EP vs Similar Worlds

I miss quite a bit about EP, including so many of the people. It was more of a community than I find SW to be - at least it was before the downhill swing toward the end.

The site itself, was more customizable and offered more flexibility and freedom. For instance, creating experience groups with names that actually made sense instead of cookie cutter names under broad headings, that so often, fail to offer anything appropriate.

There were separate sections for the Q&A, the stories & poetry, and
erotica & fetish, so it wasn't a jumble, and you could find what you wanted. Plus, for the most part, you didn't have to see what you didn't want to see. There was also an option to create your own mini "library" of stories that had spoken to you, thereby making it easy to find them again as well as the author's new writings. There were some incredible authors and you could spend hours getting lost in reading their works.

The chat function was amazing, even though it had its quirks and unfortunately didn't extend to the Australian users.

The whiteboard was your main "homepage" where everyone would interact with each other by leaving messages, jokes, emojis, etc, that were just right there on the page when you first logged in. No searching around for things and no missing something that made you smile.

It also seems like people engaged more with each other back then in general, in an honest, genuine manner. Not everyone was on the up and up, of course, and while you had to be careful, the majority of users were pretty cool.

You could post anonymously at one time, experiences which were painful, raw, or embarrassing, and others could respond in kind. It helped so many, until a few took it too far with nasty insults, bullying, and bad mouthing others, both in posts and subsequent comments. (This is why we can't have nice things.)

People were interested in sharing experiences, authoring stories, offering support, and having a good time - rather than trolling for political, religious, etc. questions to beat each other up over.

When Apple began offering EP as an app, it truly went downhill quite quickly and in the end it was gone due to spiteful people & one horrific event.

I was there from the beginning of 2008 until the last day in 2016.

But, all that being said, people are different today than back then. They expect and demand different things and feel entitled to say and act how ever they want. Consideration and courtesy has been lost to a tremendous degree.

I believe being on that site (whose initial popularity was based on word of mouth rather than advertising, by people who cared about the site) was most likely a once in a lifetime thing. I doubt we see anything like it again, anywhere. 🤷🏼‍♀

@SW-Admin I have been encouraged to tag you in this for suggestions at the next update. Do with it what you will.

I miss it too. It's like life though. At the time I was a different person, that too. But on the whole, I miss hearing from someone that I didn't know bringing some support and advice on this and that. Now it's more about not really saying anything that would get one blocked. Are you for female priests in the Church of England? Blocked. Do you find that Ukraine can't win their war? Blocked. And then there's the awful few that bully anyone for anything on here now. I remember that some were actually coming to the defence of the person bullied then on EP. Not any more to less likely. Being of an age that I start to forget things I can't remember names of friends on EP. But I thank them for everything then and now X

The atmosphere has degraded significantly. While Similiar Worlds tries to be EP it's just not the same.
the biggest component of difference that I feel is the whole vibe of The Experience project was kind of we're an online support group for people who ultimately may or may not also be in therapy or who don't want to go to therapy but could benefit from therapy on the web, to that end it was a very supportive and welcoming place, even if it did have the occasional pest we had to deal with, I remember bullying EasyPete like crazy because the guy was so toxic and creating several groups mocking him, one of the shifts was the lack of ability to create our own groups, I understand it, but at the same time it's a loss. there's no Confessions anymore either, so nobody can just post a short little diddy about their lives and something they want to one off a lots been lost and the atmosphere at times feels more like any other Social network than the Online support group it was. I've found there's more unwanted drama and antagonism on this side despite the rules. It's because the people running two have similiar but subtlety different visions. I'll always support SW because it tries to be EP but it's a pale shadow of it. I hope they figure it out. I really do.

honestly - EP wasn ALWAYS better - it went through cycles as people came and left -

we tend to romantacize things - EP was sometimes better - sometimes equal

sometimes I think we need the old guard

sometimes I think the current member need to post more

I miss ep a lot ep was so much better I had a lot of friends on ep that I lost when it shut down. I managed to find a couple of them on here but must of them never joined I could always get on ep and there was always someone to talk to but here on SW people aren't always online or they don't answer back of they are online.

I liked being able to see who is online on the righthand side, I felt made friends circle closer. I also liked being able to add a status and change my status to busy/away etc

It is not as spontaneous. In my circle we would have comment conversations that went on for days and generally they were better than the original post. The relationships in some cases were strong enough to survive the end and some continue outside of here. Some are still here.

It was one of those things that, no matter how hard you try, is unlikely to be duplicated.

EP was more about sharing experiences and fostering new friendships. It felt more permanent than SW somehow. Hard to explain.

Was not a big time member and not big time on here either but I think on EP there was more interaction on questions and less statements. Made a lot more friends on EP of different types and here does seem they are more defensive with short answers and ready to block.

Here: we have to tell people how to feel about a post,have the infamous title too short when often the post is nothing but an image,people looked and commented on music posts ,posts were separate from "experiences " usually longer stories ya had a BLOG...I started the SW Blog group,but got nothing but agita from admins

More people and more creation on EP...SW is better technologically

I don't know why ,but we seemed closer on EP.
Maybe, it was because we were younger and friendships seemed easier back then I really can't put my finger on it.

Yes i was in EP for a few years..

EP was way better because the number of active members was way larger... Places like EP and SW depend on the enthusiasm and the numbers of people adding content and reacting to content..

If more people just come to places like this to be spoon fed and entertained by others, the place just dies..

The community gets out only what they put in...

SW is not as good. I especially enjoyed the chat function on EP where you could talk to other members in real time. Otherwise it is a fleeting memory

When I realised that EP was coming to an end l became an “archivist”.

And started to copy and download everything, because I knew there was never going to be something similar ever again 😁

There was a Golden Age and I probably arrived at the end, but EP staggered on for another five or six years.

What l never understood was the number of members who had massive numbers of contributions, posts and friends and had had an incredibly dense existence…who had then walked away from the whole thing.

Didn’t delete or announce anything.

Just never returned.

Like the Olmec walking away from their civilisation and returning to the jungle 😳

One member l was just becoming obsessed with announcing she had just changed her password to something random and was going to enter it and then log out so that she could never return.

I sometimes look at the stuff I have kept.

I was another person in a different world 🌎

I miss some of the friends I used to chat to on EP - quite a few didn't make the transition to SW.

I think EP was more welcoming and had a stronger community. I always associated SW with political bickering and weridos

It basically looked the same on the outside as this forum.

One thing EP and SW have in common, they are both disorganized cluster f*cks compared to how most forums are set up.

I was on there towards the tail end before it shut down. The disorganized format was too much.
I had made some "I am new" thread and after I navigated away, I could not find it.

Supposedly EP shut down cause they could not guarantee privacy and would prefer to shut down, as if ANY place online can guarantee privacy.


As far as the people there, I do not know cause I just wasn't there long.

I have been on forums that shut down but then a replacement surfaces. Typically it ends up being the same people on a duplicate forum. I doubt anyone missed much with EP. But who knows, maybe it was some magical place that was blessed by the fairy f*cking God mother.

I was on both, but its been so long now. I can't compare anymore

Refer to one of my previous replies on a previous post concerning this, lol.

SW does not even compare to it.
I miss a lot about EP.

Thanks for best comment.

It's the same, the culture is what has changed. EP wasn't censored as much as SW is now for one thing. It also seemed more degenerate, kind of a digital Burning Man full of fruit cakes. SW today seems more normal than EP then. Though I grant you there are some freaks here too.

I would say that in the last weeks of EP the community was really nicely developed and crowded.

EP was great until the last year or so. This place began where EP ended. In the sewer.

Was never on EP so I'm not part of the cool kids club

Women on EP where more open and wild

EP Allie was like a warden lol

I miss EPAliie 🙂