A few months back, Sweetman posted that he was seeing a decline in active POT profiles in his area. I noted that I saw a small decline as well, maybe 3-4%, but I assumed that was just seasonal fluctuation, and nothing to worry about.  

 
Well now I see that the decline has increased...  

 
My standard search (which I saved in SA) was generally yielding between 740-760 active profiles in my area back then.  Today and for the last week, it's only been showing about 690; an 8 to 9% reduction.

 
In case you are interested, my standard search is:  
- Radius 10 miles (of Woodland Hills, CA)
- Age 18-35
- Body Slim & Athletic
- Non-smoker
- Not using tags: Seeking Trans, Trans Friendly  
Note:  
I can increase the number of results I get to previous levels by adding Body Type Average to the search.  

 
In addition, the number of new profiles appears to be slowing as well. I don't have hard data on this, just my gut feeling. I was used to seeing between 3 to 6 new profiles a week. Now that appears to have fallen to 1 to 2 a week, on average.  

 
No conclusions as to why - only speculations:  
1. End of Covid coming, so  
- More entry level retail jobs available
- Greater % of vaccinated population means something but is this good or bad for the sugar bowl?
- On-campus school classes about to resume  
- Government aid checks in SB's pockets
- Travel restrictions lifting  
- Could there be a perception of reduced supply of legit SD's/increased appearance of bogus/scammer SD's?
2. Recent press/scandals involving sugaring (please do not start political discussion here!)
3. More alternate sites online: Secret Benefits, Sugar & Ivy, Sugar Daddy For Me, Miss Travel, What's Your Price, MYNT?
4. Only Fans becoming more popular/acceptable for 18+ women to sell content?

 
Anyway, I still feel that overall this is just part of longer cycle and we will eventually see the upswing over several months.  At least I hope so...  

 
Life is good

 
The Cat

I used to see regular search results of 1630.  Now it's down to 1443. That's an 11.5% decrease!  And since I live in a relatively target poor area I have to cast a wider net to get any results.  In order to get these results I have to select my home town plus 100 miles, slim, athletic and average, 18-35, no other filters.

I definitely think that the quality of the selections has deteriorated as well.  I see many "SBs" who only  want to sell content, get paid for eating dinner, or have simply ridiculous expectations.  Just yesterday I DM'd a lovely slim Latina who I'd had one BCD date with 3 years ago for 350.  She said she'd only consider a repeat for 3000! WTF? I'm not that bad looking!

I haven't tracked it really, but I seem to recall that in previous years there would be an uptick in the fall when the chicks went back to school.   Covid has thrown a monkey wrench in that case.  But there still might be some seasonal affect.

For several years, with Covid skewing things a bit, I have seen a clear seasonal effect with the "holidays" and the "fall semester startup" as the high points and late spring as the low point.  The economic reasons for this seasonality are obvious.  And hopefully, that is what is going on in my area.

In my area -- the Southwest -- the bigger question is the decrease in real POT SBs on the site.  Right now, scammers, GPS women, photo only and "platonic" gals make up the VAST majority of the population on SA.  So as Sweetman and Herb mention the decrease in numbers, that is exacerbated by the abnormally large number of women who either aren't clear-eyed about the sugar world or are scamming.

Over the years I have often felt that there was a pendulum swing (on SA) from periods when it was a true target-rich environment to times it was a mine-field of time-wasters and crazies, and then back again.  But this time it feels a bit different -- it is like the sugar world has been overrun by the disingenuous and the momentum is trending the wrong way.  Hope I'm wrong...and I am glad to know that the pickings in other areas still seem solid.

I too am in the southwest and sadly, I concur 100% with your assessment of the decline in quality profiles on SA.