Who's a Balloonbuddie

[Scaredyburst]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

I've known about Balloon Buddies but never joined. Several of you say you're members but don't post anymore. Why is that? Is it not so interesting as this forum?

There was a big change in policy some 10, 15 years ago, which I disagree with. But the majority wanted it, so that's the way it is.

[Bubblyzzz]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

I joined a few years ago. My address may have changed since I joined.

[plumpkin]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

My claim to fame is that I designed the BB logo. I still think it looks quite fun!

[Chip67]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

I have been a member of The Balloon Buddies since 1997. It is a great group of Looners to share all sorts of balloon interests and ideas. Enjoy !!!!

[frankfrank]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

We didn't have poppers and nonpoppers back then.

Oh, we had poppers back then, even before 1970, before balloonbuddies. People inhaled poppers to enhance orgasms, lol lol.


I've been in balloonbuddies since the middle 00's. Before that, I didn't know how to access a computer yet.


Oh! - a big holler to Mike D above in Post #10!

[frankfrank]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

[Mike D.]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

Thanks for the kind words, Frankfrank.

[Whale Rider]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

.. ok what is balloonbuddies? some old website?

[Mike D.]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

The Balloon Buddies is the first known group of organized Looners. It started in the 70s when Buster Bill placed adds in the back of adult magazines. They started out mostly as a Pen Pal group and had meetings and gatherings. When the internet emerged it changed into an email list and still remains so today. You can see it or join at Balloonbuddies.com

Mike D.

[Whale Rider]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

The Balloon Buddies is the first known group of organized Looners. It started in the 70s when Buster Bill placed adds in the back of adult magazines. They started out mostly as a Pen Pal group and had meetings and gatherings. When the internet emerged it changed into an email list and still remains so today. You can see it or join at Balloonbuddies.com

Mike D.

thanks mike... pretty cool then ^^ far far before my time ^^ I grew up with the internet...

[BusterBill]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

I feel like I owe Buster Bill so much for being so open, and helping me to eventually be open too. So much love and respect to that man x

I can't thank you enough for such high praise! That means more to me than I have words to express. Thank you, man. Truly, thank you!

[BusterBill]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

The Balloon Buddies is the first known group of organized Looners. It started in the 70s when Buster Bill placed adds in the back of adult magazines. They started out mostly as a Pen Pal group and had meetings and gatherings. When the internet emerged it changed into an email list and still remains so today. You can see it or join at Balloonbuddies.com
Mike D.

Nicely summarized, Mr. Mike! If I count myself, I think there are only two of the original 1976 era Balloon Buddies who are still alive and kicking.

As the cliche says, "Time flies when you're having fun!"

[SusieDK]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

Hi there,

I too belong to those who owe a lot to Buster Bill. His efforts with The Buddylist - and his homepage is the reason I found out that “I wasn’t the only one”, and that what I felt about about balloons was “just” a fetish and not some kind of (mild) insanity. For this I will stay forever grateful to him.
I also joined The Buddylist, and very well remember the huge excitement after applying for membership (at the time it was required to write an application as well as an introduction that was published on the list) and waiting to see whether or not I would be let in. To my great relief I was accepted, and I got a lot from being a member there. However at some point the change in policies in the list that somebody mentioned earlier in this thread changed what could be called the nature of the content (or this was what I felt), and I gradually lost interest and ceased posting there - and later also stopped reading the postings. I may still be a member, but I am not sure. I cannot check, because I don’t remember my login.
This forum meets my needs far better than The Buddylist ended up doing. I cannot help being sad that things went the way the did though….

I am not blaming The Buddylist, - it might as well be me who is a bit strange.

Thank you for reading my posting.

Sincerely
Susie

[Mike D.]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

I have read two different people now mentioning they didn’t like policy changes made to the Buddylist twenty years ago. I now feel compelled to comment. There were one/two policy changes made, one the list itself voted on and the other that Shaun and I agreed upon.

1. There was a model, Jaimie, that was very popular at the time. She asked to join the Buddylist because she claimed to be a Looner. She was very popular at the time and had a loyal following. However, it quickly became apparent that she only joined the Buddies to spam the list and promote her new website. I intervened and when she admitted to it, I removed her from the list. She then launched a campaigned that she had been treated unfairly. When I reminded her that she lied to get on the list she doubled down. A lot of her loyal fans wanted me to make an exception because they thought she was hot and I could not. So some people left the list in protest. After the fallout I let people on the list vote to see if they wanted a policy change and let people that did not have a fetish join the Buddies. The members voted overwhelmingly to keep the policy in place. So nothing here really changed. The list had alway been a private place for looners to gather and feel safe and the vote was for it to stay that way.

2. The second was actually a real change. After Shaun took over the Buddymen (the other side of the Balloon Buddies that is for gay men), we got together and decided that even though there are two separate email lists that make up the Balloon Buddies, and official Balloon Buddies events posted to the lists would be welcome to all people, gay or straight. To my surprise, some people had many issues with this. A group of people wanted to hold an event in Florida and rent a villa with invitations for people to rent a room and stay there. The problem was that the invitation to stay there was only permitted if you were straight. Gay people could visit, but not stay. I told the people organizing it that what they choose to do with their gathering was up to them, but if they were going to discriminate they could not promote their gathering on the Buddylist. One of the members, a female, even expressed concerns that gay men would sneak into her room and try to rape her. The people got angry and labeled me a dictator and things then spun out of control. Most of those people then left the Buddylist and formed their own groups. This all happened nearly twenty years ago.

Since then, things had quieted down with the list and there hasn’t been any controversies since. I’m sure there have been instances where I have had to make a decision that some didn’t like, but I don’t think it is possible to make everyone happy all the time. Anyway, that is my two cents. I’m sorry those people that have felt jaded with the list feel the way they do. I certainly would welcome them back if they wish to return.

Mike D.

[Asclepio]

Re: Who's a Balloonbuddie

I personally feel that I also owe a lot to Buster Bill and Mike D.
Even though I'm just another looner, and I'm from a relatively newer generation (I started my adventure in 2009) the fact that there was already a community on the internet helped me a lot to accept myself as I am, to accept that I'm not a misfit for having this love for balloons and knowing that I was not alone in this world.
The balloonbuddies forum turned out to be the first place where I had interaction with other looners for the first time in my life (Special mention to the old MausiLooner videos on Youtube, which were the first clue I had of the existence of my fetish, even long before before I knew the definition of a fetish) I still remember seeing the photos of those huge balloons that I never imagined could exist (in those years I only knew the brand "GLOBOS PAYASO" which were not bad for a pre-adolescent like me in that time, but the biggest thing I knew about was 16 inches, you can imagine my impression when I found out about the famous q24 and the cattex GL).
All this discovery and advances in my sexual life would not have been possible without the foundations that these two characters left in the community since before I was even born. Thank you very much for everything, you do an incredible job and definitely no one can judge you in your decisions because no one has cooperated as much to the community as you have.