Hi,

After lurking on this site a couple of decades ago in high school (ah, memories), but subsequently deciding that my WAM interest was something best kept hidden from the world, I've finally decided to explore this whole messy world. I'll spare the gory details, but after several years of self discovery, I realized that hiding from who you really are is just no way to live.

Anyway, so this is really exciting, but I feel kind of like someone who has always wanted to get into scuba diving, finally decides to go for it, gets all the gear, suits up, and then steps out her/his front door thinking that the scuba-ing will start right after they lock the door behind them.

So far what I've figured out is the following:
1. I am very excited by many things messy.
2. There are other people excited by many things messy.
3. .....now what?

Ok, finally getting to the point. I'm just looking for any tips out there on the basics of the whole WAM community and what the possibilities are. I apologize in advance if this is the wrong forum for this thread, and please do feel free to deliver a ruler to the knuckles and point me in the right direction if there is already some thread that newbies should read before unleashing keystrokes on the rest of you. But if this is the right place, I do have some questions...

1. So I get there's this whole WAM online community. Is it mostly focused on this site? Are there other places where the community gathers virtually?
2. How do people in the online community participate? Is it mostly posting on forums? Chatting? Enjoying content produced by others? Producing their own content for enjoyment of others?
3. What about in real life/meat space? Do people get together? For social purposes? To get messy together? To find true love, etc.? I've seen references to meetups, groups, and sessions, but am more curious about how this whole thing works.
4. I live in the US. Is there a big scene for this over here. It seems like (especially when adjusted for population), the Brits seem to be having most of the fun with this.
5. How does one become part of the community? Do I need to just post a lot here and get to know people? Invite all members to my 1500 sqft townhouse for a pie party? Something in between?

Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience with but a mere simple noob.

1) This is the largest, but there's groups on other kink networks and little fringe spots everywhere lewd stuff is found.
2) Yes. Do whatever you're comfortable with.
3) UMD's had its fair share of meetups, but most of anything along that avenue is person-to-person. It's a fetish. There's enough resources to be found and good sense to be used in terms of determining who to share it with and how to do it that I shouldn't have to break it down for you here.
4) I'd give that a stiff "probably" in terms of number of people that are interested in proper WAM - maybe just a little bit on the lower side here in the US. Bear in mind the UK is much smaller than the US and has a richer and less diverse history re: WAM. There's a bigger overall contribution from over there since there's more awareness, an overall different social mores, and the fact that more people are within a day-drive's distance of one another for meetups and shenanigans. Here, it's far enough removed from mainstream that there's a good chance people just aren't as aware, not least for any populations of lurkers within communities.
5) You already are. Welcome aboard; enjoy your stay.

Pretty much everything Ourek said, these are the only things I can add.

1. UMD is a hub, it started out as a listing site for other WAM pages. So, there are other places, but a LOT of those people and producers have an active presence here.

2. There are a lot of different answers here. Some people roleplay, some people post their experiences. Some others just buy content here, while others share things they found on the mainstream. There are people who use the chat function, and some who only post on the forums. Then there are a LOT of people who were where you were, lurkers.

3. For events or meetups keep an eye here https://umd.net/calendar as well as the general forums.

4. Ourek pretty much spelled this out clearly. There are probably as many WAMmers in the US as the UK, but we have 3x the population, and 10x the size. The UK is clustered closer together, but you will still find people there have trouble getting together.

5. Exactly what Ourek said, welcome!

Thanks, everyone. This is all super helpful and very much appreciated.

To toss in a cheap plug, there's also a book on sploshing/wam available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/SPLAT-Introduction-Sploshing-Food-Play/dp/1729188303/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1547835712&refinements=p_27%3AWamlanta&s=Books&sr=1-1&text=Wamlanta

And as always, there's always folks here to answer any questions while you go on your messy journey.