Why do so many punters choose not to join UKP?

[Charliehutton]

A few years ago I estimated on here that there are roughly 3 million active punters in the UK. Admittedly this was largely based on back-of-a-fag-packet maths and guesswork, but nobody spotted any major flaw in the logic, so it may not be too far off.

So I was surprised to read recently that there aren't more than 100,000 of us who are members of UKP. I daresay there are plenty of occasional punters who aren't aware the site exists, but there must be plenty who do, and who choose not to be part of it, and I just wonder why that might be. Any thoughts?

[Joball87]

One thought is the crypto sign-up ? I also think there is a  very high proportion of punters who have subscribed but don't contribute.

[Cheltclient]

Not sure all punters are quite so prolific. I don’t know when UKP was born but I hadn’t been aware of its existence. As I started punting more and more, I started wondering whether there was any intel online and googling girls. That was where I found UKP.

When I started punting, it was booking from ads out of the local paper. I wasn’t aware of AW for ages. But then I was a very, very occasional client. Now, I think I’ve been with around 70 escorts, I’m far more savvy. I guess a lot of clients put a lot less effort into this hobby and know a lot less about places like this. If you only punt occasionally and only have regulars, they may not even need a place like this.

Fro a dirty fucker like me, UKP is a godsend 

[Jumping Jack Flash]

There’s probably a fair few who are unaware of this site.

[Southernbloke]

Being blunt I didn’t join straight away but I was aware of the site for about 5 years because there seemed to be a lot of arguments between members.
The mood seemed to change about a year ago and then it took me ages to figure out the crypto thing , which meant I was a member but couldn’t post. I used to look at the site because you can see about 8 posts before being locked out.

[Cheltclient]

You know … feel free to mock me … but what was the crypto thing? Maybe I’m being thick but I’ve been here a while, always posted, and never had any issues posting. Don’t think I’ve ever clicked on a link about crypto

[dexpunt]

You know … feel free to mock me … but what was the crypto thing? Maybe I’m being thick but I’ve been here a while, always posted, and never had any issues posting. Don’t think I’ve ever clicked on a link about crypto

Thanks because I was thinking the same thing

[alabama1]

You know … feel free to mock me … but what was the crypto thing? Maybe I’m being thick but I’ve been here a while, always posted, and never had any issues posting. Don’t think I’ve ever clicked on a link about crypto

New members now have to pay a one off joining fee, crypto currency being the only option of payment. 

[Colston36]

A few years ago I estimated on here that there are roughly 3 million active punters in the UK. Admittedly this was largely based on back-of-a-fag-packet maths and guesswork, but nobody spotted any major flaw in the logic, so it may not be too far off.

So I was surprised to read recently that there aren't more than 100,000 of us who are members of UKP. I daresay there are plenty of occasional punters who aren't aware the site exists, but there must be plenty who do, and who choose not to be part of it, and I just wonder why that might be. Any thoughts?

Perhaps you need a new fag packet.

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them” wrote Thoreau over 170 years ago.

Many don't have the money, time or even the inclination to do what we do.

This applies to many popular pursuits besides fucking. I have never been to a football match except as part of my job. I knew Stirling Moss but find motor racing a bore. I never watch TV. Most people don't read books; I do constantly. And so on.

We are a small minority. Most struggle financially to get by.

Even within our number there are big variations. I don't like straight sex. Most do, etc, etc.

[twotight]

provably because punting is not the most obvious word I would use to describe this hobby

External Link/Members Only

External Link/Members Only

I only stumbled across it when I was researching a trip abroad

[Cheltclient]

Thanks because I was thinking the same thing

Phew. Glad it wasn’t just me wondering. I thought ‘shit, have a missed something really important!’

[Cheltclient]

New members now have to pay a one off joining fee, crypto currency being the only option of payment. 

Thanks mate. That explains it and why it didn’t come across my radar.

[Foxtail17]

When I wanted to start punting I asked a mate who I knew indulged and he pointed me towards UKP and UKE and AW.
UKP has been a godsend, saved me tons of cash, hassle and time, and I hope my contributions do the same for others.

When I see negative reviews on AW I want to scream ‘google for christ sake and find UKP!!’

I am a long time member so have no idea about the current crypto payment method or fee, but it must be a bargain in the long or short term seeing the amount of info available.

[FLYING BLUE]

I'm not sure they choose not to join UKP.

Perhaps more a case of not being aware of the site?

I've been an active punter since the early 1990's & at some point, became aware of another punting site where reviews were left but, IMHO, that site was much more biased towards service providers.

To this day, I cannot remember how I came across UKP but I've been here since 2012 & I think it's a much better site than the 'other' one was.
When I first joined, I was taken aback by a few of the (let's say) more robust members (several names spring to mind, no longer here, thank heavens) & I wasn't sure I would last the course. Although I found UKP very useful indeed, I did not like it as an entity.

Nowadays, again, IMHO, it's a far better site than it once was, much more fair, less quarrelsome amd a great deal fewer shit-stirrers

Although I'm not punting anywhere near as much as I used to when the money was 'easy come, easy go' - I'm still on this site every day for a short while and, it's the only site I use.
Long may it continue
FB

[Fuzzyduck]

A few years ago I estimated on here that there are roughly 3 million active punters in the UK. Admittedly this was largely based on back-of-a-fag-packet maths and guesswork, but nobody spotted any major flaw in the logic, so it may not be too far off.

So I was surprised to read recently that there aren't more than 100,000 of us who are members of UKP. I daresay there are plenty of occasional punters who aren't aware the site exists, but there must be plenty who do, and who choose not to be part of it, and I just wonder why that might be. Any thoughts?

Can you post a link to your fag packet analysis? Putting aside women who pay for sex, "3 million active punters" suggest 1 in 9 or 1 in 10 blokes are active. This sounds high.

In terms of why people don't join UKP, I think stigma is a big barrier for many guys. Also, not knowing the site exists: UKP doesn't advertise, other platforms probably don't want to associate with UKP, and usually one of the best channels for sharing information, word-of-mouth, isn't relevant here.

The joining fee and expectation to contribute might limit the growth of UKP (in pure number terms) going forwards, but the base was still modest before the change of site ownership. Even though the site was more toxic robust in the past, people could still join, remain completely anonymous, not get involved in the drama and still access the info.

[Crockers]

UKP came up on my radar through an article I read about how much Mumsnet hated it.

Lols.

[CanOfRedBull]

New members now have to pay a one off joining fee, crypto currency being the only option of payment. 

Wow - Better watch out.  People on here might start swapping/giving away their user accounts to others who don’t want to pay the joining fee.  I think some women on AW might do that 

[jamiekinkxxx]

Can you post a link to your fag packet analysis? Putting aside women who pay for sex, "3 million active punters" suggest 1 in 9 or 1 in 10 blokes are active. This sounds high.

I 100% agree. Not sure how you ever got to 3million but I would say that is over egging the numbers by quite a bit...

[Doc Holliday]

Can you post a link to your fag packet analysis? Putting aside women who pay for sex, "3 million active punters" suggest 1 in 9 or 1 in 10 blokes are active. This sounds high.

'Studies' suggest that around 1 in 10 men will have some history of having paid for sexual services at some point. That does not translate to 1 in 10 are active punters .. far from it 

[Blackpool Rock]

I'm not sure they choose not to join UKP.

Perhaps more a case of not being aware of the site?

I've been an active punter since the early 1990's & at some point, became aware of another punting site where reviews were left but, IMHO, that site was much more biased towards service providers.

To this day, I cannot remember how I came across UKP but I've been here since 2012 & I think it's a much better site than the 'other' one was.
When I first joined, I was taken aback by a few of the (let's say) more robust members (several names spring to mind, no longer here, thank heavens) & I wasn't sure I would last the course. Although I found UKP very useful indeed, I did not like it as an entity.

Nowadays, again, IMHO, it's a far better site than it once was, much more fair, less quarrelsome amd a great deal fewer shit-stirrers

Although I'm not punting anywhere near as much as I used to when the money was 'easy come, easy go' - I'm still on this site every day for a short while and, it's the only site I use.
Long may it continue
FB

I think that's a good assessment 

[jamiekinkxxx]

UKP maybe the 'largest' review / info site but it isn't the only one. As others have also said many guys will just not be interested in such sites as they may not punt that often or even be aware of this (and other) sites existence.

[Blackpool Rock]

New members now have to pay a one off joining fee, crypto currency being the only option of payment. 

Happy to be corrected however I recall recent threads where it was confirmed as being an annual fee for new members

[Blackpool Rock]

You know … feel free to mock me … but what was the crypto thing? Maybe I’m being thick but I’ve been here a while, always posted, and never had any issues posting. Don’t think I’ve ever clicked on a link about crypto

It was from a couple of years back when certain things on the site needed fixing but it also needed to be paid for, the new owners asked members for voluntary contributions which got things fixed and allowed new members to be able to join then a fee was introduced to help pay for any other maintenance work along with some limited adverts

[Fuzzyduck]

'Studies' suggest that around 1 in 10 men will have some history of having paid for sexual services at some point. That does not translate to 1 in 10 are active punters .. far from it 

I can believe this. What constitutes "active" is another matter. Perhaps having punted within the last year?

[jamiekinkxxx]

The UK has total male population at 33,716,291.

For simplicity and assuming not many kids or serious OAPs punt we can discount the 19 year olds and below (figure drops to 25,664,111) and the 80+ year olds. This gives a refined figure of 24,203,084 potential men that could punt.

Resource: External Link/Members Only.

***I think this clearly shows that thinking there are 3million active male punters to be a ludicrous figure.***

[jamiekinkxxx]

The number of sex workers in the UK is estimated to be around 72,800 with about 32,000 working in London. Sex workers have an average of 25 clients per week paying an average of £78 per visit.

Source: External Link/Members Only

Another source (External Link/Members Only) states there are 105,000 active people in prostitution of which 96% are women, 2.5% are male and 1.5% are non-binary.

I'll let others do some statistical analysis to come to a figure from numbers working and number of clients.

[jamiekinkxxx]

..

[Doc Holliday]

The number of sex workers in the UK is estimated to be around 72,800 with about 32,000 working in London. Sex workers have an average of 25 clients per week paying an average of £78 per visit.

Resource: External Link/Members Only

Note of the 72,800 88% are said to be women.

Thanks for that. All studies admit it is very difficult to produce accurate data on the UK sex industry. The 25 clients a week average does not allow an accurate estimation of the number of punters.

This is from 2019 External Link/Members Only

Brief summary of this paper here but possible political agenda involved External Link/Members Only

This is from around a decade ago with an STI aspect but is a small sample size. Some interesting breakdown of the data though  External Link/Members Only

[Doc Holliday]

So I was surprised to read recently that there aren't more than 100,000 of us who are members of UKP.

That figure is also flawed. The stats show there are around 103,000 member accounts which are potentially viable accounts, but that is a long way from those who have actually been active in say the last 12 months.

Of those only a minority will have actually posted.

[limarasa9]

I'm not sure they choose not to join UKP.

Perhaps more a case of not being aware of the site?

+1. When I started punting last year, I was only aware of AW and that too thanks to an escorting programme on BBC. I was under the impression all of the feedback on AW was true and was stung by a couple of B&S. I was still trying to figure out how to identify true feedback on AW when on one profile where there were lot of positive feedbacks, as a godsend, one punter gave a negative feedback and mentioned all the feedback on AW is fake and the real feedback is on UKP. That’s the first time I heard about UKP!!!

[markballoon]

I don't agree with the 1 in 10 figure.   Say 30 million males in this country not all of them are of punting age.  This lowers it to about 20m men.   IThis would make that figure around 1 in 7 which I find hard to believe.  I don't smoke so I didn't have a fag packet

[Doc Holliday]

Re not knowing about UKP.

Just googled 'Escort review site' and 'Punting review site' and bingo 

[mr.bluesky]

Perhaps some are not aware of its existence.  I only found it by chance many years ago. Perhaps what you should asking is why there are punters who are members of UKP who don't contribute any reviews 

[limarasa9]

Re not knowing about UKP.

Just googled 'Escort review site' and 'Punting review site' and bingo 

I guess it again comes down to the same point. It had never crossed my mind that there would even be a review site for punting. Leave alone that I didn’t even know that this “hobby” is called punting in the first place! 

[myothernameis]

I'm not sure they choose not to join UKP.

Perhaps more a case of not being aware of the site?

I became aware of UKpunting through a Glasgow Proboard, where some topics which came up, was about French magalie from Glasgow, so I joined UKP

[Doc Holliday]

... that I didn’t even know that this “hobby” is called punting in the first place! 

Fair point. I have no idea how and when I became aware of the terminology either? Was around 20 years ago and it's all becoming a bit of a blur!

[mr.bluesky]

I always assumed being a punter or having a punt was more to do with gambling until I was aware of this site. Example having a punt on the horses ie having a bet on the horses

[willie loman]

lots of men will try it once, but not many will do it weekly, i became aware of punter net, after a labour politician said how wicked it was, then i migrated to uk punting, uk punting appeals to people who like posting on internet forums, which is i imagine a minority.

[standardpostage]

Reasons for not joining;
Not knowing about this site 

Having to pay to join; leaves a financial footprint / trace.
Having to use crypto only. Most people don't have a crypto currency account. I don't have one.
This site being hacked, and details made public.

Above reasons are guesses only.
Good reasons for joining = honest and truthful reviews 

[Charliehutton]

Can you post a link to your fag packet analysis? Putting aside women who pay for sex, "3 million active punters" suggest 1 in 9 or 1 in 10 blokes are active. This sounds high.

Found it, Fuzzy:

www.ukpunting.com/index.php?topic=273696.msg2799721#msg2799721

Those numbers are there to be shot at - it was only a bit of idle curiosity. Even if it's way off, I'm still surprised more punters aren't members, because being part of this forum enhances the whole punting experience in so many ways.

[jayj301599]

I've been aware of the site for a fair few years, in my younger hornier days I would Google London Escort and this site would come up

Then when I wanted to get into punting I had to wait until sign ups became available

[DSail]

I added a few reviews in the early days only to get abuse and some suggesting I was lying

One was a girl in Northern Ireland who wasnt the cleanest. I got a lot of shit about that.

Another review when I was really pleased with the service I had received and thought I would share my experience, only to be told the review was too glowing and I must be her pimp!

So I though fuck this and havent posted since 

[alabama1]

I added a few reviews in the early days only to get abuse and some suggesting I was lying

One was a girl in Northern Ireland who wasnt the cleanest. I got a lot of shit about that.

Another review when I was really pleased with the service I had received and thought I would share my experience, only to be told the review was too glowing and I must be her pimp!

So I though fuck this and havent posted since 

So you just leach on here now then 

[daviemac]

I added a few reviews in the early days only to get abuse and some suggesting I was lying

One was a girl in Northern Ireland who wasnt the cleanest. I got a lot of shit about that.

Another review when I was really pleased with the service I had received and thought I would share my experience, only to be told the review was too glowing and I must be her pimp!

So I though fuck this and havent posted since 

I've just read your last 3 reviews and I can't see any abuse, can you point it out to me where it is.   

[hunkybc]

I avoid crypto payments and I reckon that the majority of potential newbies would be also.

[myothernameis]

I've just read your last 3 reviews and I can't see any abuse, can you point it out to me where it is.   

Found it, comments after this comment, disagree with what DSail has said

I added a few reviews in the early days only to get abuse and some suggesting I was lying

So I though fuck this and havent posted since 

Her mouth smelt & tasted of stale cigarettes (a simple mouthwash can sort that). I honestly could still taste an ashtray in the morning!

She has the potential to be an 11/10, but only if she invests in some Listerine and shower gel

[daviemac]

Found it, comments after this comment, disagree with what DSail has said

I need him to answer, what you have linked to is not a review.

 

I added a few reviews in the early days only to get abuse

He got no abuse at all on his review threads so no need for him to stop posting them.

[Blackpool Rock]

I added a few reviews in the early days only to get abuse and some suggesting I was lying

One was a girl in Northern Ireland who wasnt the cleanest. I got a lot of shit about that.

Another review when I was really pleased with the service I had received and thought I would share my experience, only to be told the review was too glowing and I must be her pimp!

So I though fuck this and havent posted since 

Brave, some may stupid to post this so openly but perhaps time to give it another go 
The site is far less toxic than it was a few years ago and the new owners / admin / mods appear to be trying to cut out unnecessary abuse etc

[Cheltclient]

Brave, some may stupid to post this so openly but perhaps time to give it another go 
The site is far less toxic than it was a few years ago and the new owners / admin / mods appear to be trying to cut out unnecessary abuse etc

I agree. When I first signed up in 2019 I was quite nervous about posting. When I posted my first review, I tried to provide as much detail and the first reply I had was asking if I told the SP my life story and criticised the review (although I’ve had interactions on threads with the chap since and respect his contributions). That felt quite tame in comparison with the arguments and confrontations I saw on here. But at that time, and I suspect I’m not alone in this, I was nervous to say negative things in fear of being called a liar and nervous to go too positive in case I was called a fanboy.

But the new mods are excellent. It’s refreshing to see them jumping in and dealing with the abusive, either with polite suggestions, polite reminders of the rules, or swift suspensions or bans. With much of the needless abuse also eradicated, I get so much more from the wider community too. As such, it makes me feel confident enough to post and share and that’s what this community is all about.

[Dylanbob]

Some I imagine just want absolutely minimal digital links to their hobby as possible.