I think its fun to hear them as a story, as long as its not a comparison (unless, of course, he says that I am way better than his exes at something - then comparisons are OK, lol.) Actually, though - hearing about his past really opens up some doors on his current life status and skills, and I actually don't mind him putting real names with his exploits -- I actually know a few of his exes, anyway, and yes, we do talk about him, what makes him tick, his likes and dislikes, and how to handle him when something in his life goes wrong (he has picked some really awesome girlfriends in his life - I and some of them (the girls I know) really do care very deeply about him - they're now exes because they just didn't share anything in common anymore or wanted to expand and grow, not because of some shitty cheating or something. He's picked some really great friends and girlfriends - I'm very lucky.
Now, I've had some loser "boyfriends" and a lot of relationships that are "wham bam thank you ma'm" or one nighters or just fuck buddies -- those are parts of my history he hasn't heard and probably wont -- I won't attempt to tabulate how many blowjobs and handjobs I've given or who got them - I can't (so many of them were first name only or some with no name) and he doesn't indicate that he cares, but he does know I came into our affair with experience. I do talk about some of the really nice exes in my life - nothing with a lot of sex in particular - maybe some funny or embarrassing stories - I've mentioned a few very romantic episodes in my past - - but never anything to embarrass him or to compare him to any of the exes. He knows that his cock is not the biggest I've known, but he does know its one of my favorites - just like I know for a fact that my boobs, and figure in general, are not the best he's had - I've seen some of his ex girlfriends on the beach and they are smoking hot..
So talking about the past is not a problem, as long as it doesn't lead to jealousy or resentment. I know - I lost one very nice potential boyfriend in college who was great at first, and then got very curious about stuff like the number of guys I "was with" - was it 10? more than 20? more than 50? - and how come I liked giving blowjobs, and did every guy I knew get one ... there was no way to answer his concerns that would satisfy him - he could not understand me being a normal girl who started exploring sex in middle school when he didn't even have a girlfriend until he was a high school senior - and apparently only got a few handjobs from her... I've kept in touch with him - sort of - and he has a girlfriend but he's pretty miserable - and it turns out that he wasn't ever really upset with me, he was upset at all the sex he didn't get, starting at about the age I started....