Has anyone noticed?

[Majiktrvls]

Is it just me or has the order of this BBS become more or less a whipping post? When I first found this site, I was engulfed by the amount of compassion and care the people had for one another. People genuinely cared about each other, gave good feedback, and were mostly on the same side of the tracks. Postings were real, yeah there were arguments, but the postings were real and from the heart. Folks had a NAME, not ANONYMOUS postings. AT least we knew who was enraged at any given time. Folks had the balls to "OWN" their thoughts and opinions. WE as a whole did not have to agree with everyone or everthing that people said, but there was a level of respect for the effort and energy that went into the threads. As of lately, I never see any regular postings from folks like Enough, Tampa Survivor, Hedwigfan, Clay, Jeff, Carmel, Shelby,dreammagician, and even Antigen... all of whom used to add much to this site. Anyone wonder why that is? Perhaps it is because of all the negative energy floating around here. I keep coming back thinking it will change, but the song remains the same. HOW SAD IS THAT?

[Anonymous]

Once upon a time there were a few courageous folks who linked everyone together, first with their websites, then with instant e-mailing, and finally, with their idea for a message board. And the message board was good. It was lively, and people came forth from all over, just to be able to connect with one another. But in time, bad people came on-line and began to cause strife. The sad thing is, that even the people who are supposed to be "working together" attack one another. What I think is personally interesting, is not who you assume isn't speaking, but who IS speaking - with anger and hostility - on every program board, picking fights with anyone who dares to express a different point of view, or to disagree with them. Notice those people, and you will see where this "air of negative energy" as you put it, comes from. When bad people take over a board - and only want to argue and fight and chase people away - others tend to back away to protect themselves from the inevitable verbal onslaught. The board used to be a great place - now it's like being in the program. So yes, it is very sad. But more so, it is disgusting that a few angry-rotten apples managed to corrupt the entire bushel. So actually, sad is an understatement, my friend. It's damn depressing! :cry2:  - Leigh Ann Bright

[Majiktrvls]

Hi Leigh,
Voila!!! There are so many peeps that have retreated from this place. I had not seen you post in a very long time either. I am glad that you spoke up! It is very much like the program used to be, I agree on all points, and it is depressing. I used to look forward to reading the folks thoughts on this thread. I would read it in the morning before I went to work, and again in the evening when I returned. Now, I look forward to a time when it will change for the better. I don't hold my breath though for fear that I will suffocate before that happens. But, maybe, just maybe it will change....
Thanks for your thoughts.

[85 Day Jerk]

We are living in bad times.  Just how bad?  I actually applied for SSDI benefits and won, before I could ever find a job that paid more than my unemployment did.
   We are being bombarded with negativity every day.  This recession is getting ridiculous and everywhere I go I see a tension under the surface, people are just about ready to explode.
I can understand where it comes from.  I remember several months ago, when I had to postpone being hired by the School Board, that I tore into Ginger (Antigen) for simply implying that I was a part of the Cannibis Culture.  Things heated up pretty quick, but it all got back to normal.  If none of us are perfect, it is'nt fair to expect this Board to be either.  My program at Straight was not an unrelenting hellhole.  I was there at a time when they had to look their best for the media.  They had just recovered from the embarrassment of having several 4th phasers back on drugs WHILE STILL IN THE DAMN PROGRAM!!!!  Yeah
it started sucking real quick-like after that, but we got over it.  In my program I was one of those goddamn nuts that could stand up, relate, and change the course of the whole damn rap.  That's how I look at this Board right now, a bunch of con's trying to run the group are really messing up the LOVE RAP.  As for anonymous posting with no names at the end of the message--it makes as much sense as the police letting people drive with no tag or registration.  I cast my vote for a temporary injunction on anonymous posts until they can clean up their act and be considerate of others.

[Don Smith]

Actually it's not nearly as bad as it use to be.  Back when I first posted I just thought everyone was moaning and complaining  :flame: I was torn to shreds and even threatened.  Granted, I started off on the wrong foot and put the other foot in my mouth.  But it was so bad that I became physically ill and emotionally depressed over this board.  
The attacks continued over on my board as well.  
Over time we've become a more gentle and more understanding people and for that I am thankful.  

Don

[Tampa survivor]

Still watching, but not as much anymore.  I just got tired of people reading the latest post, without names, never connecting who was whom and such.  When someone who just showed up starts calling ME "program" or "drug warrior" I bailed.
  Folks, I know that most of the names Majik mentioned are still wwatching.  Were just not posting ...
Bill

[Don Smith]

Folks, I know that most of the names Majik mentioned are still wwatching. Were just not posting ...

I think there are more people watching then anyone knows.

Don

[ClayL]

I know there are a whole bunch of people watching as some of them write me from time to time. Quite a few who never post and like a said before, the love of a good discussion aside, I am looking for people who were once my friends. This is about the only reason I post; so that if they ever show up, I am here.

CL

[ This Message was edited by: ClayL on 2003-04-04 07:57 ]

[METALGOD8]

Alrighty then. I second the motion of the anonymous posting injunction. I admit, I posted  smilies anonymously to keep a thread alive at the top and a little joke/jab once. Here we go again, sort of...well Leigh, in my book, you should be honest about yourself before you can place others into the rotten apple/bad people etc... category. Don't pull wool over these people's eyes please.
               HOWEVER
 Life does goes on...and I am hopeful that we will see eye to eye one day.  :smokin:

[Anonymous]

My experience has been that it has done a little more harm than good to visit the past for the simple reason that there is pain there. Dwelling on that pain isn't necessarily therapeutic either. We can't change the past. When I think of the past it is painful and confusing, and depressing, none of which are really therapeutic. I would submit to you that this board is not the best place to be healed of past wounds, but it is good in the sense that you will bump into people that went through similar things and may find that there is some comfort in that.

I have yet to have a truly healing experience from reading these posts. I've gotten a few chuckles, though. I've gotten a healthy dose of sarcasm and angst and sometimes a ray of light here and there. But when you look at the board as a whole you are usually looking at a massive, collective, oozing and festering wound of which we are all the official scabs thereof. Not pretty.

You have to decide whether you should visit the board or not. It is realistic to say that you may not get what you are looking for from this board. You may have to seek Jesus for total fulfillment, spiritual ecstacy, and unconditional love.

This board is simply a forum for expressing thoughts and feelings without fear of consequence. There is freedom to express "negative" emotions here. Whether or not you can or want to stomach the rants is something you should probably consider. I guess all I'm saying is don't look for more than this here. It is what it is. I would look for healing somewhere else generally speaking.

[Carmel]

I have chosen to step back and only post when I think its relevant to relating to someones stories about the program.  Trying to give personal opinions and feedback has become impossible because there are people here, who rather than allow the people asking for said feedback to take in all the angles, spend most of the thread trying to beat down others opinions and feedback because they dont agree with it.  I vote that if someone takes issue with some feedback, they should post separately and challenge those comments outside of the original thread...since I feel the original posters asking for help dont need to wade through all the crap.  Being attacked and censored is what the program did to us.  I wont be treated as if I am a FOS 1st phaser just because I may have a different point of view.  I have never posted in an insulting or attacking manner to anyone (until recently) even if my opinions have been different. I also think that new people here should be aware of the fact that some of us have been posting here for a long time, and have a good track record in their exchanges.....and shouldnt be clobbered by someone coming and deciding they arent going to allow any dissent.  Healthy debate should be encouraged and dissent or disagreement should NOT be reprimanded as cold and uncaring.  If I didnt care about the new people who come here as well as "oldcomers" then I wouldnt follow the posts or stick around.  Help and support come in many different forms, and as long as they are honest, whether they are negative or positive, then they should be allowed or otherwise, challenged in a healthy setting....not in the middle of a new persons first post.

[Carmel]

Id also like to add that the Anon's post before me was pivotal in my decision to step off (as it was posted before), and is a perfect exmaple of what I am talking about.

This person is not hateful, cold nor uncaring.  Just honest.  After posting this they were jumped all over about taking responsibility for someone who may or may not be suicidal.  Im sorry folks, but if I were suicidal and I came into this forum and all I got was a big LOVE YA CARMEL LETS ALL SMILE AND HAVE  SONG! Well, I would probably off myself without passing go OR collecting 200 bucks.

[Antigen]

On 2003-04-04 01:39:00, Don Smith wrote: "Actually it's not nearly as bad as it use to be.  Back when I first posted I just thought everyone was moaning and complaining  :flame: I was torn to shreds and even threatened.  Granted, I started off on the wrong foot and put the other foot in my mouth.  But it was so bad that I became physically ill and emotionally depressed over this board.   The attacks continued over on my board as well.   Over time we've become a more gentle and more understanding people and for that I am thankful.   Don "

Hey Don,
  I'm not done reading this thread yet. But I wanted to ask you about this. When you say you were threatened, are you talking about when I suggested the me, Wes and Ken go look you up and sit on you? If not, disregard. But if that's what you're talking about, please know that I made that comment entirely in jest! I thought it was hysterically funny, the very image of the three of us showing up at what I imagined would be a professional office somewhere, asking to see Mr. Smith and... well, I suppose I've got a wicked sense of humor and that would be a most un-funny scene if you didn't know I was joking.

Anyway, my apologies for that and for being so angry with you early on. I really did unload about 30 years worth of rage on you alone and I have regretted it.

Men had better be without education than be educated by their rulers.

--Thomas Hodgskin

[ehm]

And one of the elders of the city said,
Speak to us of Good and Evil.
And he answered:
Of the good in you I can speak, but not the evil.
For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?
Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark caves, and when it thirsts it drinks even of dead waters.

You are good when you are one with yourself.
Yet when you are not one with yourself you are not evil.
For a divided house is not a den of thieves; it is only a divided house.
And a ship may wander aimlessly among perilous isles yet sink not to the bottem.

You are good when you strive to give of yourself.
Yet you are not evil when you seek gain for yourself.
For when you strive for gain you are but a root that clings to the earth and suck at her breast.
Surely the fruit cannot say to the root, "Be like me, ripe and full and evergiving of your abundance."
For the fruit giving is a need, as recieving is a need for the root.

You are good when you are fully awake in your speech,
Yet you are not evil when you sleep while you tongue staggers without speech.
And even stumbling speech may strengthen a weak tongue.

You are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps.
Yet you are not evil when you go thither limping.
Even those who limp go not backward.
But you who are strong and swift, see that you do not limp before the lame, deeming it kindness.

You are good in countless ways, and you are not evil when you are not good.
You are only loitering and sluggard.
Pity that the stags cannot teach swiftness to the turtles.

In your longing for your giant self lies your goodness: and that longing is in all of you.
But in some of you that longing is a torrent rushing with might to the sea, carrying the secrets of the hillsides and the songs of the forest.
And in others it is a flat stream that loses itself in angles and bends and lingers before it reaches the shore.
But let not him who longs much say to him who longs little, "Wherefore are you slow and halting?"
For the truly good ask not the naked, "Where is your garment?" nor the houseless, "What has befallen your house?"

THE PROPHET~ Kahlil Gibran
 

[ This Message was edited by: Morli on 2003-04-04 09:45 ]

[chinrse23]

Everyone is mean and ugly right now. I work in retail, and i am hard pressed to find a single customer who doesn't complain or whine.  You think you have it hard on this board--i deal with a hundred people a day who are not happy.

The war, rising prices (on everything), lack of job and financial security, bad weather, etc. etc. etc. have caused many people to be just plain ugly.  (I have a secret, people have always been this way--not just in this time--I have worked retail for 18 years)

I just try not to let it get to me.  Its not worth it.  

By the way, even with the hard times that are going on, be sure to remember its what you do that counts, so if you can come out of the day saying that you have caused less grief then you have seen, perhaps you should be happy.