Next big Spandex Party thing? An app?
Suggestions and site feedback
posted 5 days ago
Hey yall, as you may know Folsom Berlin is coming up in about 2 months and we'll be there with Spandex Party's own booth this year again!
so I was thinking: "Is there anything BIG we could work on to showcase at Folsom Europe?"
naturally I thought about the idea that many of yall said already: a Spandex Party app.
I'd love the idea of showing off such a cool and new thing at Folsom, but it would come with a limitation.
iOS and Android app stores, especially Apple's, have strict content policies. on the other end you have Spandex Party, that is built upon openness, inclusivity, and sex positivity. these traits don't go well with the app stores.
I had high hopes when Sniffies made it onto the App Store in the US, only to be removed 2 months later due to content policy violations—and since then it's been removed again.
But then you have gay sex-positive apps like BUDDY that also shows xxx pics and videos within the app (after some settings changes). it feels like it's a lucky roulette if your app is flies through the review.
nobody wants to work on something that is just going to be denied after 1-2 months of work.
limiting the app's scope to only messaging other users and looking up Lycra events, doesn't sound very sexy to me. then it would function as an accompanion app, and you'd still want to use the web version for sharing hot pics that others like and love as much as you do. but maybe that's ok, because you only want a subset of functions when you're on the go and see who messaged you and reply to them, or check who's online?
SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?
- what is your opinion regarding the app idea and its risk?
- what is something else you could imagine would be a great thing to launch / showcase at Folsom Berlin in 2 months?
Last edited: 5 days ago
posted 5 days ago
(using this thread as a thought dump)
regarding the subset of functions: I think it could work if the functions are well done. for instance:
- 1) notifications to stay in touch with messages and messages on events
- and 2) messaging with easy pic/vid sharing?
if I take a look at the function break-down of Germany's popular Gay Romeo app vs web page, it's very much split up:
posted 3 days ago
posted by: spandexpartyadminHey yall, as you may know Folsom Berlin is coming up in about 2 months and we'll be there with Spandex Party's own booth this year again! so I was thinking: "Is there anything BIG we could work on to showcase at Folsom Europe?" naturally I thought about the idea that many of yall said already: a Spandex Party app. I'd love the idea of showing off such a cool and new thing at Folsom, but it would come with a limitation. iOS and Android app stores, especially Apple's, have strict content policies. on the other end you have Spandex Party, that is built upon openness, inclusivity, and sex positivity. these traits don't go well with the app stores. I had high hopes when Sniffies made it onto the App Store in the US, only to be removed 2 months later due to content policy violations—and since then it's been removed again. But then you have gay sex-positive apps like BUDDY that also shows xxx pics and videos within the app (after some settings changes). it feels like it's a lucky roulette if your app is flies through the review. nobody wants to work on something that is just going to be denied after 1-2 months of work. limiting the app's scope to only messaging other users and looking up Lycra events, doesn't sound very sexy to me. then it would function as an accompanion app, and you'd still want to use the web version for sharing hot pics that others like and love as much as you do. but maybe that's ok, because you only want a subset of functions when you're on the go and see who messaged you and reply to them, or check who's online? SO WHAT DO YOU THINK? - what is your opinion regarding the app idea and its risk? - what is something else you could imagine would be a great thing to launch / showcase at Folsom Berlin in 2 months?
posted 2 days ago
App: not worth it at this point, especially since the browser webapp is mobile-friendly already.
Given that effort for development and support is finite, I think it's better spent on web enhancements plus reserving capacity for patches
posted 2 days ago
I don't mind not having a dedicated app. I think the site works very well on iPhones and iPads using a regular browser — thank you, Simon, for making that a reality already! — and I'm not sure if most of us want to receive notifications (the main advantage of having an app) since, in my opinion, it is also great to be able to decide when to dedicate time to our kink, rather than having yet another app requiring our attention...
I also think that, ultimately, you would put a lot of work into getting an app running only to see it censored a few weeks later.
Personally, I think a big improvement would be a revamped chat feature that works more smoothly in terms of sharing live pics/videos without any pre-upload, sharing disappearing pics, and getting browser notifications (my browser notifies me when I get a new visitor, but not when I get a new message). This could be a big announcement to make at Folsom?
I hope I can make it to Folsom Berlin this time!
posted 2 days ago
I agree, I think there’s other bigger ideas you could do with this platform…both for fun and exposure not to mention profit. If you ever wanna ideate or hear some pitch ideas, hit me up. ;)
posted 2 days ago
At minimum I'd like to see an App for chat and forum updates! Love this idea
posted 2 days ago
Personally I agree with what the most of you write. I'd say it's a waste of resources. Also think you/we don't need to prove the power of this community by bragging... Now join us because we have an app. Improved image upload also as temporary would be great as written before. Maybe the possibility to create a group for meetups could be nice. I'd love to have some more organised physical contact with selected members by hosting. Would have used a private group on Skype for that.
posted 2 days ago
Thank you all for these thoughtful adds! I agree that an app doesn't feel like a huge value add for this site but appreciate the thought exercise. I think it could be nice to have some editorial content, the way recon does interviews with different members. Or some kind of member spotlight? There is a diversity of voices and interests on this platform and it could be cool to share that in an official way. I know that doesn't have the scalability of coding an app though.
posted 1 day ago
What about an enhancement to Events such that a user can submit small local gatherings people can sign up for? Something to encourage safe real life meetups
posted 19 hours ago
love the discussions and suggestions in here already!
(will write up something later today to summarise things and put things into SP's perspective)
posted 10 hours ago
Apps put the app store owner in control of what apps can do. As convenient as an app might be, given the US and UK governments both being captured by, uh, bad actors who use sex as a bogeyman, it would probably be an uphill battle to provide equivalent experiences to app users. That would make it a tougher maintenance problem. ("This web feature enhancement can't be moved to the app store code base" and vice versa.)
There may be a future soon where Apple and Google will have to fully support third-party app stores, and maybe one of those third party stores might be an option for NSFW apps. So maybe never say never, but for now it's probably as @_spndxboy says. The improvements to the website in the last six months alone have been great and have certainly increased my engagement!
