Caution!I received a message and friend request from CraigNGUK promoting his uk telegram group.I sent Craig the verifications as stated yesterday but he has yet to let me join the group.He's since blocked me on TN and hasn't replied to my telegram messages either.Obviously if there is a genuine reason as to why this has happened, I will delete this message. But at the moment, it all feels a bit fishy.
I don't like to air dirty laundry in public, but since this could be happening to several other people, I'll just share a few additional details here.
Craig invited me to the Telegram group a few months back. I said to him that I've had negative experiences with Telegram and Discord groups in the past that have been too, let's say, sexually charged. He reassured me, I sent verification pics and joined.
Many of the pictures being shared by regulars were... questionable. A couple of weeks later, Craig made a poll asking people if they wanted an additional channel for, let's say, more lewd things. I voted No and politely explained my opinion in the chat. Within hours, I was kicked out of the group and Craig blocked me.
Bafflingly, Craig sent me another friend request and invite here on TN about a week ago, so he appears to have already forgotten about the incident. I sent him a PM to ask him about this, and he read it but never replied.
Another friend I know that was previously in the group chat also said they're no longer in it because Craig kicks people who 'aren't active enough' so yeah, I think you can judge for yourself what their general intentions are. I'd recommend staying clear of it.
On the plus side, I guess I can share a link to one of my friends' UK Nudists Discord group which is properly moderated and has a chill atmosphere. https://discord.gg/dZ4yFCMjmc
Very interesting to read this post!
Especially from smoothscales.
So I had a similar experience. And I have chatted to quite a few people that have had similar experiences. The Group smoothscales refers to is not a true naturist group. There are some nice people in there. Yes, but the owner and moderator, is far from professional in the slightest. I say professional, although as we know, this is just a TG Group, no one is paid, and it is not a professional job that he does, it is just a private group that he runs. But in my opinion, if youre going to run a group for people for a particular subject, the least you can do is try to do it properly. In my opinion, as an Owner, you should take emotion and bias out of it, and you should do the job of an Owner properly and not let personal feelings cloud any judgement.
I was in the group, and one of the members started to bug me for inappropriate photos. I declined and blocked and then I removed my photos from the group. As a courtesy and for info only, I let the Owner know what had happened but said I wasnt going to name anyone, it was resolved, and I wasn't making a complaint or anything formal, but just keeping him informed of what was going on with some of his members. It seems like this person was a friend of the Owners and the Owner also didnt like the fact I had removed my photos. So he said he couldnt be bothered with me and he kicked me out of the group and blocked me. I had broken no stayed rules, of which there are a significant number, so I was kicked out at the Owners whim. I have since met and chatted to a fair number of people, and they all know this Owner by trusted reputation or personal experience - and their experiences match all of those described on here.
Smoothscales is right in that this group contains stuff that is not naturist and seems like a bit of an excuse for other behaviour shall we say.
I was DMing a few of the members and just let them know I wouldnt be in the Grouo anymore rather than just disappearing and all of them agreed the Owner could be very up and down and essentially choose which rules he follows and which he doesnt as he feels like it. A few of them suggested I start my own Group So I did!
See the next post.
For me naturism is about our relatively small community, that community spirit, supporting, helping, improving mental health and body image, and not caring what peoples bodies look like. It feels like from my experience and those I have read here that this Group Owner chooses people on looks or popularity. And that is just not in the spirit of naturism at all. Its very very disappointing, particularly for any newbies that may stumble across it and have a terrible experience.