There was a post earlier in the week from D and A : I wondered why #ANW isn't the most popular, largest and best-known social media platform. 🤔
After all, the content here is good and relevant. The posts are entertaining. The comments are friendly. The community is great!
It's at least 3 in 1: Nudebook, NakedIn, Baregram.
Very kind thought.
On this note I would just like to say that when Steve and I first started exploring naturism on the internet back in 2008-ish we were very disappointed about what we found, and when we compiled the explore section in 2018/9 we did an even more in depth exploration and found ourselves even more disappointed. This was a big reason for us building ANW, we felt there was very little of any quality or worth out there and nothing to unite us. Other than the INF website which we thought was very poor, though it has improved since.
Since that time we have not really visited any naturist websites that could be considered "social media" as we want ANW to be free from running ANW with a need to compete, copy, feel lacking or better in comparison. Hoping to just go our own way with it and do the best we naturally can. We worry that if we explored other places we would find the need to mimic. Where as this way if we do have anything in common with anywhere else we can honestly say that it is coincidental. We can honestly say that ANW has organically grown through our thought process and the feel of the ANW community. We simply want to make the best environemnt for sharing naturism on the internet that we possibly can. Though we have had various feedback from ANW-ers about various platforms these tend to be about behaviour and feel rather than features.
Any way I digress.
Further to this post is a comment from Jorg: In my opinion, membership in ANW is so compelling because it represents quality over quantity. Accordingly, I hope that ANW doesn't become too large.
And this is the main point of this topic. Can we grow and continue to have the quality of the community with the rise in quantity?
I shared this thought: I think as long as Team ANW continue to have a daily presence on ANW and encourage members to "Protect Themsleves, Protect ANW and Protect Naturism" we can continue to grow in number while maintaining the quality, safety, and relevance of the community to naturism. In many ways the site is more on track now at 15000 members than it was when it was 150 members. When we launched people came here imagining they would find something else, we deleted more members during the first month than we have probably removed in all the subsequent months added together. With time and size we have through a collective behaviour shown exactly what ANW is about, and that is hard to ignore when exploring it, and we have many members ready to call out when someone behaves in a non-naturist way.
You are right there are websites that do have quantity over quality, but I think the big problem is that the people running these websites are not getting involved themselves, not encouraging others to care, and happy for numbers to grow regardless of who makes up those numbers. I like to think that we could be 15 million and still be quality, because Team ANW care and the community care. We all create the ambiance and we all steer the direction and the behaviour. In some ways the bigger we become the harder it is for people to come along and ruin that. People tend to follow habits developed in these websites. The websites that ignore such behaviour, simply encourage it, and then it spreads. I have heard from some ANW members that this has even happened in websites with good connections to naturist bodies.
I believe the bigger we get the better we get. The really important thing is to have a growing community based on genuine naturist values, we have set up sensible rules and we have set sensible examples, and as long as we care enough as a community that will always be the case, even if every naturist in the world joined our happy family.
And Steve continued with these words: I think it is about a having the passion to care. A lot of websites that have members are happy to see the membership grow without consideration of keep the website on track and respectful, that applies to non-naturist websites as well. Anna and I spend much of our waking hours here every single day of the year, it isn't just a part time thing left to its own devices or something that is big and faceless. We couldn't spend time here if it wasn't presenting real naturism, so it is our own personal interest to keep it on track. Plus the interest of the members. I am convinced that we would have many more members if we didn't want to keep it relevant to real naturism, but it would be unfair on the genuine naturists on the site if that happened, and we would no doubt lose them in the process. We see some organisations, venues, groups etc that seem happy to see naturism lose its family values to earn a quick profit and appear trendy and popular. But in the long run they will make people unhappy and damage naturism. You have to go into it with your moral compass set to the reason you started out in the first place.
We created ANW for naturism and to give naturists a genuine place to share naturism, that was our goal and we always said if genuine naturists didn't come we would close the site down despite the huge amount of money and time we had invested. It would have been awful but we would have done it because it has to be about proper naturism.
We rely on everyone to help in this, both in encouraging new people to the site and also letting us know when some one does something that is against the respectful ideas of ANW. We always worry that if someone does something to offend someone the person offended will leave and the offensive person will stay and hurt others, and damage the reputation of ANW and naturism . We never want that to happen. For ANW to always stay on track genuine naturists need to stand up for themselves, naturism and ANW.
We want ANW to grow, we also want it to always generate enough money to support our time and expenses, but we would never ever place membership and money over naturism and the ANW community. If every single website, venue, club, national body, event, group and so on kept to that simple idea naturism would be in a much stronger position and would therefore have many more people willing to buy into these genuine experiences. Naturism has to stay strong, proud and true to itself.
I think what we have here is a topic that is partly to do with keep ANW on tracking as it grows, but also a topic that raises points that may explain why other websites go "off track."
In fact the bigger picture can be why and how naturism is allowed to go off track at all. Venues and clubs, but even national bodies and beaches. If we allow a blurring of naturism to exist, then eventually naturism is obscurred and replaced by something else entirely. Aspects of places like Cap D'Agde sold out naturism to cater for people who want something else, and it is unacceptable. Steve and I would rather pull the plug on ANW than allow it to represent a distortion of naturism.
And thankfully we have enough ANW-ers who agree with that. As Steve says we never want to lose a genuine naturist because of anyone using ANW for non-naturist reasons.
"Protect Yourself, Protect ANW, Protect Naturism" - and get in touch with Steve or myself if you feel anyone is behaving in an upsetting, pestering, sexualised, rude manner. We can never guarantee everyone but we can promise we will always try to keep ANW safe and comfortable for everyone and deal with each problem in the most sensible, respectful and suitable way we can as it arises.
Share your thoughts on growing ANW and growing naturism while keeping true to the reasons we are here and the quality we all want to maintain.
We think you have alluded to why ANW has such great quality whilst adding quantity beautifully, and yes, the result has been to build a wonderful, open friendly, and welcoming website for any respectful member of the naturist community.
We would also like to add a more personal view of why this site is such a success, which is, ANW has nurtured a good supply of what we like to call, “Keyboard Guardians.”
To provide an example, let us explain why we are here, and not so frequent on other naturist sites. We are an odd couple; in the eyes of the world, we have many faults that to a degree exclude us from the so called norms. We are a May/December couple that has at times raised eyebrows, we were late to parenting, and we are creatives who get distracted at times and appear sometimes like we both suffer from extreme ADHD. From the outside, especially within what are the socially defined lines of society, we truly are a round peg in a square hole, and not everyone’s cup of tea, especially when we get the giggles and find it hard to be serious.
To be honest, we stand out, especially when one of us has a penchant for dying their hair as many colours as possible, for no other reason than she thinks it is pretty, and she loves colour. We have been around for a lot longer than people realise within naturism, so we have seen the good, the bad, and downright obscene sides of some gatherings within naturism, and so at times, we have spoken out.
No matter what, the one thing we are, is true to naturist principles, and surprising as that is, it has worked against us, especially in some of the more radicle modernist naturist places.
When we were looking for a place we could settle down to enjoy naturism, we went to a lot of places, and all we wanted was a place that was stable, decent, and did not want to offer Rin to the highest bidder. It sounds easy enough, but trust us, it isn’t, even the most respectable looking sites, at times became places of leering, sexualised suggestions and some pretty blatant sexual message offers that left us lost for words.
We were attracted to ANW via the Naturist Family You tube channel, into the family blog, and then onto this site when it launched back in May 2020. We came because we loved what we saw, which was a traditional wholesome naturist family, in the form of Anna and Steve and their children, and we recognised very quickly, that no matter how quirky we may appear, that we wanted the life that Anna and Steve had, because that was us to a T.
Beneath the age gap, colours, giggles, and happy banter, we are just an ordinary happy go lucky naturist couple with kids, and yet nowhere else treated us like we belonged there, but ANW did, and it mattered so much to us, within the month we took out a life membership and have been here ever since.
Back in 2020 there were not so many of us, but for those who were here, we knew this place was different, as the whole feel of the site and level of encouragement that was offered us by Anna and Steve, was like nothing we had ever experienced elsewhere. ANW felt safe, it was warm and fuzzy and like sitting with friends in front of the camp fire laughing. We were never judged, but welcomed with open arms, like going to a stranger’s house with your mate, because they thought you should meet them, and being greeted at the door with big smiles and a cup of something warm to drink. It felt homely, it was familiar and yet new, and we very quickly realised this was not like other people’s houses, because we did not want to leave.
That first group of members were lucky enough to realise what we had stumbled across, and because we were so few in number, we got to know each other really well through our daily interactions, and friendships bloomed. Anna and Steve were very clear in what they wanted for the site, and how they wanted it to develop, and what began was a very organic process as Anna stated earlier, all of us choose to help keep the site safe. We had joined via different routes and for different reasons, but we all shared one thing in common, which was our aim to help keep this site, warm, friendly and welcoming to anyone who wanted to join us and protect ANW, and Naturism.
As the site grew and new people came, we infused our idea of safety into the new members, and encouraged them to play their role and help, and the circle of Keyboard Guardians naturally expanded with the growth of ANW, to the point where it became self policing. We were all the eyes and ears for Anna and Steve, and would message at a moment’s notice when someone came on acting suspicious. Us being us, RnR, we attracted the weirdoes really quickly, and for some bizarre reason back in the early days, we got most of the smutty messages, which helped us flag them up pretty quickly, although we are still trying to work out why us? Rin looks at Rob.
“It’s you, we always get the nutter on the bus because of you.”
ANW has been able to grow and keep the community stable and safe due to the diligence of Anna and Steve, backed up by all the members, who genuinely have a vested interest in keeping this community safe and thriving as welcoming a place it has been since day one. We honestly believe every member has a role to play flagging undesirables as they arrive, which is not so often these days, but does not mean we should let our guard down. Protecting naturism and ANW is the priority of every single member, and that is why we believe ANW will remain the warm welcoming place it has been since day one, right into the future. All of us belong to something very special, lets all take good care of it.
at February 28, 2026 8:55 AM GMT 
Anna,
It is very flattering that you started this forum post with a quote from us!
Special thanks go to You and Steve for founding ANW!
Anna, you know how long I hesitated before we became members. And now I know it was a shame to wait so long. While we watched from the sidelines what was going on in this naturist community, despite the limited access, the difference and unique character were already obvious. As a member, it is my pleasure to be part of it.
You have instinctively or consciously built ANW into an international BRAND for NATURISM.
It is a stronghold for the naked lifestyle, whose strength comes from members all over the world who accept the principles that truly represent naturism in the best sense of the word.
Quality basically means the trust that members spontaneously have in each other. Profile pictures that match the website, complete personal details and nude posts & pictures strengthen trust! And you don't find that everywhere. But I don't care where else you can find something similar. Why should I look for it when I've found it here!
Quantity also plays a role.
But be careful! I believe in organic growth. Of course, it would be great if there were more of us. Then significantly more people would learn about the advantages of ANW... But everything has its own incubation period.
I think everyone understands the vision that Anna's great-granddaughter will not understand why so many people wore clothes in her grandmother's day.
Thank you for this very special world called ANW!
I joined ANW in 2022. I think there were about 4500 or so members in those days.
Again, I was looking for something but not sure where to find it. I have never done social media, always had a work phone, so did little privately. I did join Naturists Corner for a while, which was more of a chat room and somewhere I didn't always feel comfortable. That then closed down when the organisers decided to go to video cafe instead and that was something I didn't want to do, so floated around the Internet for a while, saw some of Anna & Steve's videos but did know then what I know now.
Eventually bought a subscription to H & E and saw the advert for ANW, so decided to make an application. The rest as they say is history.
I wasn't sure initially what I was letting myself in for and then started to see the information contained on sites, beaches and rules set out for what you could and couldn't do unless you were verified.
For me it was a slight leap of faith to send my details to a stranger, but realised that it is needed to ensure that we are real people and that we are who we say we are.
ANW is very organic and it has been great to see it grow with content from all around the world.
Like all organisations of this type, it is a tribute to Anna and Steve that they have kept the ethos going and I think it is stronger and better each Year as it grows.
If you put someone else in the driving seat, then it would be a different animal and may turn down a different route.
For me, I like it the way it is with quite encouragement to contribute and get involved at what ever pace you want to go at.
Will it continue to grow? , yes it will, as more members will attached more like minded people to join. Will it get all naturists to join? probably not, as like I was originally, just happy to keep my self to my self. What I have realised since joining ANW, is that the community supports its own and we all need to know we are not alone and not weird and should be proud of our life style choice. I get it is not everybody's cup of tea, but it makes me happy and that is something positive to take in this day and age.
Keep up the good work Anna & Steve.
Anna, your words (and Steve's) come straight from lived experience and genuine passion for real naturism. I've been part of online naturist spaces almost forever, and the pattern you describe is painfully familiar: platforms start with good intentions, numbers grow, moderation slacks off (or never really ramps up), and suddenly the vibe shifts from respectful nudity to something else entirely, more often that not sexualised, pushy, or just shallow. The result? Genuine naturists quietly leave, the place loses its soul, and naturism as a whole takes another hit in reputation.
What sets ANW apart, and what gives me real hope that we can grow big while staying true, is exactly what you and Steve keep repeating: daily presence, clear moral compass, and a community that actively protects itself. I've seen it in action here. When someone crosses a line (creepy DMs, objectifying comments, off-topic porn-adjacent posts), the response isn't just admin action, it's members stepping up, gently or firmly reminding everyone what this place stands for. That collective ownership is powerful. It creates a self-reinforcing culture where newcomers quickly understand the norms because they're visible everywhere: in pinned rules, in everyday comments, in the way people greet and interact.
Jorg's point about quality over quantity resonates, but I agree with your shared view that the two aren't inevitably in opposition. Size can actually strengthen quality when the foundation is solid. A larger community means more eyes watching, more voices calling out issues early, more diverse real-life experiences shared (beaches in different countries, family stories, body-positive journeys), and ultimately more people discovering authentic naturism instead of the distorted versions elsewhere.
The key difference from those "quantity-over-everything" sites is involvement. When admins are hands-on every day, model the behaviour, and invest emotionally (as you two clearly do), it prevents drift. Members feel ownership because they see you're not chasing metrics, you're protecting a shared value. That's rare online.
So yes, let's keep growing, confidently, intentionally. Invite more genuine naturists in through word-of-mouth, events, partnerships, and sharing the beautiful, everyday stories that show naturism as wholesome, joyful, and life-affirming. And let's keep protecting what we have: flag issues promptly, educate kindly when needed, and never apologise for holding the line on non-sexual, respectful nudity.
ANW isn't just a platform; it's proof that naturism can thrive online without compromise. The bigger we get while staying anchored in those core values, the stronger the movement becomes overall.
Protect Yourself, Protect ANW, Protect Naturism. Let's do this together.
