When it started, it was a place to post pictures of yourself among like-minded people. You could post updates, blog your feelings and there was also a nice message board. Good discussions would break out, and it was also a place where more experienced sissies could help those who were just getting started with some useful advice.
There was in erotica section where myself and others would post stories. It became an outlet for me to share my stories with an audience that was more receptive to them. However, in my early days of being a member of the site, I also tried to help others with useful advice and encouragement. Nothing was more gratifying for me than to see a new sissy taking her first steps of self-expression. That's what sites like Sissy Social are all about.
Lauren didn't stop with the upgrades. She envisioned Sissy Social becoming sort of a Sissy Facebook. This meant that you logged on to it and saw a stream of status updates similar to what you would see on Facebook. Of course, a lot of girls shared sissy memes. It didn't seem like the updates really increased the conversations, which is something I like to see, but the updates did increase the traffic on the site.
What was important about this site was it was a safe space for sissies. Though some of us are out in public and proud, others won't take trips outside of their house. Still others don't even let that sissy outside at all, meaning their feminine expression comes entirely from what they do online. A site like Sissy Social meant the world to so many. Though in some ways there's more acceptance in the world, in other ways it's just as bad as it has always been.
Lauren increasingly struggled to pay the bills with monthly costs skyrocketing. She never wanted to charge anybody to participate, and I'm sure part of her reason was she grew to understand the model just a little bit more. Though there are people willing to pay for content on the internet, many people will just move on if they have to pay a dime. The writing was on the wall. It became too expensive, and when she would ask for donations, she started getting attacked by people who were enjoying the site for free and were not at all happy that she would ask for help.
It started with quirks. Pictures weren't showing up. People were having difficulty logging on or staying logged on. Things didn't get better, and there were no status updates forthcoming from Lauren. The day finally came when the site went down. People couldn't even find the landing page anymore. Now, some people will get a message saying that going to the URL is unsafe. The site appears to be for sale, though I don't know if that's accurate information or not. Nor can I tell you what is included if the site truly is for sale. Would somebody get the contents as they were when the site went down?
In the end, I could never afford it, and it makes me sad. Though there are other sites out there that offer a safe space, nothing really compares to Sissy Social. I made friends there, some of whom were going through similar life struggles as myself, and we would confide in each other. We can all look back and see mistakes that were probably made as the side continued to grow.
I would never want anything more than to thank Lauren for creating the page. I'm happy for the time I was able to spend there and honored that I was made one of the moderators of the message board. I hope that I made a difference in a few people's lives, because I have come to accept who I am after years of struggling with that. I want others to be themselves without fear and without shame. I don't care what anybody says, there's nothing wrong with being a sissy, transgender or wherever you fall on the spectrum.
In the end, several of the ideas Incorporated on the site were good ones. Perhaps it didn't nead to cross over into Sissy Facebook territory? Perhaps the basic message board, blog feature, photos and the basic chat for those who wanted to use it was good enough? Maybe that would have helped keep costs a little bit more manageable. One could create a Sissy Facebook site, but here's the reality you deal with. There are way more sissies, sissy lovers and sissy friends than people might admit, and running such a page would not be cheap. Lauren found that out the hard way.
Thank you for trying, Lauren. Sissy Social will be missed.
Sissy Social 2011-2019
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