This idea came to me today and I wonder if it has been done/mentioned before and, if not, what your thoughts on it might be?
A forum member (it could be anyone from here) start up a website, on the site are featured not endless photo's, profile Id's and information of real or imagined scammers from the FSU but, real, genuine success stories, maybe a half a page per story, couple of photo's of the couple, info on how they met, where they live now, any children they may have and info on any hardships they may have encountered while trying to get their relationship off the ground.
There are guys on here who have been married to their FSU girls for many years, how interesting their story is to newcomers. And guys living with their partner here in Ukraine, again, how interesting.
As the site grows it can accept advertising and banner exchanges from genuine dating sites like Fiance dot com, just to drive traffic and also to help pay the webmasters running costs.
The site itself would be free to access by anyone, especially those who have a genuine interest in finding love with an FSU woman.
This forum itself has much of the contributed information and experience but, it's scattered all over the hundreds of topics and can be diffuclt to stumble accross, "OUR" website would have all the success stories and photo's right there, page after page.
Maybe the site could accept written contributions from trusted members ie....."Living & working in Ukraine - a how to guide" - "How to behave in Ukraine - customs and traditions" etc etc.
The site could be policed by the webmaster and a "board" of 2 or 3 members from here.
I believe, if done right, this might be invaluable to new guys from all over the West that are, and will no doubt continue to discover the huge benifits of looking for love in the FSU.
I wonder what members here might think of such a website, designed by US, managed by US ?
The thing is that those of us that have done it, and succeeded, it'a all too easy for us to utter how easy it was etc. It is human nature to only remember the positives rather than the negatives, of which I experienced plenty along the way, and the best advice to offer, should be offered, is what not to do rather than give the impression that it is all so easy.
One also needs to bear in mind that many, indeed most, couples prefer 'no publicity' regarding their personal and private relationship thus many of the more happier success stories would never be heard off.
And a USA based site might not go down too well with other nations of the world. Nothing personal But Americans, often, have their own way of saying things, many of us watched a recent TV production that, mainly, focused on a bunch of jerks that happened to be American and in Odessa, Ukraine, I'm not suggesting it would be better based in Europe where all sorts of languages are spoken, nor indeed Australia where dyslexia is spoken, it should be of neutral stance rather than, literally, raising the American flag on the site.
With regards to revenuing from the site it needn't be restricted to links to dating sites, I have my own website that has, or had, some shopping and/or travel related links, buying the set-up equipment for my company I did my shopping via my own links thus, effectively, bought my office equipment at a further discount.
I think I recall seeing recently on the Aerosvit website an affiliate programme, well Aerosvit operate from JFK and, I think, Toronto to all points in Ukraine so there's a suggested link, Aeroflot might be another one available, Austrian Airlines operate to 5 Ukrainian airports and other FSU airports, Lufthansa operate to some various FSU airports etc. etc. etc. Have a look on www.tradedoubler.com to see what programmes they might have available, travel insurance links might be another one to offer except that only an American could apply to an American insurance provider etc.
With regard to omitting scam stories etc. Don't disregard those entirely but have a link or two to reputable blacklist such as Elen Petrova's blacklist whereas if they want to learn, or post, regarding scams then you have provided that facility whereas they click on a link and do it elsewhere. And when I say reputable I don't mean 'Jim' :)
And, whilst on the subject of affiliate links, if any Brits want to start saving money on their online shopping, flight tickets, hotels, insurance, gas & electricity, ebay, many things then go to www.topcashback.co.uk
I think its a great and original idea. A forum of success stories. you would definitely be the first. or maybe it should be more like a blog site? so that the main storyteller controls the content. the problem with forums is that the threads disintegrate into name calling amongst the members.
i think it's a great idea and i can certainly remember my experiences with fsu dating sites before getting together with olya. (and wasting lots of money)
as it happens... the chap i'm working for at the moment (an old friend from my ibm days) now runs a hosting company and has just forked out the cash to be a fully fledged isp. i already rent space/bandwidth from him and would be happy to run another site from my existing account. just need to think of a name?
i agree with the problem of forums gecko... and as it happens i've just written some blog software! lol (i use some homebrew wiki software with my blog software to run my purpletartan site, and being a wiki anyone with the password can edit via their browser which is handy...)
if anyone has any ideas on a domain name feel free to add to my wiki here: http://www.purpletartan.com/index.pl/wiki/DomainNameIdeas
Quote: “The thing is that those of us that have done it, and succeeded, it'a all too easy for us to utter how easy it was etc. It is human nature to only remember the positives rather than the negatives, of which I experienced plenty along the way, and the best advice to offer, should be offered, is what not to do rather than give the impression that it is all so easy.
One also needs to bear in mind that many, indeed most, couples prefer 'no publicity' regarding their personal and private relationship thus many of the more happier success stories would never be heard off.”
Martin, you are spot on about “Gilding the lily” and far too many people do exactly that. I’ve always made every effort to do quite the opposite, but………? Further, as has been demonstrated here relatively recently, there is a substantial element who are not interested in thoughts of those who have “done the business”, they prefer to throw out theories in the hope that someone will support their idea, whether it is valid or not. Frankly, I think them foolish, but they are entitled to their choice and they do form a substantial part of any potential market.
Your second point regarding privacy is also a very valid one. Nevertheless, I suspect if a site was decently controlled it would still attract a fair amount of people with common history and interest.
As for aligning a site with any particular location, I see your points but I think ultimately if the quality is up to a reasonable level and nationalistic sentiments are consigned to where they must be in international relationships (IE, the dust bin), then that is an issue which would be of minor significance if any at all.
Site would be OUR site, run by US, 1 webmaster (anyone from here) plus maybe 2 or 3 "board" members. I personally dont think it should be a blog site, or forum site, just a pretty little website, where access is free to all and we sell nothing, other than advertising space from selected parties.
Site would not have an American bias, nor a European bias, because it would be OUR site. Every Western guy that has an FSU partner could submit his story, after it's checked over by the webmaster (one of us) for profanity and pornographic words/images it's then put on the site for all to read. If there are spelling mistakes, or Americanisms or whatever who cares, thats what makes us all different, and colourful, I would suggest.
There are guys on this very forum that are happily married to, or living with their FSU partner. Some guys, like myself, are not yet living with their girl but are in the process of trying to make it happen, how interesting all these different stories and experiences are to those that are yet to achieve it. Yes, members here do share tit bits of their relationship with us on this forum, but, it's scattered about everywhere, difficult to stumble across, often embedded within topics that some of us may not be interested in opening and therefore often missed by interested readers. Each time some TV programme appears on this whole subject everyone scrambles to watch it or, if they missed it, frantically try and locate it from someone so they can watch it. The next time a Television company somewhere in the world decides to make a programme about this phenomenon, it could be our website they contact requesting our participation in their programme, how cool would that be?!
Maybe you met your girl at a social, maybe off a dating site like Fiance dot com, maybe you placed a newspaper ad, or maybe you just walked around St Petersburg or Kiev and litterally bumped into the love of your life, well, lets hear your story, the ups, the downs, and everything in between, in 1000 words, with 2 or 3 photos of your life with your woman, any kids you may now have etc etc.
Left hand side links......"Dave & Svetlana's story" - "Pete & Oxana's story" etc etc. Also, well written articles sent in to us that are of interest or help to the visitors....."Living with a Ukrainian woman - what you NEED to know" - "How to run your business in the FSU" etc. Each month we could have a "featured couple of the month" on our Homepage, a couple who, for example had been trying for several years to obtain a Fiance/Marriage Visa without success, but now have been finally granted it for their chosen country.
I understand that there are couples in this world who would not want any publicity, so be it, we just wont hear about them.
Just about every website (and there must be a couple of thousand of them now) associated with FSU dating wants money, our site would perhaps be the first of it's kind, a site that asks for absolutely nothing from it's information hungry vistors.
A website, for Western guys LOOKING for love in the FSU - run by Western guys who FOUND love in the FSU,
Where I think it also could really work, is for Fiance/forum to create a section on this forum for couples stories and/or trip reports, sucesses and failures. Comments in this section could rrestricted to on topic questions and no negativety.
It would be very simple to create and would be a great addition to the forum.
Have to in a way agree with Adman and what Martin_FFC started up saying. I see no idea in this at all as a single web site. A website have normally a business purpose - and it cost money to drift and marked it. And who shall decide who can add there? Everybody have something negative to say about most dating sites or travel agencies for that matter. One think it is good another not agree.
I see some good stories or references as a add on to a existing site. However to add a section on to this site Fiancy - it would not be correct. Fiance is a business site and they are of course in right to use all references and stories that comes in to their office - on behalf of their clients. But you speaking here about all type of stories - guy's using other agencies and so. That would not be legitimate for Fiancy to take credit for I think.
And finally - who are actual so interested in you private love life? Adman - you say quote: stories and/or trip reports, successes and failures - and later you say restricted and no negativity? I guess the it is the failures - all the scam and shit we are learning from - and that must be negative - you agree? What this forum is full of. If I happen to get into a relation or get laid in the east - who cares? And what decide if it is a success story - 1 month sex in her apartment or 10 year in your home country?
I had though about this idea myself but had imagined that the core of the site would be an FSU dating "FAQ" which would attempt to distil the occumulated wisdom of this forum and only try to do so in a way that avoided missinformed generalisations (e.g. "anastasia is a scam site", "all girls in city xxx are scammers" etc etc).
I have a private server with unlimited bandwidth so I can host it for free, we just need to think of a domain name. I was thinking "internationaldating-faq.com" or simmilar.
Don't see anything that hasn't been done before on other sites.
Anyway, any posting would probably end up with Danny, Nasfan, Martin et al bickering again.
Sorry if I left anyone out in the above naming. I don't bother reading any of these guys posts any more, so I cant remeber who does all the shouting...or cant be bothered remembering.
Nor, my post post may seem contradictory.
I agree that we learn from both success and failure and so it would be onesided to only have success stories. Both should be included.
By not having negitive comments, I meant if the forum has a specific catorgory for trip reports or couples stories, then the replies to those stories should be restricted in that catagory so that they dont degenerate into bunfights like you might have in the open forum section. By having replies more closely monitored people are more likely to write their stories and the information will be much more easily found than if it was lost in the open forum.
To heavily censor the open forum would tend to kill the patient while trying to cure it.
It is nothing new that hasnt been done on other sites. Even the local dating site in my own country.
Nas; I'm hanging around satisfying my addiction before I go visit the fsu detox clinic.
Besides you guys might need me for a little while longer.
The discrepancies in the fsu dating ritual never seem to go away.
I notice its the same old same old. Every time a new guy arrives the same deal is going on....paying for letters, is she real or an Ivan, etc etc...most importantly...why can't I get a straight answer from her.
Kirkland it never ceases to amaze me, with the multitude of information here, the questions wouldn't be asked. When I first came here a guy named TimH gave me the tour showed me the ropes and said, read for two weeks this forum. Then start making contact and plans for a trip. Maybe that's why I didn't have a difficult time weeding out the BS and the scams.
It was patience and due diligence that worked. Too many guys are in such a big hurry to get over there, then they get misguided information from some village idiot who doesn't know his head from a hole in the ground. Many new guys should take the time to read. Start at about page 70 here and work forward, they will run into a bunch of successful guys from the era.
Newbies are going to ask questions, some may seem ridiculous, but we were all there. If the prepare ahead of time they won't get blasted on this forum which seems to be entertainment for some.
Reckon if a newbie came here and read the stories he'd get cold feet about the girl he's writing to right now.
First girl I communicated with was a notorious scammer. Even though I was pretty naive about the whole thing at the time the form letters she wrote raised a few alarm bells.
I used google and ended up perusing various sites and forums, dumped the scammer and carried on unscathed.
Having read the various tales of woe and absorbed all the info I felt duly equipped to venture forth........ and still got duped.
What never ceases to amaze me is the lengths the agencies will go to get western men over there.
Some folks only learn the hard way...seems quite fair really.