@Sooomeeeh Love, definitely. True love? Well that's trickier. I think it depends on your definition of true love.

The purest love is that which has no agenda and is given freely. It is given from a place of compassion, through eyes which see the best in the receiver of the beholder's affection. No part of it comes from fear, and if unrequited prompts no jealously or ill-will.

We are biochemically predisposed to making all manner of intimate connections and there is no reason those connections can't come from those we meet and only have contact with online. We don't need physical presence for the relevant pathways to form. I can hold my hand up and say there are people I've (only ever) met online whom I have loved and cared for very deeply.

We are in a very new age, in real terms. Meeting new people isn't confined to the methods it was even twenty years ago. When two people are right for each other, they can (and usually will) work to find a way to make things work whatever their circumstances.

I don't believe that we have "one soul mate" but do believe in a small handful of people who are perfect for us and us them. If we are lucky enough to find each other (these people some call soul mates, these relationships some call true love), the circumstances of meeting don't matter. You have the potential to recognise each other online, if you are sincere, true, and know enough about each other. I think that being able to voice message and Facetime makes that even easier.

So I've convinced myself that the answer is yes you can, but then I'm a hopelessly optimistic (if also realistic) romantic. All I would advise is, if you should find yourself in that situation, be sure of yourself and take care. Sometimes we can accidentally trick ourselves into seeing and feeling things which are not truly there, especially when they are missing from our lives or we are seeking them out. When the offline world catches up with us it can give quite a shock; self-awareness is crucial.

What's some of your favourite music not in the English language to listen to? I'm going to crack this open with Cuban heroes Buena Vista Social Club, it never fails to wind me down if I feel the need to chill out.

@petrapark3r I reckon so. It's like when your gut tells you a particular person is about to ring you and then they do, or other times when you just "know" in your gut something is wrong re someone.

When my ex was pregnant with our son I experienced the phenomenon referred to as Couvade Syndrome. I would often have left the house for work before half-seven leaving her in bed so couldn't possibly know what kind of day she was going to have, then at work I'd get the pregnancy symptoms, know roughly when she woke/got up, if she was having a bad day my back would be in agony and I could barely walk, and so on...

@petrapark3r Lack of consideration/consistency. Not reciprocating effort. Projection.

Oh and duvet hogging

@Queen-Succubus Worst case, you learn from this, it feels shitty for a while, but you grow and become better from the experience. Best case, whomever you hurt is understanding enough to know that everyone fucks up, nobody is perfect, that you truly regret what happened and want to put things right, and they let you. Even the worse case is a positive, if you allow it to be.

Whatever happens I hope the situation gets sorted out soon and you can move forward in peace.

@OliveOlivia The intense gravitational pull will crush us all? Maybe?

@robthehood I mean I'd just wish for the extreme persuasiveness skill, the second part is just what I'd use it for (first ). I can construct a good solid argument as it is but some folk just don't care so shut their ears off and for those folks you need Jedi mind trick levels of persuasion

@OliveOlivia said in Eights Questions:

1. If you had a time machine would you visit the past or the future? Why?

The future, to gain some knowledge which would enable me to acquire a position of wealth/power I could then use to halt and hopefully reverse the coming cataclysm

2. What do you wish you were really good at?

Reading and interpreting signals as applied to me on an interpersonal level

3. If you could jump into a pool of something, what would it be?

Wine gums

4. Whats your favorite joke?

What's green and smells like blue paint? Green paint

5. If you could be a fictional character who would you be? Why?

Doctor Manhattan. The power to fix pretty much everything, prevent wars before they begin, solve the energy crisis, develop total understanding of the universe, travel anywhere and see everything, pause time...

6. What kind of things really make you laugh?

Silliness, absurdity, surrealism. Wit before humour. Dad jokes. Joy.

7. What is something that you think is overrated? Why do you think that?

Meme culture. I enjoy a good meme as much as anybody but I must emphasise GOOD. It has become too easy for any talentless schmuck to stick some words on an irrelevant picture and get applauded as clever for it. There is a plethora of truly shit memes out there people insist on sharing, typically where someone has just noticed they can switch a letter or word in a well-known phrase for something similar sounding. This does not make it automatically humorous or smart...

8. How do you feel about TWS?

The random chat bit I've used for a couple of years? It's alright, I've had some software issues but it's useful enough. This community aspect? I'm undecided although there are many things I like - ask me again in a while when I've been here more than a couple of weeks

@Alicey2k A-freaking-men. How long has it been now? I reckon around 15 months (for me) since we used to thrive in an abundance of depth.

I could never blame the peeps who have left for leaving, but I do feel that my optimism that the days gone by might return could be more than a little misplaced.

If you want an explicitly direct answer, I'd say it was late 2019 when the site got hit by a slew of bots. It sometimes felt they were appearing and adding their repetitive spam posts faster than they could be reported, and it took a few months before the situation was under control.

During that time they put many good people off (it was difficult to be constructive and contribute when 80% or more of the forum posts on a given page were sometimes from the same bot), and as for new potential members - what they saw disagreed with the decent ones, whilst the pervs and paedos lapped it up and stuck around. That had a knock-on effect, so when the bots had gone we still had some people here with the wrong idea of what the site was about... their presence seemingly legitamised the presence of even more inappropriate types who stumbled upon the site, and that element grew. A spiral had begun which could no longer be contained, especially as other members left in the spiral's wake.

Now, most of us are tired and the circle continues. Most of the people interested in smart debate and conversation come and don't want to stay because they get hounded off by sex pests, and the perv contingent finds it a paradise and continues to grow.

Not that, as you imply, there is anything wrong with a bit of pervation and depravity in moderation, and sure it's fun. But, please, let's none of us pretend there aren't a thousand or more other more important things in life.

@INFINITY I may have a new favourite joke

@RJB Acting despite and in the presence of fear.

@Popo-Mamik Feeling the energy of their desire for me and seeing it in their eyes... it's so empowering and lights a fire in my chest

@Ash005 Thank you

@Ash005 Cuddles. They are cosier, last longer, have more body contact, and tend to involve hug-like squeezes anyway.

@Jess said in Where did it all go wrong, a thread for people who miss real content:

If some people would take the time to flag and report posts like this instead of creating the 10000th "Tws is sooo bad now but yet I'm still here topic" then maybe things would be a little better.

This. So much this

@sup said in Where did it all go wrong, a thread for people who miss real content:

The mods have better things to do than "make a difference" on some random stranger websites And that too when they are not being paid for it.

Folk who aren't going to take the mod role seriously oughtn't accept it. It's not a status badge, it's a responsibility. That's why I've never gone for it. No denigration to the ones who do as much as they can, they've been fighting a battle with little support. It just seems to me to be somewhat sad that there are people who don't want the place to be safer, kinder, more altruistic. Without tackling bullying and "bullcrap" at this level, the world is never going to bust out of the rut it's in in time to save itself.

@Sassy I like detail

@alex-pierre Somebody leaning down with an outstretched hand to help a gerbil. Only the gerbil is an absolute freaking monster of gigantic proportions and is devouring the guy's hand. The rest of his arm surely can't be far behind. Check the fangs on that thing!

@aladdin_69 The only pressure anyone feels on their first topic is that which they put on themselves.

I might get that piece of wisdom embroidered for a wall-hanging

@remiprincer Difficult. My son started online classes today... oh my, the technical issues we had