So, I've always viewed the Personals forum as "The Graveyard" its where posts seem to come to die. Since I've come back it still feels much the same way. You can see a post with 2000+ views and only 10 replies...MAYBE if they're lucky.

I'm wondering if anyone has actually had any success with a posting on the Personals forum. It seems like a place where hundreds of people come crying out for some connection but generally get a response like "oh that would be cool" and nothing ever comes of it.

Indeed, I often come here to lurk, and, frankly, sometimes to see how people find new ways to fail.

I've had success on the UMD overall with meeting up with people IRL to get messy, but that's a byproduct of my give-and-take. I've shared content, and made what I would consider to be a meaningful contribution to the community, and that naturally builds trust with people. ("Oh, he's willing to stick his neck out on here, maybe I will too.") So if you've got pics of you getting wet or messy, I can't stress enough how important it is to throw those on your profile. There is nothing that'll make me lose interest in you than a profile bereft of pics or tags of what you're into. People know I likes pies and slime, so mud fans probably aren't gonna waste their time on me. But if someone dreamt of getting sentenced to the Pie Pod as a kid, well, STEP INTO MY OFFICE!

It's about building trust, and setting appropriate expectations. Not every person anyone talks to on here is going to be a perfect match, but if you're up front with what you want, and they are too, then at least you'll be able to figure that out pretty quickly. One-on-one chat has been much more fruitful IMO than blind solicitations on the Personals forum. By exchanging messages, it's much easier for me to figure out whether you're going to be a creep (or worse) or are actually a real human being with a kink. It's the latter that I'm more likely to want to trash and get trashed by.

I think the guy above is right. Years ago I used to be much more active in this community, had photos on my profile, knew a lot of people around the area, and had a lot more luck. I've been away from the community for a while in a LTR, I feel more of a need to be discreet now because of my job, and consequently I'm finding it a lot harder to connect with people now. I'm one of those people posting in the personals forum with no joy!

I concur with Hooliham. I don't post on here because I meet up is something I don't want to explicitly advertise because getting to know someone first and build up some trust is important. I also agree it's nice to have some content in your profile. It shows you are genuinely interested in WAM and not using it just as a method to hook up, plus allows others to see if you like similar things.

I do browse this section a bit, but mainly to see if there are other folks with good content I might have missed.

I usually contact people directly but when that hasn't worked out, I have used the Personals forum. I've gotten some successful responses but the majority have been time wasters, people looking for masturbation fodder with no actual intention to meet.

One of the major problems with the ads is they're vague. No picture, no dates and no indication of what you want to do besides get messy or wet. I try to be thorough in my description and I'm as upfront and honest as possible (I wasn't once and it backfired, I still regret it) because it weeds out the flaky crusts.

And sometimes even if it hasn't happened at that time, a relationship is established and it works out later.

In a nutshell, yes. Only once, but that's more a reflection of how busy I am.

However...this was only possible because of several months of messaging (pun not intended) here and on Skype chat. We were only prepared to meet once we were satisfied both of us were safe and had set out what our expectations and desires were. As a result the meet went well and both parties were happy with the whole thing.

I have wanted for a long time to suggest some guidelines for posting here, not because there are inappropriate messages but because most are just thoughtless. Joining the site and immediately slapping up a hastily typed ad begging people to meet somewhere tomorrow in a vague area of the country is going to get nowhere. Getting known as someone trustworthy by contributing to the other forums, and then writing in good time where you are and what you're after - and keeping it realistic - will likely get you a lot further.

Generally when I reach out on here it's usually met with a few half-hearted responses (guys on the other side of the world just expressing their desire to meet for example).
Met a great guy a few years back through this forum but no luck since then... the last couple of guys I unexpectedly found on grindr - bizarre!

I have more luck with directly messaging people who are nearby and who have a profile that meshes with my interests. So I agree with some of the comments above that it's very desirable to put enough info regarding your interests in your profile - and include your location.

Yes have had several,successful,meets Some were one day only .Several lasted several meets Some are ongoing
Bearing in mind the various kinks/fetishes/special requirements that we all have I suspect there will always be more fails than successes