬛ Lounge where we separate the Political and Ranty stuff for when I am having a bad day and feel like I want to stick needles in my eyeballs. I know, I can can choose what to click on, but the current framework waters down my overall experience and my sense of delight vs. disgust is challenged daily.
3).Be the next CL / LL / OF/ Tryst / yadayada. Seriously, a separate ad site that had the easily browsable categories, visuals, and INTEGRITY of PERB MODERATION to eliminate the scamming BS would be my go to forcTalent surfing. For some reason, PERB ads just doesn’t work for me within a forum style engine, and the most surfable ad sites have either gone tits-up or gave become a scamarchy! (Suggestion—diversify to a propper ad site. Acquire or startup). I kno, easy for me to say. But I can wish nonetheless.
4) Bring that sense of PERB purpose back. Why does PERB exist? What does it stand for? What are its core values? (Suggestion—migrate from many rules threads to something visionary we can all align to. Reinforce this with some dialogue, quippy quotes, or examples daily. Why am I here? This should be the first thing I see when I click on PERB 2.0)
Lovingly,
-Punt.
