are there any ways to show that you're interested in dogging?
some kind of symbol or something?
maybe a cloth or ribbon tied somewhere to the car?
Yip, I am the guy who suggested the "red item hung from rear-view mirror" idea. This does work during daylight hours, but definitely would not work at night.
There seems to be no universal signal. Lots of people have come up with different ideas - here are a few that I have seen here on the Dogging pages or in the Forum, that I can remember:
- piece of paper on the dashboard or under the windscreen wiper *
- high-heeled shoe on the dashboard!
- towel on the dashboard *
- one windscreen wiper lifted
- water bottle on top of car *
- red item (cloth *, scarf *, bra, panties, etc) hung from interior mirror
- feathers held in the hand
- parking or driving around with parklights on *
- sitting in car with driver's door open *
- flashing hazard lights a few times *
- flashing headlights *
- car interior light left on (at night) *
Many of these (indicated with *) - yes, even the red-item-on-mirror, as was pointed out to me when I suggested it - could also be very "vanilla" actions (not related to a dogging intention at all!), and could lead to unfortunate mis-identification of non-doggers, and result in unwelcomed advances from people who "thought the others were giving out signals".
Nothing beats the sight of having a couple beckoning you with their hands to come closer!
During the daytime it is generally possible to see the faces and maybe the expressions of the folks in the car that could contain potential doggers. If they are making eye contact, if they are smiling, if they are beckoning you closer, if they are not pointing a gun in your direction, your chances are likely to be good, but you still need to proceed with caution in making contact. I have found the "have you got a light for my cigarette" ruse gets used quite a bit (and have used it myself!)!
At night it is extremely difficult to tell! The hazard lights followed by the interior light being left on is a pretty standard "signal", but again could just be coincidental.
I would be VERY interested to hear of any other "signals" or systems that have worked for folks here on SH.
To me the best (safest) is still to make a prior arrangement to meet up (by revealing your profile name), exchange cell numbers, and then just phone or message them when you get to the pre-arranged site and say "is that you in the ...(car type)... under the big tree?"!!!