JMC

Hmmm, makes me wish I was in England ;-)

Okay, it is definitely time to take a step back and look at the big picture. 1). You expressed confusion as to why we guy heelers are reluctant to socialize. 2). I offered a couple of possible answers. 3). You "jumped in my chili" over one of my possible explanations, all but accusing me and other non-socializers of being slackers. 4). I made an observation that your perspective was perhaps a bit limited. That is what the "cozy little world" comment meant. 5). You responded with what can only be described as a rant. I must say your response comes across as over the top, at least as I see it. You are obviously dealing with some serious issues. We all have lives and with lives come issues. Some of us may seem to have more challenges than others, life is unfair that way. But it is pointless to measure your own level of challenge against anybody else's -- we all have to play the hand we are dealt and we all have our own ways of coping. (Also, be careful what you wish for -- you just might get it.) I did not intend to express overt disrespect to you, my comment was intended as a "tweak" at most. (In closing I must point out that this is the behavior pattern that got you into trouble on the big site.) Now let us get back to heels and how we integrate them into our lifestyles.

done.

All I can say is it must be cozy in your little world, Freddy. Or maybe heels are a bigger priority to you than they are to most of us.

After watching the organization phase of a couple of heel-meets on the big site I have to conclude that organizing such a meet is a gargantuan task. Like trying to keep 30 or so corks under water in a fast-flowing stream! First, you have time issues. Most of us do not have the freedom to take off and go wherever we want at any time, time off must be arranged in advance. Planning the heel-meet well in advance is the only way to address this but that brings other issues. Second, also related to time, most of us have a limited amount of time off and other responsibilities. Ask a guy to make a choice between the family vacation and going to have a few beers with a bunch of guys in heels and guess which way the decision will come down. Third, there are travel difficulties. Travel is expensive and the price of a plane ticket will buy a bunch of really nice heels. Especially on this side of the big puddle, distances can become very great indeed -- that 3500 miles won't even get you all the way across the country. Here in the U.S. I don't see heel-meets being anything but regional affairs.

Judging from activity on the big site, that's to be expected. A lot of people register, post a handful of times, and then lose interest. Some of them check in from time to time and just read but don't post.

<mod mode> Gotta interject a bit of moderation here. Would you allow me to re-name this thread. I'm not real comfortable with the word "P-O-R-N" hanging out there, even if it is obfuscated. We go to great lengths to keep this and the big site clean and while that word certainly does catch the eye, it also carries an image. It's an image we do not want associated with our efforts. Search engines index this site too and guys looking for "high heels" will most certainly hit HHplace -- then link to here. So how about something like: "Sizzling Hottt Heels" </mod mode> We now return to your regularly scheduled programming . . .

No problem, H4MROK. Actually I cannot take much credit for the cleanup, other members of the staff put the majority of the effort into it. I extend your comments to them. I think you are right, a lot of HHplacer's (especially the guys) would find reasons to participate here. The ladies have their own forum and we can consider this to be the guys lounge or club or whatever.

I must point out that HHplace did not "clean itself up". It was cleaned up as a direct result of effort on the part of its staff. We came to a realization that the site had strayed from its original purpose and branched out into areas where much of the membership was not comfortable. Primarily it was intended to be a fashion site and it is closer to that now. The process is probably not done yet either. As far as inviting HHplace members here, we have included a link to Heels4Men as a sub-forum, right under the "For the Guys" header.

. . . and then it's bonus time!!!

Now that's a creative way to make progress on technical issues! Wait until the problem doesn't matter anymore and then declare victory!

The button is called "New Topic" here, it appears at the top and bottom of each forum listing. If you are not seeing it, check to make sure you are logged in.

Can't help but wonder if Priceless and Payless are related in some way. The Priceless web-site has some similarities with the way the Payless site looked a couple of updates back. Of course, most online shoe-shops have a similar look-and-feel but the text styles and the presentation of the site look so familiar. I think the cheap/inexpensive shoe shops are especially good for beginning heelers. Most of them are self-service so the shopper can browse and pick out a style without having to deal with a salesperson -- having been there I know it's a daunting concept for somebody who has not yet built his confidence. The cheap shops also let the newbie experiment a little with different styles and determine what he likes most, without putting a huge dent in his finances. Although I've had some of the cheap shoes that felt good, I find that the lack of support and the generally inferior construction often make them less comfortable than the better lines. I won't shell out the simoleons for the designer lines but I do find myself more interested in something a little better than the cheap offerings. But they do definitely have their place.

Google's spiders are picking up on this thread. I don't think hit rate has anything to do with it although word count might -- as certain keywords are mentioned more often on a site, Google will increase the score for ads pertaining to those keywords.

You definitely need to keep your mind on what you are doing when you ride a motorcycle. Practice braking, shifting, clutching, etc. until it becomes second nature so you can concentrate on the road, the other people (who unfortunately may not be thinking about the task at hand) and the miscellaneous hazards like gravel, potholes, grooves or cracks in the pavement, oil slicks and the such. But still there's nothing like the freedom of a bike.

Big ol' Goldwing for me. 1984 Interstate, 1200cc, 4 cylinder. Didn't get her out last year, too much stuff going on. (Need to do something about that.)

From a fellow I know who is into this himself -- try your first several flights inside a large building -- something like a gymnasium, large garage, barn or the like. Winds play absolute havoc on a small helicopter -- the smallest puff of breeze from any direction can upset your bird and send it crashing into the ground. Inside, you minimize the effect of air currents and you can concentrate more on learning the controls. (Obviously you want to fly an electric powered chopper indoors.) Outside, pick only the calmest days to fly. Also, the birds with counter-rotating rotors are somewhat easier to control because they are more stable in the air.

I keep noticing the "Forum members" count ticking upward so people are starting to notice and sign up. Somebody mentioned elsewhere that this site will probably never be as big as HHplace and that is probably true. Further, I would say it should not even be a goal. H4M is a site for us men (especially those of us who like to wear 'em) while HHplace is a site for everybody. That right there makes this site's audience somewhat smaller than that of HHplace. It does seem like we guys are more likely than women to talk about heels, though -- in stark contrast to most other things in life! That's got to be one factor leading to the preponderance of men over at HHplace. I must point out that we do not intend to exclude women from this site -- we welcome their views here too. But I suspect they are not going to have a lot of interest in this site. I see H4M as being kind of the counterpart to the "for the girls" forum on HHplace -- but without the "no girls allowed" rule.

Nobody's weird here. We just like heels! What's weird about that? Welcome aboard!

So much of the "challenge" exists entirely between our ears. Which I guess is true about a lot of things in life. . .

Well we picked up a couple of spammers last week, if that's any indication ;-) They were dispatched quite quickly thanks to the eagle-eyes of our members and we have taken steps to ensure that particular bunch won't be back. One down, 10,000,000 (give or take a few thousand) to go.

Yeah, that's about right. You cannot make people participate. There has to be something to draw them, hold their interest, and inspire participation. . . . and that's where we all come in.

We have been sharpening our focus on just where we are going with HHplace, just what we want it to be, etc. We have placed a link to H4M in the heading of the "For the Guys" forum, which may account for some of the increased traffic here.

Isn't it funny how you start wearing heels in private and after experiencing the feelings an hour or so in the dark is just not enough? You want to wear them more, and in more situations. Which leads to a desire to wear them in normal, everyday situations. It seems to be a natural progression and a recurring theme.

But the re-composition is never as good as the original. I've been there myself. Suggestion: If it is going to be a long piece, copy and paste the text into a text editor (like Wordpad if you use Windows or Kate if you use Linux with KDE) and save it as a local file. You can compose offline then copy and paste it back into the edit window when you want to post it. Do you suppose we could have our wives / girlfriends air their views here through us? Meaning we could draw out their views in conversations and then discuss them here among ourselves? (Of course, this is easy for me to think about -- being basically "unattached".)