Encounters...what to do?

[nudewalker]

Back to Walgreens yesterday to pick up a few sale items for the misses. Although I've been back a few times it's the first with the clerk I encountered the first time. After the usual greeting and checkout she said' Maybe we can talk sometime after the Christmas rush is over?". I said I'll try but we're going to snowbird in Florida after the holidays. She smiled and said come back and see me then. The conversation may have taken a different turn had a line not formed behind me. Maybe I need business cards printed up? With e-mail and links? Just a thought.

[Greenbare Woods]

Maybe I need business cards printed up? With e-mail and links? Just a thought.

If Wallgreens has a bulletin board it would be a good time to post nudist cards of fliers on their board.   However, probably only the "new age" stores have public boards.

Bob

[John P]

... Maybe I need business cards printed up? With e-mail and links? Just a thought.

I was meeting so many people at gatherings and so forth (at least I convinced myself that I was) that I did print up some "business cards". You can get the material at a stationery store and print them yourself, if you can do a tolerable layout job, so there's no need to invest in a box of them. Here's mine, although I'm squeamish about putting my full name and address here, so I've "anonymized" it:

[midnightrider]

Anonymized or not, I like the address   

[nudewalker]

Yes John P, it's just what I was thinking. I may have to check in stationary stores for the supplies you mentioned as I can't justify printing of cards. Also, it would be nice to have a page like Jbee and DF's to refer people to but that will take some time and education on my part. As much as you were squeamish about your name and address I'm treading lightly on this one as there is no need to start trouble in paradise.

[jbeegoode]

How about referring them to here? The card says, "Nudewalker."

Address, this is an address? Can you be reached here? Yes. Or over at "Hiking Naked." You have PM's and the works.
You could spread them around Florida first, to see how you feel about it.
Jbee

[John P]

Yes John P, it's just what I was thinking. I may have to check in stationary stores for the supplies you mentioned as I can't justify printing of cards. Also, it would be nice to have a page like Jbee and DF's to refer people to but that will take some time and education on my part. As much as you were squeamish about your name and address I'm treading lightly on this one as there is no need to start trouble in paradise.

You want to find stuff like this:
http://www.staples.com/Avery-Clean-Edge-Two-side-Printable-Color-Laser-Business-Cards/product_SS994855

I must have been going through a phase when I designed the business card. I set up a naturist page at the same time, and in fact the old address for it is shown on the card and I didn't change it when I showed the card here. I'd have let anyone have the address of the page, but Sitemouse, the company that hosted it on free web space (a magnificent 3 megabytes) suddenly went out of business earlier this year, and I've moved the material to Dropbox.

I thought I'd listed the web page in my profile on Freerangenaturism, but it seems that it isn't accessible via a person's profile. What you have to look for is a little symbol that appears under the user's avatar; it resembles a globe, though I can't tell for sure if that's what it is. I have that symbol, and Midnightrider does too, but clicking it under his avatar only leads you to a page that says there isn't a naturist page (not very useful, that).  Jbeegoode is the real champion here! My page definitely exists, though I have to admit that I don't update it nearly as often as I should.

[nudewalker]

Ok, you guys have got me to thinking and I'm sure the smoke can bee seen from your neck of the woods. I have mentioned the hiking naked site before to some people but never saw where they actually joined. I hope they at least looked at it once or twice but perhaps with a card for reference it will at least insure they get to the right place. If there were not so much holiday preparation to be done it would be a nice addition to have when we get to Florida but then it can be done there.

[John P]

I'm not so sure that sending people to Hikingnaked.com (if that's the site you meant) is a good idea. The first thing a person sees there is Rule 1: You must be 18 or older to use the Hiking Naked Message Boards. No Exceptions! For your safety and the protection of young people, if you find anyone that is, or appears to be, younger than 18, contact the system administrator immediately. I can imagine someone who's new to naturism thinking "So this outdoor naturism business is for adults only, eh? Must be some pretty naughty stuff."

It's kind of a bugaboo of mine that we absolutely must not present naturism as being unfit for young people. Personally I won't participate on a website that excludes them--not that I expect large numbers to be interested! But I see it as very important. When I joined Freerangenaturism I posted an intro message saying I hadn't been in Secret Naturists, and I'm pretty sure (I knew of the place, but I can't entirely remember why I didn't join) that it was because they had an adults-only policy. Adults, you know, because it's all about "adult" topics.

[nudewalker]

I understand what you mean by the "under 18" policy but my inclination is it is more of a disclaimer to satisfy the forum hosting people. After all if there are photos of naked people hiking some would see it as an adult material. Unlike the sexualized material discussed elsewhere on this forum. Plus as my interests have grown so have my naked activities which would include kayaking. In the instance that I'm discussing at this point the conversation started with nude beaches and will have to move to skinny dipping as there are no nude beaches nearby. It's still in the infant stage and there is time to refine things.

[Greenbare Woods]

It's kind of a bugaboo of mine that we absolutely must not present naturism as being unfit for young people. Personally I won't participate on a website that excludes them--not that I expect large numbers to be interested!

I agree completely.   The whole "for the children" excuse uses children as an excuse for the adult's perverted shame of  his or her own body.   Children learn from watching and benefit from seeing a wide variety of their own species engaged in all kinds of normal human behavior.   Depriving children of an opportunity to observe others and learn about their own species is harmful and abusive to children.

Many web sites are afraid of perverted US laws which make possession of images of children into a "crime" with a horrific punishment.  Sadistic police sometimes troll web sites pretending to be children and posting or sharing computer generated images (no real children involved) and then aggressively persecuting the owners of the host computers.  Its another evil police state crime against the people and the children.

Bob

[eyesup]

Some naturist websites state right up front that they are family friendly. No questions, no doubts. I am sure that they police the forums specifically to ensure no discussions cross over into abusive language. That's no different than requiring an ID to purchase alcohol.

There are pedophiles and other predators out there. Some police tactics do cross the line. You cannot paint everyone with a broad brush. There should be a more discriminating skill in determining whether someone is a child predator. Those people should be dealt with swiftly.

Unfortunately too many jurisdictions are cash strapped to make significant progress between all the deadly and merely harmful activities they have to deal with. Unfortunately we wander about in a cultural grey area where the details are not easily seen.

Duane

[nuduke]

I may have to check in stationary stores

Yup! Good plan, fella! It's really hard to catch those moving stores! :lol:

John

[John P]

Many web sites are afraid of perverted US laws which make possession of images of children into a "crime" with a horrific punishment.  Sadistic police sometimes troll web sites pretending to be children and posting or sharing computer generated images (no real children involved) and then aggressively persecuting the owners of the host computers.  Its another evil police state crime against the people and the children.

Actually not "perverted" laws but "purported" laws--when people claim that imaginary things exist. Nudity is not legally obscene and there's a legal history to prove it. We need to be 100% aware of this so that we don't allow our rights to be lost through fear.

However, that's not the main issue. Even sites which have few or no images still forbid young people from participating, and I think it's a terrible way for naturists to behave. Or if the website actually is about sex, then they shouldn't be claiming that it's about naturism, which is terrible in a different way! If there's some reason to go against our beliefs (using a censored image to illustrate some point or other would be another example) then there ought to be an explanation.

[nudewalker]

Many web sites are afraid of perverted US laws which make possession of images of children into a "crime" with a horrific punishment.  Sadistic police sometimes troll web sites pretending to be children and posting or sharing computer generated images (no real children involved) and then aggressively persecuting the owners of the host computers.  Its another evil police state crime against the people and the children.

Actually not "perverted" laws but "purported" laws--when people claim that imaginary things exist. Nudity is not legally obscene and there's a legal history to prove it. We need to be 100% aware of this so that we don't allow our rights to be lost through fear.

However, that's not the main issue. Even sites which have few or no images still forbid young people from participating, and I think it's a terrible way for naturists to behave. Or if the website actually is about sex, then they shouldn't be claiming that it's about naturism, which is terrible in a different way! If there's some reason to go against our beliefs (using a censored image to illustrate some point or other would be another example) then there ought to be an explanation.

Much like some Christian preachers pick through the Bible to find sins that are not there. I find it funny how these people come out of the woodwork whenever anything related to nudity is in the news. For example; the few times there was ever a discussion on the local level of making a nude beach legal. I'm surprised that they are not telling their followers not to let teens have cell phones for they might send nude pictures. Or maybe they are and I don't know it. The "moral majority" that is actually the "vocal minority"!