"Welcome. We're glad you've found the new Smoke Signals Smoking Fetish Community. We hope you'll join us, and hang out for a while.
Most of you probably know that Smoke Signals has been around since - well - almost forever, at least in Internet terms. We started publishing our magazine in 1994. The original version of this website was launched in 1996. Our membership site, Smoke Signals Online, was launched in 1999. We've started numerous other sites over the years. In "online years," we're almost ready to graduate high school.
This site, however, hasn't really been touched since the 90s. And that needed to change. We thought for quite a while about what to do with the smokesigs.com site - and finally realized that with growth of "Web 2.0" (and we hate that term), the answer was obvious.
That, in a nutshell, is how this Smoke Signals Community site was born.
We have a lot here that we hope will be useful, interesting and fun for the smoking fetish community. You can set up your own profile page (with your own smokesigs.com/YOURNAME) URL, you can share your favorite photos and videos, you can have your own blog, you can participate on our messageboards or in our interest groups - or you can start your own. And you'll be able to message, chat or otherwise interact with all the members of our Community. For example, many of the sites that people have used over the years, such as y-ahoo groups or boardhost messageboards, are now either gone or useless. We hope you'll find our Community a new home for those types of ventures.
If you are a member of Facebook or similar online sites, you'll find the Smoke Signals Community has a familar look, and you probably won't have any problem finding your way around. If not, we have a helpful guide to the site available on the Member Menu (at "Help! I'm Lost!") - you can always use our "shoutbox" that's on every page to ask questions that anyone else on the site will be able to answer - or just poke around for a while. You won't break anything ;) You can also use the special email address that we've set up for help with this site: help@smokesigs.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it - we can't promise an immediate answer, but we'll be monitoring it as much as possible. You can also use that address to make any suggestions you might have.
Joining our Community is easy - just fill in the form (your information will never be sold or otherwise compromised - that's the same commitment we've made and met since 1994) - and then when you receive the automated email, just click on the link to confirm your membership, and you're in. We hope you'll want to be an active member. But unlike some other sites, we won't cancel your membership or otherwise "punish" you if you don't log in for a while, or don't contribute in certain ways.
We know that many in the sf community jealously guard their privacy and identity - and that's fine. There's no need to reveal anything here that you don't want to. But we also know that many people want to be able to interact, share, write and communicate with others about their fetish. And you can do that here, without jeopardizing your privacy.
Several more quick points, for longtime Smoke Signals members/readers/friends:
1. Yes, for many years, we have been opposed to the sharing of smoking fetish photos and videos. Philosophically, we still are. But we understand that "Web 2.0" has basically rendered those feelings moot. People are going to share whether we're jumping up and down and screaming about it, or not. And so --- we surrender. But we hope that the Smoke Signals Community will become a "safe haven" for the sharing of material: a friendly venue for Community members to share and a place where all producers can be sure their wishes about sharing are respected. And since there are no requirements that you must find "something to upload" or you'll be banned, we think this will be a more healthy and fun environment for everyone.
2. Just because the Smoke Signals Community will be an open environment where you can start your own messageboard, group or blog - we still do have rules. They can be found elsewhere on the site, but the overall rule is a simple one: anything that is illegal in real life cannot be discussed, depicted or otherwise brought into our Community. And yes, you can read into that exactly what you think it means: smoking is an adult choice, and that *will* be reflected in our Community. Violating this simple rule *will* lead to banning.
3. We're new to all of this - and we know there will be glitches. PLEASE be patient with us :) And please share any suggestions you might have; we want to make this Community as inclusive and as enjoyable as it can possibly be. And if you would like to join our team of administrators, please let us know at the email address we mentioned above.
4. If it becomes everything we want it to be, operating this site will be a costly venture. We hope you'll support us by joining our membership sites or supporting or patronizing our sponsors. Alternatively, we will eventually have a "donation" page to help with the operation of this site if you'd rather go that route.
Thanks for your time and for visiting - and we look forward to interacting with you on the Smoke Signals Community for many years to come!"
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