the swinger crowd appears to have been like "wait ... there's FEWER rules??? where do i sign up"

And/or people who are fundamentally unethical deciding poly is a way for them to better frame their lack of ethics, but I repeat myself

What does this look like? The two seem to be parallel but separate cultures, largely on generational lines.

i think this is accurate but people who would correctly be described as swingers other than the label being less commonly used will now call themselves poly with great frequency

So a person or couple calling themselves poly, but who are only interested in recreational sex without a closer nonsexual commitment?

yes but also who are blurring those lines badly because unlike actual swingers they basically just learn some poly catch phrases instead of establishing specific rules and boundaries half the time

they are setting out to basically do that and are also totally failing to commit to only doing that or indeed to anything in particular

You can tell who’s actually poly because they have strong opinions about multi platform calendar management.

I gotcha. It is funny that because they are largely segregated cultures, you get swingers who reinvent hierarchical poly relationships with other couples, and poly people who just want to be a solo swinger having lots of recreational sex.