Changes

[sunshine_bear]

ram chill ok?

all he is asking for is a little help with money or volunter support you don't have to give it if you don't want to its just that they need some and if we all help out then it will be ran by its members which is cool I think don't you? You don't have to help it just means you don't get additional features that alot of other forums dont have.

sunx

[Fairy]

Perhaps you need to think of it as the book thrown in for free.

£30 is not very much for all the services available here, I can't see how it rests on the book. Lots of people work very hard so this vital support network is here. As it is an on-line community, we ALL need to do something to keep it going.

Fairy xxx

[ramfan007]

I understand that, but I am asking you to explian your reason for putting it into the package. I am asking you if it is ethical to inlcude your life story in a package which is meant to be offering support to vunerable people. I am askng what these vunerable people wll gain from recieving a copy of your life story. I have not read your book, but there may be a good reason for you to include it, i am simply asking why?

[Joshua]

And i simply will not respond to you for 24 hours in the hope you will calm down and talk to me with the respect i deserve. Thank you.

[ramfan007]

OK Josh thats fine, but in 24 hours, I am going to ask you this question again, becuase I would like to know the answer. I don't think it is wrong or disrespectful to ask you to explain your reason for including your book. I am sure as a trained councellor you will understand the principle behind us examining our reasons for doing something and just what the thereputc value of doing so is.

[Joshua]

is this just a way to shift copies of your book Josh, because from where I am sitting it sure seems so.

This is not disrespectful? I stand corrected.

[ramfan007]

I apologise if that came accross as disrespectful I was angry when I wrote that. It doesnt change my question tho. I am asking you to set out on this site your reasons for inlcuding the book in the package. I am not syaing your reasons are right or wrong, I am just asking you to explain them to me.

[Carole]

I wouldnt recommend this place being your sole source of support.

OMG, I thought you would have a bit more empathy than that! Hell, a gnat has more empathy.

After receiving your feedback i have reconsidered some of the changes made to our online services.

Members who just join the site can post up to 25 posts and have full access to EVERYTHING. AFter 25 posts they will need to either subscribe OR volunteer to help us in some way.

Existing members will have access to everything other than gallery, blogs, chat, the attention seekers forum and venting. Crisis forums will now be open as standard. Should existing members want access to everything else they are not able to use they will either have to donate or volunteer to help us out in some way (A list of what can be done is on its way)

Ok, so what do people think about this?

It is an improvement, though almost any change on the situation would have been an improvement.

I donated my £1 to get access to my damned thread only for it to turn out to be a waste of my money...Thanks a bunch.

[kib0ne]

Why is it a waste of money?

[Joshua]

OMG, I thought you would have a bit more empathy than that! Hell, a gnat has more empathy

Yes you could choose to see it that way or you could choose to see that i am aware of the seriousness of BPD as a disorder and would hope anyone would have alternative support to just this place.

Your choice.

[nomad2020]

While i do admit that I haven't read the entire thread just yet (gone through half the pages going cross eyed) I want to put this down before I forget. I will be sure to edit in anything new I can think up after I do.

My first concern is that there is no readily available list of changes to see, outside of scanning the entirety of the changes thread. You could easily remedy this by updating the OP of that thread or just posting a new one in the notice board. Yes some people wont bother reading it, but it would be there and readily available. (also the http://www.bpdworld.org/whyaccount.html link in the TOS document is borked.)

My second concern is taken from the whyaccount document "Find email links /advertise the site – the more links we have out on the World Wide Web - the higher our profile- means we can offer our services to more people."

What concerns me is from that bullet point it seems as though you are condoning unsolicited e-mail spam. If that is true I really hope that you would reconsider. E-mail spam is a plague upon the internet and uses up a far far greater percent of the bandwidth than is reasonable. if it's a misunderstanding then I would ask what's intended by that passage.

While I understand these changes, and the motivation behind them, I also am forced to wonder (it's what i do) if the proper corners have been cut. e.g. the live chat function. It would be possible to run a standard #IRC server with a java interface on the site. But maybe it's not, there's a real possibility that I'm just talking out of my ass. On the subject of the forum itself i do understand why it's easier to have a licensed board. It passes on accountability on security and stability unlike phpbb or similar things, and if something goes wrong there is someone to answer for it.

Also "Benefits of contributing: * Sense of worth" To me that just sends a sense of smugness that really shouldn't be anywhere near those you want to help. It probably sounded good when you put it down on paper, but really if nothing else I do hope that goes to that place where catchphrases and memes go to die.

A final note(for now) there are many great book recommendations on the forums. I know you don't want adverts on this site, completely understandable, but would it be too much to look into making deals with the holders of some of the various books for some sort of affiliate program? Maybe make a sort of recommended book section, or even just a running thread with various sponsored books.

I'm sure ill think of other things, but for now Thanks for reading.

Edit1: I just wanted to say that all of the various personal attacks to both Joshua and the members of the forum expressing themselves is sickening. This forum, to my interpretation, was created to help people express their emotions, and learn more about what makes them tick. To see so many people that I have to grow to respect in one place attacking each other is just heart breaking for me . It's OK to not agree with someone's view on the situation, but it is not alright to resort to mudslinging. I'm not going to pull examples because I would hope that everyone is able to recognize it. The whole I'm right and your wrong attitude muddles the conversation to the point where nothing constructive can come of it.

[sunshine_bear]

I donated my £1 to get access to my damned thread only for it to turn out to be a waste of my money...Thanks a bunch.

Now Carole thats really not at all fair!! Your pound will have gone to the charity and done some good! I totally think that is completly out of order!!

[Carole]

OMG, I thought you would have a bit more empathy than that! Hell, a gnat has more empathy

Yes you could choose to see it that way or you could choose to see that i am aware of the seriousness of BPD as a disorder and would hope anyone would have alternative support to just this place.

Your choice.

It's not her fault though. Your post sounded more accusatory than understanding

Now Carole thats really not at all fair!! Your pound will have gone to the charity and done some good! I totally think that is completly out of order!!

Think what you will. I only paid my pound because I wanted my thread (which regular members can now access so for me it is a waste). Had this charity been open and honest about the situation by informing everyone of the state of things and the possible solutions to be implemented, then I would be more open to the idea and happier to donate. But that is not the truth.

[sunshine_bear]

OMG, I thought you would have a bit more empathy than that! Hell, a gnat has more empathy

Yes you could choose to see it that way or you could choose to see that i am aware of the seriousness of BPD as a disorder and would hope anyone would have alternative support to just this place.

Your choice.

It's not her fault though. Your post sounded more accusatory than understanding

Now Carole thats really not at all fair!! Your pound will have gone to the charity and done some good! I totally think that is completly out of order!!

Think what you will. I only paid my pound because I wanted my thread (which regular members can now access so for me it is a waste). Had this charity been open and honest about the situation by informing everyone of the state of things and the possible solutions to be implemented, then I would be more open to the idea and happier to donate. But that is not the truth.

if you dont like it then leave!

[Carole]

bloody hell, thats what im doing!!! just wanted my damn thread which is why im resenting having paid a pound unnecessarily!!

glad to see the back of me i bet lol

[Nina of the Light]

Josh,

I applaud your efforts for taking people's suggestions, needs and sometimes demands to heart and revamping the changes. I fully support this site and the people on it and will continue to contribute whether financially or otherwise as the site changes and needs different things in the future.

This is home. This is a safe haven. You all are my family and I don't know about you, but I support my family and help however I can.

So, Josh, to you well done on remaining gracious in all this debate and keeping the peace.

Let me know if you ever need anything.

Love to all,

Nina of the Light.

[Joshua]

Nina, Thank you.

Very kind.

[Paris]

isnt she lovely

Josh,

I applaud your efforts for taking people's suggestions, needs and sometimes demands to heart and revamping the changes. I fully support this site and the people on it and will continue to contribute whether financially or otherwise as the site changes and needs different things in the future.

This is home. This is a safe haven. You all are my family and I don't know about you, but I support my family and help however I can.

So, Josh, to you well done on remaining gracious in all this debate and keeping the peace.

Let me know if you ever need anything.

Love to all,

Nina of the Light.

[Joshua]

Isnt she just adorable (Heard it on tv)

[Kelliemanic]

In that case, as I am to be penalised and prevented from accessing my blog until I do what you ask of me, I would ask that you remove my blog.

And no I'm not 'submitting a ticket' (i.e. sit and wait and hope someone bothers answering my question)

You're the one that went full steam ahead and pissed everybody off.. now you can deal with damn consequences.

[Joshua]

Please submit a ticket for your request to be considered. Including reasons for why.

[sunshine_bear]

bloody hell, thats what im doing!!! just wanted my damn thread which is why im resenting having paid a pound unnecessarily!!

glad to see the back of me i bet lol

thats fine by me

[Nina of the Light]

awww, thanks lou.

you gotta be the sweetest gal i've ever known.

mwah!!!

i wub my ophelia.

[Kelliemanic]

In that case, as I am to be penalised and prevented from accessing my blog until I do what you ask of me, I would ask that you remove my blog.

And no I'm not 'submitting a ticket' (i.e. sit and wait and hope someone bothers answering my question)

You're the one that went full steam ahead and pissed everybody off.. now you can deal with damn consequences.

It's your mess Joshua..

I am prevented from accessing my blogs, because I refuse to cough up money... without any prior notice that this was going to happen.

Remove my blog. Please.

[Joshua]

You have my response Kellie. And thats where we differ in opinion, this is all our mess (Community)